Recovery Basics
The physical or psychological practice of purposely pausing, breathing, and focusing awareness on the present moment.
What is mindfullness?
This 12-step fellowship, founded in 1935, uses sponsors and step work as its core recovery model
What is Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)?
an FDA-approved prescription medication used to treat opioid use disorder. It combines buprenorphine, a partial opioid agonist that reduces cravings and withdrawal symptoms, and naloxone, an antagonist that helps prevent misuse. It is taken as a dissolving sublingual film or tablet
What is Suboxone?
Awareness, Acceptance, Action
What are the three A's of recovery?
In 2022, this many opioid-involved overdose deaths were reported in the U.S. — more than any previous year
What is roughly 82,000 (81,806)?
HALT is an acronym that reminds people in recovery to check on these four states before they act on craving
What are hungry, angry, lonely, and tired?
This term describes a person further along in recovery who mentors someone newer in a 12-step program
What is a sponsor?
The "pleasure chemical" in our brain that plays a major role in substance abuse, addiction, and the reward pathway.
What is dopamine?
This dangerous phenomenon can occur if buprenorphine is given too soon after a full opioid agonist, kicking existing opioids off receptors
What is precipitated withdrawal?
Each year in the US, nearly 85,000 people die from this legal drug,making it the third leading preventable cause of death in the country
What is about alcohol?
A people, place, or thing that elicits a negative emotional response or induces a craving.
What are triggers?
This concept means treating co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders together, not separately
What is dual diagnosis / co-occurring treatment?
an FDA-approved medication used primarily to treat alcohol use disorder and opioid use disorder. It works by binding to and blocking opioid receptors in the brain, which prevents the euphoric "high" and diminishes the rewarding effects and associated cravings.
What is naltrexone/vivitrol?
The physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism
What is detoxification?
Up to this percentage of patients who took MAT maintain sobriety at the 2-year mark
What is about 90%
This famous prayer, often recited at support meetings, asks for the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
What is the serenity prayer?
This defense mechanism, common early in recovery, involves refusing to accept the reality of one's substance use disorder
What is denial?
This medication used in alcohol use disorder causes severe nausea if alcohol is consumed while taking it
What is disulfiram (Antabuse)?
1st symptom experienced as a sign you're developing a substance abuse disorder
What is increased tolerance?
A person with untreated opioid use disorder has roughly this many times the risk of premature death compared to the general population
What is 10 times?
This term refers to a return to substance use after a period of abstinence, distinguished from a "lapse" (a single slip)
What is a relapse?
This term describes the negative emotional/physical symptoms (irritability, poor sleep, low mood) that can persist for MONTHS after stopping substance use
What is Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS)?
This is the general term for using any FDA-approved medication together with counseling and behavioral therapy to treat substance use disorder
What is Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) / Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)?
The opposite of addiction
What is connection?
This drug is responsible for being mixed into cocaine leading to 8 out of 10 cocaine deaths
What is fentanyl?