Eliminating Old Triggers and Creating New Pathways
(Adapted from Linehan, DBT Burning Bridges and Building New ones)
Eliminating Old Triggers: "Burning Bridges"
The concept of "burning bridges" involves actively removing any connections or situations that may trigger addictive behaviors. This means taking deliberate steps to sever ties with anything that could potentially lead to relapse. The essence of "burning bridges" is rooted in radical acceptance, commitment, and decisive action aimed at ensuring that addictive behaviors are no longer an option.
Illustrative Example: Picture yourself at home with a menacing elephant approaching. You quickly retreat into your garage and shut the door. If you leave even a small gap, the elephant might still get through. Similarly, if you leave any openings or doubts about your commitment to abstinence, you risk letting your addiction back in. Burning bridges means closing off any potential gaps completely, making relapse an unthinkable option.
Steps to Eliminate Triggers:
Commit Fully: Make a firm commitment to eliminate everything that poses a threat to your sobriety. Visualize this commitment as closing and locking the garage door to prevent any chance of addiction sneaking back in.
Identify Triggers: Create a comprehensive list of all factors that facilitate your addiction. This should be an honest and thorough inventory, including phone numbers, email addresses, social media contacts, items associated with the addiction, and even financial resources that could be misused.
Remove Triggers: Actively remove these triggers from your life. This may involve discarding items linked to your addiction, cutting off contact with enabling individuals, and eliminating any accessible resources that could fuel your addiction.
Implement Protective Measures: Identify and implement strategies that make it difficult to engage in addictive behaviors. Be transparent about your goals and progress with trusted friends and family.
Creating New Pathways: "Building New Bridges"
"Building new bridges" refers to the practice of creating new mental images and associations that compete with those linked to addictive urges. By actively imagining positive and non-addictive scenarios, you can reduce the power of cravings.
Steps to Build New Bridges:
Generate Positive Images and Smells: Develop vivid, non-addictive mental images and smells that you can focus on when cravings arise. For example, if you're struggling with cigarette cravings, visualize yourself enjoying a relaxing day at the beach with the scent of the ocean in the air.
Engage the Senses: Use visual stimuli or different scents to distract from cravings. When faced with a craving for chocolate, look at dynamic visuals or smell something pleasant but unrelated, like fresh pine or perfume.
Practice Urge Surfing: Coined by Alan Marlatt, "urge surfing" involves riding the wave of cravings without giving in. By observing and describing your urges in a mindful way, you can learn to endure them without acting on them. This technique involves acknowledging the urge as a temporary wave that eventually subsides.
Rewire the Brain: Engaging in urge surfing helps break the cycle of reacting to urges by reinforcing the idea that cravings can be experienced without succumbing to them. Visualize yourself successfully riding out the urge like a surfer riding a wave, knowing that it will pass.
By applying these strategies, you can enhance your recovery process, replacing old triggers with new, positive mental pathways and reinforcing your commitment to change.
