DBT and Addiction: Navigating the Addict, Clean, and Clear Mind.

Jun 27

Vendiagram on the Addict Mind, Clean Mind, and Clear Mind. Original worksheet can be found in DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets by Marsha M. Linehan.

A brief introduction to the different mindsets we experience at different stages of our recovery.

When running groups in outpatient, this was one of my favorite activities to put on the board. Everyone would get involved, and gladly participate. I would draw the vendiagram on the board, and together we would fill out the different thoughts they typically would have in each mind. This activity really allowed everyone to see how their thinking kept them in different mindsets, and honestly assess where they were in recovery.

Addict Mind

This is the mind when you are in your active addiction. Your addiction becomes the primary focus of your day-to-day life. You are shifting your plans to accommodate your drinking. This is also you spending a lot of your time drinking or recovery from the effects of drinking. Behaviors also include lying, hiding, stealing, manipulating, and minimizing addiction.

Common Thoughts in the Addict Mind:

I don’t have a problem.
I can stop whenever I want.
This helps me deal with my mental health.
If you lived with them, you would use too.
I’m not as bad as that person.
My whole family does it.
I am working a full-time job and paying my bills, how can I be an alcoholic?

Clean Mind

People who are thinking in the Clean Mind are either a pink cloud or a dry drunk. Being on a pink cloud looks like you are in your first six weeks of sobriety and feel like everything is great since being sober, which isn’t horrible but definitely a rosey mindset. A dry drunk is someone who has stopped drinking but is not addressing any of the root causes that contributed to the drinking. A dry drunk will usually still engage in the problem behaviors that they did in active addiction such as emotional reactivity, risk-taking, lying, manipulation, etc. What is the overlapping ideation with both people on the pink cloud and the dry drunk? Feeling that they are cured from their addiction and that they will never use again. They do not know their triggers or engage in relapse prevention. People in the clean mind are susceptible to relapse because when a trigger hits, they are unprepared to deal with it head-on.

Common Thoughts associated with the Clean Mind:

I can go to the bar and not drink

I don’t need meetings

They don’t understand what I am going through

I can smoke, it is not my drug of choice

I don’t have to tell the truth, it’s not like I’m drinking.

Of course, I am going to have a drink with my son on his 21st birthday. I am his father.

I can do this alone; I don’t need anyone’s help.

I am cured
I don’t have any triggers
I’ll never pick up again

Clear Mind

The Clear Mind is the safest place to be in recovery. This mind takes place when you understand the toxicity of your Addict Mind thoughts and behaviors, as well as not engaging in drinking (like the Clean Mind). There is no judgement when you have cravings or urges. You understand how recovery has different important parts such as finding support, therapy, along with other healthy habits such as exercise and nutrition. With this said, you understand that recovery is different for everyone, and do not judge where they are in their sobriety. You learn to set healthy boundaries, and prioritize your wellness. Most importantly, there is the reality that relapse is always around the corner, so you are always engaging in ways to just stay sober for today.

Common Thoughts associated with the Clear Mind:

I look to identify with other’s stories rather than compare.
I need support, meetings, and a network of recovering alcoholics to help me.
I am open to suggestions.
I am willing to seek professional help to assist with the root of my addiction.
I am receptive to people setting boundaries with me and giving people space to heal from my previous words and actions.

I need accountability in early sobriety.

I understand that I may not like my current situation, but I accept that this is the way it is right now.

The issue is usually not the first behavior, but usually the series of behaviors that come after. An example you might not relapse the first time you engage in problem behavior or even the second time, but repeatedly engaging can lead to relapse. We would wrap up this activity by identifying how awareness is the first step in change. The second step is doing. We may know we need to get sober, but then we need to take the step to get sober. We may know that we need to get to meetings, but what good is knowing unless we take the step to go. The activities allow us to understand how behavior is the catalyst to change.

Journal Prompts:

What mind are you in?

Which thought is preventing you from taking that next step?

How is it contributing to your recovery?

What behavior are you struggling with committing to?

What is causing you to struggle with this behavior?

What is one thing you can commit to changing over the next thirty days?