Stress among males recovering from substance abuse

The Stress Audit self-report inventory was used to measure the magnitude and types of stress experience as well as relative vulnerability of recovering male drug addicts in an urban substance abuse program. The means for the Stress Situations scale and each of the situations subscales showed significant elevations relative to the normative sample and control group of nonaddicted, nonalcoholic males. The mean for the Stress Symptoms scale and the means for all symptoms subscales were also significantly higher for the recovering drug addicts, with the highest values for cognitive and muscular symptoms. The Vulnerability scale was the only measure for which recovering drug addicts had a mean similar to published norms, with no significant elevation. This profile of substantially greater stress situations and symptoms despite normal vulnerability indicates that, whether stress is a cause or consequence of drug addiction, stress-management techniques should be a component of drug rehabilitation programs.