Lauren McQuistin, author of the Realistic Recovery Substack newsletter, often describes substance use disorder (SUD) in a way that avoids simple opposites, pointing instead to the lived experiences of the condition:
- The silence in your group chat of high school buddies when one member passes away from an overdose.
- The total bodily transformation of someone who is deeply dependent on opioids.
- A mother who struggles with alcohol use disorder (AUD) but fears treatment may mean the loss of her children.
And while there is no real opposite to SUD, the care teams at St. Gregory Recovery Center believe that camaraderie found in shared recovery spaces may be the closest thing.
In Iowa, our care teams in Des Moines and Bayard shift the focus from beating down cravings to building connection through people who understand what living with SUD can feel like day to day. That way, community support becomes the practical force that helps people move toward their personal “opposite” of addiction—to much-needed change and stability—without having to white-knuckle the challenges of recovery alone.
Addiction Doesn’t Work in Binaries
Recovery rarely moves in straight lines, and people often describe it more like shifting weather than a fixed, black-and-white state where you’re either substance-free or you’re not. Studies show that peer support may help you move through those shifts.
Here’s how:
- Motivation
People who receive peer-based support may build stronger confidence in managing cravings and daily decisions, suggesting this kind of support can improve self-efficacy and engagement with ongoing care over time. - Engagement
Going through recovery with peers may show links to better treatment retention, reduced substance use over time, and stronger connections to services such as outpatient care or crisis follow-up support. - Community and stability
Peer-based services may help you rebuild routines faster, reconnect with supportive networks more deeply, and gradually regain a sense of stability and agency in everyday life.
Medical vs. Psychological Experiences of SUD
Your experience of SUD can vary widely from someone else’s depending on your personal trauma and unique stressors. At the same time, there may always be a universal, neurological loop of craving, use, and relapse for everyone who deals with SUD—that’s something all your peers will identify with. But when we get down to what SUD actually is, we can consider the clinical definition.
- SUD as a medical condition: Scientists know that it’s a chronic pattern involving brain circuits tied to reward, stress, and self-control that may shift over time and can resemble other long-term health conditions like heart disease in its ongoing impact on the body and behavior.
From a lived experience, it can feel less like a diagnosis and more like cycles of wanting relief, getting it briefly, then losing control, and tumbling down a rabbit hole again.
- SUD as lived experience: A surreal, shifting cycle where you may initially use substances for fun, curiosity, or pressure, but gradually find it harder to stop, even when life consequences become clearer and potentially devastating.
Both perspectives describe the same condition, which may lead to disagreements around what recovery should look like. For your loved ones who aren’t experiencing SUD firsthand, residential treatment may feel like the best move—and you’ll find no shortage of peer support there. But our outpatient services in Des Moines are also highly effective, provide you access to a community, and still allow you to go home every night.
More Ways St. Gregory Can Help You Find Your SUD Opposite
Our Des Moines-based outpatient programs may offer the structured peer support you need to build away from SUD while still allowing you to stay connected to your daily life.
Here are just a few of our peer-based programs:
- Non-12-Steps
An alternative to the traditional 12-Step model that brings holistic group therapies and other evidence-based treatments and holistic therapies to address your recovery needs.
- SMART Recovery
Also based in science and structured for groups, SMART Recovery is all about learning to take responsibility for your recovery by maintaining motivation, building healthy coping mechanisms when cravings pop up, regulating emotions and thoughts, practicing new behaviors, and achieving balance.
Your peers can also be the loved ones who support you through recovery, even if they don’t struggle with substances. That’s where family services can come in.
Recover With The Support of Your Peers in Iowa
Lauren McQuistin’s writing often returns to the idea that SUD doesn’t have an easily identifiable opposite, but you can invent what yours looks like with your peers. Just remember: recovery isn’t so much about choosing between extremes as building a connection with others who can help you weather them. Contact St. Gregory Recovery Center to find those people today.
