True Recovery

This includes the Getting Started and Overview sections. If you're new to the site, or just want to check out what we're all about, and how to get the most from the site, this is a great place to browse.

To regain conscious control of our lives, we need to understand there's a difference between what's happening in the world around us, and our thoughts about that. That's where Mindfulness comes in. Mindfulness has it's root in Zen Buddhism, but has been adapted in the treatment of severe personality disorders by the psychiatric community for years. This module discusses Mindfulness, from the perspective of someone in recovery.

Distress Tolerance, as the title implies, is honing our ability to tolerate stress. What do we do when things get really rough? Most of us, on this site, are here because we do dysfunctional things when life gets rough. We reach for drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling, food, shopping, and a whole host of other harmful, even dangerous behaviors. In this section we learn how to handle the things that "trigger" those damaging urges of ours in a more productive, less threatening way.

Emotion Regulation is all about taking care of ourselves so we have fewer urges, with less severity. During this module, we'll discuss what's behind those urges and several techniques, tools and skills to keep our mindset in better shape, stronger, more comfortable, steadier and more positive. We'll discuss and practice understanding and describing our emotions, the benefits our feelings have, how to reduce our vulnerability to distress and the self-destructive behaviors that come with it. We'll also learn techniques to take care of ourselves, let go of rumination and emotional pain, as well as how to consciously select the emotions we feel.