Thought Stopping Techniques For Addiction Recovery

Thought Stopping Techniques For Addiction Recovery

Thought stopping is the process allowing an individual to cut out a thought that is bothersome - or break the power of thoughts leading to addictive or binge-like behavior.

Thought stopping is a 50 year old technique widely used in cognitive behavioral therapy. By practicing using mental energy in a positive way, thought stopping becomes a stress reduction technique that eliminates the overwhelming impact of stress or emotional cues that lead to unhealthy behavior.

How Does Thought Stopping Work?

Thought stopping techniques allow an individual to replace one thought for another, break an unhealthy thought pattern with a positive one, replace a negative image with a positive visual image, or detour the mind from unhealthy or negative thoughts.

Thought Stopping Techniques

Step 1: Acknowledge

First, it’s important to quickly become aware of the unhealthy thought. Recognize it.  This takes repetitive practice. Now, instead of trying to ignore it, there are some healthy things to do in the moment to acknowledge the urge demanding your attention.

Step 2: Stop & Counteract

Tell yourself “STOP” and do it immediately. You might say “STOP!” out loud, or to be subtle, wear a rubber band on your wrist and snap it when you catch yourself thinking unwanted thoughts.

Next, work to replace the unhealthy thought with a more empowering one that contradicts it.

To accomplish this, visualize a special place, embrace an accurate logical thought about the situation, or engage in a task in the moment that requires concentration and focus.

• For example, if the unhealthy thought is, “I need to look at porn to get through today,” the replacement thought can be, “I don’t need porn to not feel guilty or shame, anxious or depressed. Life is better when I’m working my sobriety program. I’m going to call my sponsor/I’m going to check in with my partner/I’m going to do that task I’ve been putting off.  If I keep this up, I will continue to reach my goal and not feel regret.”  It’s important to immediately replace the thought with a healthy, rational one.

Techniques:

• Yelling “STOP”: When an unwanted thought enters, immediately yell “STOP”. The yell can be out loud or silent in your mind. Continue to yell “STOP” until the unwanted thought leaves.
• Replacement Visual Image: If you tend to visualize negative images, replace these negative images by positive, healthy ones.
• Substituting a Healthy Thought Pattern: If you tend to think irrationally, you can develop a rational pattern of thinking by challenging every thought that comes to mind, asking: Is this a rational thought? If not, what is irrational about it? What would be a rational replacement for this thought?
• Aversive Replacements: If you tend to think of an unhealthy behavior in an acceptable manner, immediately replace these acceptable images with more honest images, for example, thoughts of sexual acting out can be replaced by the words or phrases like ‘poison’, ‘why I am doing this,’ ‘problem causer’.  

Step 3: Repeat

Repeat these thought stopping techniques as many times a day as necessary. It might work to end the thought after one or two attempts. For more ingrained urges that continue to resurface throughout the day, you may need to repeat it more than 30 times. However, many times it takes, remember to keep your focus on your sobriety.

A Real-Life Application

J is at home alone. This is a great opportunity to act out. J recognizes these unhealthy thoughts and yells “STOP!” silently to himself while closing his eyes and picturing a stop sign. J replaces the thoughts with “My sobriety is important. I don’t need any poison today.” To focus on something else, he calls his sponsor, reads recovery literature, or calls his brother he hasn’t talked to in a while.

Don’t Let Your Negative Inner Voice Interfere with Thought Stopping

For thought stopping to be an effective coping skill, one needs to have confidence the process will work. Don’t let your inner voice use excuses like these:

• Do you really want to not act out?
• I do enjoy it and it feels good.
• What difference does it make if I continue to ruminate on it?
• My partner will never know if I continue to think about it.
• I've denied myself so much a lot recently; why can't I just do it?
• It is too much of a battle to fight these thoughts. It's easier to give in and then start over again tomorrow.
• I can allow myself to engage in these preliminary dangerous thoughts and behaviors because I’ve been successful before.
• I’ll be successful in achieving recovery soon.

With practice, thought stopping can become a part of daily life. By consistently replacing unhealthy thoughts with healthy thoughts, the new healthy thoughts become more automatic. Thought stopping can be an effective tool during particularly stressful periods of life such as marital or employment uncertainty, or even the holidays, when there may be more frequent triggers for negative thoughts or slips into addictive behaviors.