Therapeutic Recreation in Addiction Treatment

The main focus in addiction treatment is to learn and adapt to a new lifestyle that revolves around recovery and abstaining from substance use. Recovery is about overcoming the addiction and recreating life through gaining new knowledge, skills and behaviors that will ultimately lead the individual to successful sober living. However, evidence indicates that “the greatest potential for use is during one’s free time.” (Deiser & Voight, 1998). It can be assumed that most individuals without addictions use “free time” to participate in recreational activities or leisure choices from their own awareness of internal motivations and desired outcomes related to participation. But, if the link between free time and substance use exhibit the increased chances of relapse during the allotted time, an individual should also have the opportunity to be exposed to services and education of leisure-related knowledge, skills, abilities, and awareness through therapeutic recreational services while receiving treatment for their addiction. The purpose of this literature analysis is to examine the benefits of therapeutic recreational services in treatment for addictions and how a healthy leisure lifestyle can increase the chances of an addicted individual to maintain sobriety by learning and utilizing leisure awareness, knowledge, skills, and abilities. References: Deiser, R. B., & Voight, A (1998). Therapeutic recreation and relapse prevention. Parks & Recreation, 33, (S) 78-8