Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Natural Recovery: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

  • Chapter
Book cover Promoting Self-Change From Addictive Behaviors

As has already been seen, the idea of “natural recovery” or “self-change” from addictions is a poorly understood and much contested concept. Some commentators in the field of alcohol and drug studies accept that this phenomenon exists, while others remain skeptical. Given the nature of this debate occurring within Anglo-European societies, it is not surprising to find that the idea of natural recovery becomes even more problematic and unclear when considering other non-Western societies. Unfortunately at this juncture, little cross-cultural research has been done on these issues. In fact, as a recent review (Sobell, Ellingstad, & Sobell, 2000) has demonstrated, the majority of the investigations have been conducted in North America (of 40 studies 59.1% were in the United States, 16.2% in Canada, 18.9% in Europe). In an earlier review, Klingemann (1994), found similar results; that is, of 80 studies reviewed on environmental influences impeding or promoting change in substance use, 7 came from outside the United States and only 1 from a non-Anglophone country.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Allen, C. J. (1988). The hold life has: Coca and cultural identity in an Andean community. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ames, G. M., Grube, J. W., & Moore, R. S. (1997). The relationship of drinking and hangovers to workplace problems: An empirical study. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 58(1), 37–47.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, I. B., Kim, S. Y., & Dyer, J. E. (2006). Trends in gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and related drug intoxication: 1999 to 2003. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 47, 177–183.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Banwell, C. (1989). The place of alcohol in the lives of Cook Islands women living in Auckland (Report No. 2). The Place of Alcohol in the Lives of New Zealand Women Project. Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barker, J. C. (1994). Recognizing cultural differences: Health-care providers and elderly patients. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 15, 9–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker, J. C., & Kramer, B. J. (1996). Alcohol consumption among older urban American Indians. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 57, 119–124.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beyene, Y. (1992). Medical disclosure and refugees: Telling bad news to Ethiopian patients. Western Journal of Medicine, 157, 328–332.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brady, M. (1993a). Giving away the grog: Aboriginal accounts of drinking and not drinking. Canberra: Australian Government Printing Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brady, M. (1993b). Giving away the grog: An ethnography of Aboriginal drinkers who quit without help. Drug and Alcohol Review, 12, 401–411.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cassanelli, L. V. (1986). Qat: Changes in the production and consumption of a quasi-legal commodity in Northeast Africa. In A. Appadurai (Ed.), The social life of things: Commodities in cultural perspective (pp. 236–257). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chi, I., Lubben, J. E., & Kitano, H. H. L. (1989). Differences in drinking behavior among three Asian-American groups. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 50, 15–23.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chin, S.-Y. (1992). This, that, and the other: Mental illness in a Korean family. Western Journal of Medicine, 157, 257–293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colsher, P. L., Wallace, R. B., Pomrehn, P. R., LaCroix, A. Z., Cornoni-Huntley, J., Blazer, D., et al. (1990). Demographic and health characteristics of elderly smokers. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 6, 61–70.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Counihan, C., & Van Esterik, P. (Eds.). (1997). Food and culture: A reader. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobkin De Rios, M. (1984). Hallucinogens: Cross-cultural perspectives. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Etkin, N. L. (1996). Ethnopharmacology. In C. F. Sargent & T. M. Johnson (Eds.), Medical anthropology: Contemporary theory and methods (rev. ed.). Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Everett, M. W., Waddell, J. O., & Heath, D. B., (Eds.). (1976). Cross-cultural approaches to the study of alcohol: An interdisciplinary perspective. The Hague: Mouton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fabrega, H., & Manning, P. K. (1972). Disease, illness, and deviant careers. In R. A. Scott & J. D. Douglas (Eds.), Theoretical perspectives on deviance. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiore, M. C., Novotny, T. E., Pierce, J. P., Giovino, G. A., Hatziandreu, E. J., Newcomb, P. A., et al. (1990). Methods used to quit smoking in the United States. Journal of the American Medical Association, 263, 2760–2765.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Furuto, S. M., Biswas, R., Chung, D. K., Murase, K., & Ross-Sheriff, F. (Eds.). (1992). Social work practice with Asian Americans. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galanti, G. A. (1991). Caring for patients from different cultures. