Quality of Life, Addiction, and Self-Change

This chapter provides an overview of domains and facets of the multidimensional construct of QoL that have been explicitly or implicitly recognised in the field of self-change research from substance use disorders and/or behavioural addictions. It explores the relationship between health-related QoL and measures of recovery capital as parameters of individual change processes. The original ‘classical’ concept of recovery capital is closely related to different domains of QoL and the idea of social capital and has served as a complex measure to characterise individuals’ resources and opportunities for self-change from addictive behaviours as problem resolution. Consequently, the chapter focuses on the role of various aspects of QoL in self-change from addiction without professional help, considering both subjective and objective, societal indicators. Mirroring the concepts of subjective and objective social capital, self-change without formal treatment is also influenced by societal-macro parameters that can be attributed to different domains of QoL and impede or facilitate self-change. The societal response to addiction problems, in terms of treatment but also harm reduction, has a significant impact on the chances of self-change. The potential benefits and drawbacks of including more systematic measures of QoL as part of the self-change research agenda are discussed. The chapter concludes with a critical assessment of the instrumentalizations of QoL, not only as a potential correlate of change from addiction but also as a necessary and ongoing requirement for the pursuit of a new life in general and thus ‘recovery’.