From the Editors

摘要

In recent decades, the term “recovery” as it pertains to alcohol use disorder (AUD) and drug use disorders has taken on increasing cultural and scientific significance in the United States and around the world. Its growing prominence as a culturally recognized and, importantly, positively valenced organizing concept has occurred in large part in direct response to help counter the pervasive and intransigent stigma, discrimination, and general pessimism that so often surround alcohol misuse and AUD.1–3 In addition, the term “recovery” often is used intentionally to describe improvements in functioning and quality of life that go beyond solely abstinence or disorder remission.4,5 This broader construct stands in explicit contradistinction to the mere absence of alcohol use or AUD symptoms. As the cultural significance of recovery has developed and deepened, the scientific community has become interested in understanding its meaning, both as a dynamic, multidimensional biobehavioral process and as an outcome. Moreover, given the burden of disease, disability, mortality, and economic costs attributable to AUD, the discovery of factors that can help affected individuals to initiate and sustain long-term stable AUD recovery has become paramount. With all of these ends in mind, this topic series, “Recovery From Alcohol Use Disorder,” reviews current understanding of AUD recovery from clinical, public health, and public policy perspectives.