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Good, B. (1986). Explanatory models and care-seeking: A critical account. In S. McHugh & T. M. Vallis (Eds.), Illness behavior: A multidisciplinary model. New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, E. T. (1956). The hidden dimension. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, E. T. (1959). The silent language. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hellman, C. (1984). Culture, health, and illness. Bristol: Wright.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, G., & Barker, J. C. (1999). Drug treatment in contemporary anthropology and sociology. European Addiction Research, 5, 126–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, G., & Rosenbaum, M. (1998). “Hustling” within the clinic: Consumer perspectives on methadone maintenance treatment. In J. A. Inciardi & L. D. Harrison (Eds.), Heroin in the age of crack cocaine. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, C. N., McPhee, S. J., Le, A., Pham, G. Q., Ha, N. T., & Stewart, S. (1997). The effectiveness of a media-led intervention to reduce smoking among Vietnamese-American men. American Journal of Public Health, 87, 1031–1034.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, S., McLeod, J. H., & Shantzis, C. (1992). Cultural competence for evaluators working with Asian-American communities: Some practical considerations. In M. A. Orlandi, R. Weston, & L. G. Epstein (Eds.), Cultural competence for evaluators: A guide for alcohol and other drug abuse prevention practitioners working with ethnic/racial communities (pp. 203–260). Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office for Substance Abuse Prevention.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitano, H. H. L., & Chi, I. (1988). Asian Americans and alcohol: The Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Filipinos in Los Angeles. In D. Speigler, D. Tate, S. Aitken, & C. Christian (Eds.), Alcohol use among U.S. ethnic minorities. Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitano, H. H. I., Chi, I., Rhee, S., & Lubben, J. E. (1992). Norms and alcohol consumption: Japanese in Japan, Hawaii, and California. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 53, 33–39.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kitano, H. H. I., Chi, I., Law, C. K., Lubben, J. E., & Rhee, S. (1988). Alcohol consumption of Japanese in Japan, Hawaii, and California. In L. H. Towle & T. C. Hartford (Eds.), Cultural influences and drinking patterns. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitayama, S., Markus, H. R., Matsumoto, H., & Norasakkunkit, V. (1997). Individual and collective process in the construction of the self: Self enhancement in the United States and self-criticism in Japan. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 1245–1267.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kleinman, A. (1980). Patients and healers in the context of culture: An exploration of the borderland between anthropology, medicine, and psychiatry. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klingemann, H. K. H. (1994). Environmental influences which promote or impede change in substance behavior. In G. Edwards & M. Lader (Eds.), Addiction: Processes of change (pp. 131–161). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klingemann, H., & Hunt, G. (Eds.). (1998). Drug treatment systems in an international perspective: Drugs, demons, and delinquents. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klingemann, H., & Klingemann, H.-D. (1999). National treatment systems in global perspective. European Addiction Research, 5, 109–117.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klingemann, H., Takala, J. P., & Hunt, G. (Eds.). (1992). Cure, care, or control: Alcoholism treatment in sixteen countries. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Konuma, K., Shimizu, S., & Koyanagi, T. (1998). Social control and the model of legal drug treatment: A Japanese success story? In H. Klingemann & G. Hunt (Eds.), Drug treatment systems in an international perspective: Drugs, demons, and delinquents. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lara-Ponce, A. (1998). Who is to blame? The discovery of domestic drug problems and the quest for recognition of therapeutic communities in Peru. In H. Klingemann & G. Hunt (Eds.), Drug treatment systems in an international perspective: Drugs, demons, and delinquents. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leibing, A., & Cohen, L. (Eds.). (2006). Thinking about dementia: Culture, loss, and the anthropology of senility. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemert, E. M. (1958). The use of alcohol in three Salish tribes. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 19, 90–107.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, I. M. (1971). Ecstatic religion: An anthropological study of spirit possession and shamanism. New York: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacAndrew, C., & Edgerton, R. (1969). Drunken comportment: A social explanation. Chicago: Aldine.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacGregor, S. (1999). Drug treatment systems and policy frameworks: A comparative social perspective. European Addiction Research, 5, 119–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsella, A. J., & White, G. M. (Eds.). (1982). Cultural conceptions of mental health and therapy. New York: Reidel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, M. (Ed.). (1979). Beliefs, behaviors, and alcoholic beverages: A cross-cultural survey. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, M. (1987). An overview of drugs in Oceania. In L. Lindstrom (Ed.), Drugs in Western Pacific societies: Relations of substance (pp. 13–49). New York: University Press of America.

