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You may have heard the word “mindfulness” so many times that you’re not sure if it really means anything, and it’s true that the concept has been overused in recent years. But here, we’re going to be talking about the concept of mindfulness in the context of a strategy for long-term sobriety. A tactic called mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) has some potential for those undergoing treatment and in recovery. Specifically, you’ll learn how to maintain sobriety using mindfulness worksheets for addiction.
At FHE Health, we’re committed to continually learning more about the latest therapies and techniques used in recovery for the good of our patients. Keep reading to learn how mindful relapse prevention strategies could be the key to successful treatment and recovery.
Adopting a More Present Mindset
Before we get into what MBRP is, we’ll talk a little about what mindfulness is in general and its prior application in the behavioral health treatment industry.
Mindfulness means to be present in everything you’re doing, fully aware of your thoughts and feelings and not overly reactive to the things that are happening around you. The concept of “mindful meditation” has become popular as a way to truly understand the intended outcomes of meditation. It should make you more in tune with every thought and feeling you have and, in turn, provide a sense of calm.
This concept has been applied in several clinical areas, notably one called mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). It combines the tenets of mindfulness — being completely present — with cognitive therapy (CT), a therapy that centers around the person in counseling understanding their thought processes and actions on a deeper level. The outcome of MCBT is to help people with psychological issues like depression, anxiety and panic disorders.
What Is MBRP?
Mindfulness-based relapse prevention is an evidence-based alternative to 12-step programs for relapse prevention. While 12-step programs are generally thought to have a place in the modern recovery process, a study in the Senses and Sciences Journal found that mindful RP strategies were more effective than conventional strategies.
MBRP breaks addiction and recovery into the two largest (by far) predictors for relapse: negative thoughts and cravings.
Using Mindfulness Worksheets for Addiction
For anyone on the road to recovery, mindfulness worksheets for addiction empower them with a self-guided tool that helps them understand their thoughts and addiction triggers so they can recognize them before falling into relapse.
A key focus across mindfulness worksheets is framing your thoughts in a positive light and reinforcing the benefits of mindfulness. For example, instead of someone thinking about a time they gave into their addiction cravings, a mindful worksheet may instruct them to describe a time when mindful breathing helped them overcome the urge to use alcohol or drugs.
Typical writing prompts someone may find on a mindfulness worksheet for addiction include:
- Describe how mindfulness makes you aware of your cravings.
- Write about the last time you used mindfulness to overcome an urge to use.
- List three ways mindfulness has facilitated your recovery journey.
- Reflect on the mindfulness practice you’ve found most helpful.
Mindfulness worksheets are similar to a structured journal. Many also encourage people to include positive affirmations after going through the worksheet’s prompts.
Being Mindful of Negative Thoughts
Addiction is commonly associated with negative thoughts, self-deprecating behavior and low self-esteem. This is part of the reason mental health and addiction are inexorably linked. One study showed people with higher mental resilience are less prone to destructive coping behaviors such as binge drinking.
Even for people who are sober long-term, negative feelings can catch you off guard. Then, when hopelessness or escapism sinks in, many addicts are driven by these feelings to start using again.
MBRP teaches addicts to be more aware of these feelings and, instead of trying to escape, allow themselves to fully experience the feelings so they can understand how they’re brought on and how they manifest. Once a person is fully present and aware of the negative thoughts’ paths to their psyche, they can develop strategies to overcome them.
A common exercise used in MBRP is to acknowledge common thoughts by writing them down. This turns abstract feelings into tangible sentences and reframes the battle against these negative emotions.
Being Mindful of the Effect of Cravings
Many people think resisting cravings is purely a function of willpower — i.e., if you can force yourself to resist, you’re a strong-willed individual. In reality, this represents the same misunderstanding that led to addiction being stigmatized in society for so long.
Cravings are something we can’t control, but if we’re mindful of their presence, we can more easily resist their effects on the brain. Cravings can effectively rewire the risk-reward system in the brain by lowering inhibitions, making us impulsive. A mindful way to approach this effect is to be fully aware of it and understand the consequences that result from impulsive behavior.
