Addiction Abstinence as an Accessible Experience: A Phenomenological Study

Background: Individuals’ experiences following addiction abstinence may have different meanings from the former addict’s perspective, demanding careful scrutiny to understand such experiences. Objectives: This study aimed to explore and explain the meaning of the lived experiences of addicts after sobriety. Patients and Methods: This descriptive phenomenological study aimed to describe the experiences of individuals who had stopped using drugs. The participants were 10 members of narcotics anonymous (NA) in Lenjan, Iran, who were recruited using the purposive sampling method. To gather the data, unstructured, in-depth interviews were carried out. The interviews were recorded on cassette tapes with the consent of the participants, and the collected data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s method. Results: The results of this study were presented in the form of 48 codes and included the four main themes of detour, gateway, metamorphosis, and leadership. These represent the general structure of the individuals’ lives after recovery. Conclusions: Our findings revealed that specific factors, such as recall of sustained suffering in the course of recovery, members’ contribution, being part of a community, participation in collective classes, feelings of equality and co-leveledness, observation of others’ success, and rethinking, played significant roles in addiction recovery.