    Google Scholar 

  • McPhee, S. J., Jenkins, C. N. H., Wong, C., Fordham, D., Lau, D. Q., Bird, J. A., et al. (1995). Smoking cessation intervention among Vietnamese Americans: A controlled trial. Tobacco Control, 4(Suppl. 1), S16–S24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orleans, C. T., Schoenbach, V. J., Wagner, E. H., Quade, D., Salmon, M. A., Pearson, D. C., Fielder, J., Porter, C. Q., & Kaplan, B. H. (1991). Self-help quit smoking interventions: Effects of self-help materials, social support instructions, and telephone counseling. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 439–448.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oyserman, D., Coon, H. M., & Kemmelmeier, M. (2002). Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 3–72.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Partanen, P. (1991). Sociability and intoxication: Alcohol and drinking in Kenya, Africa, and the modern world. Helsinki: The Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schivelbusch, W. (1992). Tastes of paradise: A social history of spices, stimulants, and intoxicants. New York: Pantheon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinha, S. N., & Sengupta, S. K. (1989). Road traffic fatalities in Port Morseby: A ten year survey. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 21, 297–301.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Snead, O. C., III, & Gibson, K. M. (2005). Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid. New England Journal of Medicine, 352, 2721–2732.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sobell, L. C., Ellingstad, T. P., & Sobell, M. B. (2000). Natural recovery from alcohol and drug problems: Methodological review of the research with suggestions for future directions. Addiction, 95, 749–764.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sobell, L. C., Klingemann, H., Toneatto, T., Sobell, M. B., Agrawal, S., & Leo, G. I. (2001). Alcohol and drug abusers’ perceived reasons for self-change in Canada and Switzerland: Computer-assisted content analysis. Substance Use and Misuse, 36, 1467–1500.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Surgeon General. (1998). Tobacco use among U.S. racial/ethnic minority groups. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanjasiri, S. P., Wallace, S. P., & Shibata, K. (1995). Picture imperfect: Hidden problems among Asian Pacific Islander elderly. The Gerontologist, 35, 753–760.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Uehara, E. S., Takeuchi, D. T., & Smukler, M. (1994). Effects of combining disparate groups in the analysis of ethnic differences: Variations among Asian American mental health consumers in level of functioning. American Journal of Community Psychology, 22, 83–99.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wong, M. M., Klingle, R. S., & Price, R. K. (2004). Alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use among Asian American and other Pacific Islander adolescents in California and Hawaii. Addictive Behaviors, 29, 127–141.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yamaguchi, S. (1994). Collectivism among the Japanese: A perspective from the self. In U. Kim, H. C. Triandis, C. Kagitcibasi, S. Choi, & G. Yoon (Eds.), Individualism and collectivism: Theory, method, and applications (pp. 175–188). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, History, & Social Medicine, University of California, 94143-0850, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Judith C. Barker

  2. Institute for Scientifi c Analysis, 94501-3685, Alameda, CA, USA

    Geoffrey Hunt

Authors
  1. Judith C. Barker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Geoffrey Hunt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Harald Klingemann

  2. Nova Southeastern University, 3301 College Avenue, 33314-7796, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

    Linda Carter Sobell

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Barker, J.C., Hunt, G. (2007). Natural Recovery: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. In: Klingemann, H., Sobell, L.C. (eds) Promoting Self-Change From Addictive Behaviors. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71287-1_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation