Good Grief!: A Study of the Effect of Treating Addiction-Related Grief and Loss on Recovery from Substance Use Disorders

ABSTRACT Individuals who suffer from Substance Use Disorders (SUD) experience much loss while in active addiction (Shallcross, 2011). When the individual with SUD enters into recovery, he or she often experiences a host of emotions regarding the losses he or she has been through. This is said in the literature to be a form of grief (Kellerman, 1977; McGovern 1983, Denny & Lee, 1991; Moss, 2005). This dissertation examined the effect that a model of treating addiction-related grief had on elements of an individual’s recovery. The study herein is significant in that firstly, the name “addiction-related grief and loss” has not been coined in the literature to describe this phenomenon. Secondly, the study offered a seminal model of treatment for addiction-related grief and loss. Multivariate analysis of covariance and the appropriate follow up statistics were utilized to test the seven hypotheses outlined herein. An alpha level of .05 was used as the critical level for all tests.