The lived experience of recovering from addiction: a phenomenological study

The purpose of this study was to evolve a structural description of the experience of recovering from addiction. The phenomenological method was chosen for the study. The sample consisted of three subjects recovering from addiction. The subjects were asked to write a description of a situation in which they were aware of recovering from their addiction. Each subject was then interviewed to elaborate on portions of the written description. The phenomenon, recovering from addiction, emerged from the findings of this study as a lived experience of struggling to pull self out of a well of darkness into the comfort of light. This is experienced as the person lives profound shifts in ways of being. As these shifts rhythmically move the person toward openness to the light of possibilities, the person chooses to move beyond with comfort and trust in the negentropic process of becoming. The findings of this study support the value of the phenomenological method for nursing research and the nursing theory, man-living-health. The results of this study also support nursing practice as a healing relationship illuminating meaning in situations and mobilizing choices in the negentropic process of becoming.