5 Brain Hacks to Stay the Course in Recovery
As they say in the rooms of AA, recovery is an inward journey. The connotation is undeniably spiritual in meaning, but for those in early recovery whose spiritual foundation may as yet need to become strong, the journey is no less psychological in nature. It requires dutiful attention to harmful thinking (i.e. mindfulness), reframing familiar problems in novel ways, and cultivating humility through framing of the self in more realistic, accurate terms.
According to The Cabin Hong Kong, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) offers recovering addicts and alcoholics a more intellectual approach to recovery, one we recommend as an addition to — rather than a substitution for — participation in AA or a related 12-step program. The essence of CBT lies in reframing thoughts, interpretations of events or actions, including those that arise from the self.
For CBT to work in your recovery path, you must recognize a) that events have no inherent meaning (i.e. meaning is imbued through the experiencer), b) thoughts occur within a ‘frame’, or series of attitudes or beliefs, and c) even negative thoughts have a positive intention at their core. Keeping these indelible truths of CBT in mind, try to incorporate some or all of the following techniques into your habits whenever you face challenges in recovery that feel insurmountable.
1. Keep tabs on negative thoughts
Similar to a journal, keep a notepad (or notebook app) handy on your person throughout the day, and write down negative thoughts as soon as you notice them. There is no need to ‘solve’ or analyze the thoughts right away; simply putting them to paper (or processor) does two things: it builds a mindfulness habit and subtly removes these thoughts’ power. Later, you can analyze the frame in which these thoughts surfaced, and the true (positive) intention behind them.
2. Get Good at Putting a Positive Spin on Negative Thoughts
Instead of “My boss fired me,” try: “My boss allowed me to move on to a better position.”
Rather than “If I relapse again, I’ll punish myself even more severely,” consider: “if I forgive myself for a past relapse, I’ll be able to move on and prevent another one.”
You get the idea. It might seem unnatural, even “salesy,” but in both above cases, the second statement is not untrue. Your thoughts define your reality, and your attitude determines almost everything — from your work to your relationships and your sense of self.
3. A/B Test Your Thoughts
In advertising, A/B testing is a method to test assumptions — it involves running two distinct but similar adds to measure audience engagement, while systematically determining the reason for the difference. When you experience a persistent negative thought (“I’ll never get a good job with my experience”), try reframing it positively (“If I get xxx experience, I’ll be able to get xxx job”). Each time the thought recurs, correct it with your newly spun variation. Keep it up, and keep track of different (likely more positive) outcomes.
4. Practice Multi-Sensory Visualization
Visualizing yourself sober — i.e. picturing yourself sitting in a cafe enjoying a coffee or cooking a nutritious meal at home on a Friday night — are the first step in ‘visualization’ as a CBT process. But you don’t have to stop there. Beyond visual imagination, try imaging in these scenarios what you might hear, smell, feel, or taste in place of alcohol. The greater the array of sensory information incorporated into this ‘vision,’ the stronger the exercise becomes in a cognitive sense. Practice this as part of your morning meditation — recreate all the sensory inputs involved with staying sober another 24 hours.
5. Unpack your Assumptions and Find a Positive Intention
For this step, refer to the negative-thought journal from Step 1 in this list. Scan your daily inventory of negative thoughts to find those that seem persistent or common. Take, for example, the following: “I drink because my girlfriend/boyfriend doesn’t respect me.” The first step is to challenge the assumption or blanket statement — is there a time (or many) where your girlfriend/boyfriend showed undeniable respect? More than likely, yes. Next, find the positive intention behind the statement. If you’re upset that your significant other doesn’t (seem) to respect you, it must be because you want to earn their respect. Rather than focus on others, challenge your assumptions and focus on the solution: what you can change to earn this person’s respect going forward.
