The newest buzzword in addiction recovery is “mindfulness”. Addiction recovery specialists are finally noticing what people have known for centuries, that the practice of mindfulness is helpful to everyone, but particularly people recovering from an addiction.
In a recent article published on Psychology Today, Applying Mindfulness in Relapse Prevention, the author discusses the merits of mindfulness in recovery and how people can recognize the feelings or urges that have become a signal to them to drink or use drugs, food, sex, etc to try to stop or avoid that feeling.
From the article: “Urge surfing is a mindfulness practice developed by G. Alan Marlatt, PhD, as part of Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention. Urges, cravings, or impulses to engage in the use of substances or activities, like waves at the ocean’s edge, follow a natural progression—they rise in intensity, reach a crest, crash, and then recede.”
Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention is more than just a buzzword, however, it is a scientifically studied treatment approach that requires practitioners to be educated in the psychology of addiction, mindfulness, attention, and habits. If you’re considering treatment at a recovery center which says it offers a “mindfulness” program, ask what credentials their practitioners have and what program they are using. Some recovery centers will use whatever word is popular in treatment in order to entice clients without having any real concept of what it means.
Centered Recovery Programs, located in Roswell, just north of Atlanta, is delighted to announce a real time recovery program based on scientifically valid programs using Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention clinicians and facilitators. Call 800-556-2966 to speak with Reed for more information.
