This study compared personal and emotional modifications of inmates who were recovering addicts and who participated in one of two year-long therapeutic intervention programs, one including social support and experiential spiritual program components (Narcotics Anonymous, NA, meetings and the 12-step course), the other including primarily social support (NA meetings only, without the 12-step program). The hypothesis was that supplementing social support programs with a concrete spiritual program would result in more positive personal and emotional changes. The results seem to support the hypothesis: Inmates participating in the 12-step program demonstrated a higher sense of coherence and meaning in life and a gradual reduction in the intensity of negative emotions (anxiety, depression, and hostility) than those participating in NA meetings without the 12-step program. The research findings demonstrate the importance of the 12-step program as part of a rehabilitation process for drug addicts.

Policymakers and researchers have long been interested in the punitive attitudes of police and correctional officers. This research examined the punitive attitudes of 206 police and correctional officers at the beginning and towards the end of academic studies. The results indicate that (a) the police officers held more punitive attitudes compared with the correctional officers; (b) the correctional officers, but not the police officers, held less punitive attitudes in the last year than in the first year of studies; (c) male police officers generally held more punitive attitudes than their female counterparts; (d) belief in classical theories, which was found to be the strongest predictor of harsher punitive attitudes, was greater among police than correctional officers. The implications of the results are discussed.

The aim of the current article was to examine the meaning of suffering in drug addiction and in the recovery process. Negative emotions may cause primary suffering that can drive an individual toward substance abuse. At the same time, drugs only provide temporary relief, and over time, the pathological effects of the addiction worsen causing secondary suffering, which is a motivation for treatment. The 12-Step program offers a practical way to cope with suffering through a process of surrender. The act of surrender sets in motion a conversion experience, which involves a self-change including reorganization of one's identity and meaning in life. This article is another step toward understanding one of the several factors that contribute to the addict's motivation for treatment. This knowledge may be helpful for tailoring treatment that addresses suffering as a factor that initiates treatment motivation and, in turn, treatment success.

No abstract