The Dialect of Mindful RP
There are several terms you’re likely to hear if you step into a community where MBRP — or mindfulness in general — is being practiced.
Urge Surfing
In recovery, cravings and urges for any addictive substance or behavior tend to come in waves, but most addicts do their best to suppress these waves. In circles that have embraced mindfulness for recovery or just as a healthier lifestyle, they refer to “urge surfing” as the practice of working with the cravings instead of fighting them, like a surfer with a wave.
Basically, this means the same thing as framing cravings in a mindful way. Instead of denying cravings, mindful RP promotes the act of confronting and becoming in tune with those cravings and leveraging this awareness to resist them. Nonetheless, practicing MBRB in a sober breathing space, or somewhere you can think without reminders of your addiction, can be helpful.
Mindful Meditation
Like most mindful practices, MBRP programs often involve meditation. The belief is that being still and focusing on your breathing fosters an environment for self-understanding.
Practicing MBRP on a Daily Basis
One of the biggest advantages of a system like mindful relapse prevention is that it doesn’t need to be done with a group. In fact, it’s thought to be more effective when done alone.
There’s such a thing as guided meditation, and more often, true MBRP takes place in a clinical setting, where patients learn mindful RP strategies and techniques before continuing to use them on their own. However, with mindfulness worksheets for addiction, you can reap the benefits of MBRP in the comfort of your own home.
To maximize the effectiveness of MBRP, it’s important to find a sober breathing space — a quiet location where you can be at peace without the temptations or triggers of your addiction. Additionally, you should incorporate MBRP as part of your greater relapse prevention plan.
Traditional MBRP in Group Settings
While MBRP is typically conducted in group settings with an experienced addiction therapist, you can adapt its protocol to use in your own mindfulness worksheets for addiction. In past studies, MBRP was conducted over the course of eight group sessions.
Below, we’ve summarized how clinicians have used MBRP through an eight-session program to help others overcome their addictions. See how you can incorporate these practices into your own MBRP program:
- Focus on taste and smell. The first session encourages participants to think about how different tastes and smells contribute to the mental feeling of being on autopilot. Participants think about how being mindful of their experience can affect their thoughts and actions at that moment.
- Think about sight and sound. In the second and third sessions, participants note the various sights and sounds that trigger their cravings. Then, they focus on using exercises throughout the day to help combat the triggers that place them into the autopilot mode that contributes to their addiction.
- Reflect on thoughts and emotions. Sessions four through six instruct participants to think about the thoughts and behaviors that precede a relapse while remaining aware of the present. Participants strive to stay mindful and create the habit of allowing themselves time to make less impulsive decisions.
- Discuss what you’ve learned. In the seventh and eighth sessions, participants go over what they’ve learned and discuss how they can create environments conducive to their sobriety.
The Bottom Line: Does MBRP Work?
Addiction is extremely complex, and so is recovery from addiction. Different things work for different people. The JAMA study mentioned above showed a statistically significant decrease in relapse occurred in the group using MBRP in recovery versus the group using 12-step programs. In the relapses that did occur in the MBRP group, usage wasn’t as heavy as those in the control group who experienced relapse.
There are two important things to remember here:
- Relapse is unavoidable in chronic conditions like addiction, diabetes and asthma.
- 12-step groups can still provide addicts with the community, structure and accountability they need to succeed in recovery.
Whether it’s for overcoming addiction or general wellness, mindful meditation in all its variations has been helping Americans better themselves for decades. The National Health Interview Survey reports that the number of American adults using mediation to improve themselves increased by more than 100% between 2002 and 2022. With these things in mind, MBRP is undoubtedly an option to reach certain people in recovery and give them the chance they need to be successful.
Sobriety Awaits
Mindfulness worksheets for addiction make an excellent addition to a relapse prevention plan, but you don’t have to do it all alone. To learn more about cutting-edge treatment methods and therapies, contact FHE Health today.
