Snoek Anke, Levy Neil, Kennett Jeanette
Macquarie University, Australia; Maastricht University, Netherlands.
Macquarie University, Australia; University of Oxford, England.
Addict Behav Rep. 2016 Dec;4:102-107. doi: 10.1016/j.abrep.2016.09.002.
Philosophers, cognitive and social psychologists and laypeople often subscribe to the view that willpower is central to recovery from addiction. But there are reasons to suspect that willpower is much less important to explaining recovery than this view suggests.
Here we report findings from a qualitative longitudinal study on how substance dependent people see their agency and self-control, and how their self-control develops over time. 69 opioid, alcohol and methamphetamine dependent people were interviewed over a 3 year period.
Most of the participants described themselves as strong willed; in fact, as very strong willed. However, there seemed no correlation between having a (self-assessed) strong will and recovery status. Rather, the number of strategies cited by participants distinguished those in stable recovery from those who were not. Participants in recovery were also more enthusiastic about strategies than those who have not succeeded in controlling substance use. Willpower remained important, but was itself used strategically.
People with addiction seem not to be short on willpower; rather, recovery is dependent on developing strategies to preserve willpower by controlling the environment.
哲学家、认知和社会心理学家以及普通大众常常认同意志力是成瘾康复的关键所在。但有理由怀疑，在解释康复过程中，意志力远没有这种观点所认为的那么重要。
在此，我们报告一项定性纵向研究的结果，该研究探讨了药物依赖者如何看待自己的能动性和自我控制能力，以及他们的自我控制能力如何随时间发展。在3年时间里，我们对69名阿片类药物、酒精和甲基苯丙胺依赖者进行了访谈。
大多数参与者将自己描述为意志坚强；事实上，是非常意志坚强。然而，（自我评估的）坚强意志与康复状态之间似乎没有关联。相反，参与者提及的策略数量区分了处于稳定康复状态的人和未康复的人。康复者对策略也比那些未能成功控制药物使用的人更有热情。意志力仍然很重要，但它本身也被策略性地运用。
成瘾者似乎并不缺乏意志力；相反，康复取决于制定策略，通过控制环境来保持意志力。
