Habitual substance use changes the way people think, how they feel, and how they behave.

How do these changes affect the recovery process?

Thoughts

Thoughts happen in the rational part of the brain. They are like pictures on the TV screen of the mind.

Thoughts can be controlled. As you become aware of your thoughts, you can learn to change channels in your brain.

Learning to turn off thoughts of substance use is a very important part of the recovery process.

It is not easy to become aware of your thinking and to learn to control the process. With practice it gets easier.

Emotions

Emotions are feelings. Happiness, sadness, anger, and fear are some basic emotions.

Feelings are the mind’s response to things that happen to you. Feelings cannot be controlled; they are neither good nor bad.

It is important to be aware of your feelings.

Talking to family members, friends, or a counselor can help you recognize how you feel.

People normally feel a range of emotions. Drugs can change your emotions by changing the way your brain works.

During recovery, emotions are often still mixed up.

Sometimes you feel irritated for no reason or great even though nothing wonderful has happened.

You cannot control or choose your feelings, but you can control what you do about them.

Behavior

What you do is behavior. Work is behavior. Play is behavior.

Going to treatment is behavior, and substance use is behavior.

Behavior can result from an emotion, from a thought, or from a combination of both. Repeated use of a substance changes your thoughts and pushes your emotions toward substance use.

This powerful, automatic process has to be brought back under control for recovery to occur.

Structuring time, attending 12-Step or mutual-help meetings, and engaging in new activities are all ways of regaining control.

The goal in recovery is to learn to combine your thinking and feeling self and behave in ways that are best for you and your life.

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Alcohol Arguments

Have you been able to stop using alcohol completely? At about 6 weeks into the recovery process, many people return to alcohol use.

Has your addicted brain played with the idea?

These are some of the most common arguments against stopping the use of alcohol and answers to the arguments.

I came here to stop using speed, not to stop drinking.

* Part of stopping methamphetamine use is stopping all substance use, including alcohol use.

I’ve had drinks and not used, so it doesn’t make any difference.

* Drinking over time greatly increases the risk of relapse. A single drink does not necessarily cause relapse anymore than a single cigarette causes lung cancer. However, with continued drinking, the risks of relapse greatly increase.

Drinking actually helps. When I have a craving, a drink calms me down, and the craving goes away.

* Alcohol interferes with the brain’s chemical healing process. Continued alcohol use eventually intensifies cravings, even if one drink seems to reduce cravings.

I’m not an alcoholic, so why do I need to stop drinking.

* If you’re not an alcoholic, you should have no problem stopping alcohol use. If you can’t stop, maybe alcohol is more of a problem than you realize.

I’m never going to use drugs again, but I’m not sure I’ll never drink again.

* Make a 6-month commitment to total abstinence. Give yourself the chance to make a decision about alcohol with a drug-free brain. If you reject alcohol abstinence because “forever” scares you, then you’re justifying drinking now and risking relapse to substance use.

Has your addicted brain presented you with other justifications? If so, what are they?

How are you planning to handle alcohol use in the future?

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Addictive Behavior

People who abuse substances often feel that their lives are out of control. Maintaining control becomes harder and harder the longer they have been abusing substances.

People do desperate things to continue to appear normal. These desperate behaviors are called addictive behaviors—behaviors related to substance use.

Sometimes these addictive behaviors occur only when people are using or moving toward using.

Recognize when you begin to engage in these behaviors. That’s when you know to start fighting extra hard to move away from relapse.

Which of these behaviors do you think are related to your drug or alcohol use?

* Lying

* Stealing

* Being irresponsible (for example, not meeting family or work commitments)

* Being unreliable (for example, being late for appointments, breaking promises)

* Being careless about health and grooming (for example, wearing “using” clothes, avoiding exercise, eating poorly, having a messy appearance)

* Getting sloppy in housekeeping

* Behaving impulsively (without thinking)

* Behaving compulsively (for example, too much eating, working, sex)

* Changing work habits (for example, working more, less, not at all, new job, change in hours)

* Losing interest in things (for example, recreational activities, family life)

* Isolating (staying by yourself much of the time)

* Missing or being late for treatment

* Using other drugs or alcohol

* Stopping prescribed medication (for example, disulfiram, naltrexone)

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See original document for other chapters, diagrams, worksheets etc:

Client's Handbook: Matrix Intensive Outpatient Treatment for People with Stimulant Use Disorder (112 page PDF)