Recovery Terminology
The acronym for the use of medication in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies to treat substance use disorders such as opioid addiction or alcoholism.
What is MAT?
A core concept of mindfulness, this skill is about noticing thoughts and feelings without trying to judge or change them.
What is acceptance?
A man goes out for a walk during a storm with nothing to protect him from the rain. He doesn’t have a hat, a hood or an umbrella. But by the end of his walk, there isn’t a single wet hair on his head. Why doesn’t the man have wet hair?
He's bald
When we say yes too often or no too often, what can this be a sign of?
What are unhealthy boundaries?
This neurotransmitter is plays a crucial role in reward and motivation and is heavily impacted by substance use
What is dopamine?
A common term for when a substance use disorder and mental health disorder occur at the same time.
What is dual diagnosis?
This behavioral technique helps a person stop an overwhelming emotion by focusing their mind on a physical object or sensation in the present moment.
What is grounding?
There's 30 cows and 28 chickens, how many didn't?
10
These are the two types of communication.
What are verbal and non-verbal?
What does PAWS stand for?
What is Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome?
This philosophy focuses on reducing the negative consequences of substance use rather than requiring immediate abstinence.
What is harm reduction?
The mental coping skills that involves replacing negative thoughts about substance use with realistic, positive, or more balanced statements.
What is positive self-talk or recovery thinking?
What do the letter "t" and an island have in common?
They are both in the middle of water
This concept looks at the different parts of self and how they interact with one another and impact our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
What is the Split Self?
This part of the brain is responsible for executive functioning which includes judgement and decision making.
What is the prefrontal cortex?
This is the cognitive distortion of believing that one can return to casual use without adverse effects, typically leading to relapse.
What is denial?
This principle involved delaying a decision to use, with the goal of letting the craving pass.
What is urge surfing?
A cowboy rode into town on Friday. He stayed for 3 nights and left on Friday. How is that possible?
His horse's name is Friday.
In the Seeking Safety topic of Honesty, we discussed the two types of honesty. What are they?
What are interpersonal and intrapsychic honesty?
The brains ability to recognize and rewire its neural connections.
The first stage of this three-stage process of returning to substance use.
Hint: It is not about the drug yet
What is an emotional relapse stage?
The cognitive skill of challenging the unhelpful belief that a minor set back, such as a slip, means that a full-blown relapse is inevitable.
What is challenging all-or-nothing thinking?
I make a loud sound when I am changing. When I do change, I get bigger, but I weigh less. What am I?
Popcorn
The process of attaching a new meaning to an unhelpful belief?
What is creating meaning?
This part of the brain is responsible for memory and fear. It forms strong connections in addiction to environmental cues which leads to cravings.
What is the amygdala?