Five-Stage Model of Problematic Behavior Recovery(PBR)

I very often get the question: This happened today and it made me worry, is this normal?

Often the answer is, yes, what you’re experiencing is not only normal but often an integral part of recovery.

If you knew how to recover from PB most efficiently, wouldn’t you take it? Reduce the amount of time spent suffering? Learn as much as you can about yourself and how to find your happiness? If so, it’s important to have a realistic expectation of what will happen during your time in recovery.

Think about someone throwing a baseball at you and there’s nothing you can do to stop them. The best thing for you in this scenario is to know when they are going to throw it at you, how hard they’ll throw it, and where they’ll be when they throw it. If you knew all of this, you’d prepare yourself and be more likely to catch or block the ball and not cause any further harm. Recovery is like this. If you know what to expect, when urges will happen, and how to prepare yourself, you’ll likely do better and recover better.

Each stage goes over some things that are normal, common emotions, a detailed description of what this stage looks like, and a helpful activity to do in each stage. This stage model is best used in conjunction with your work with a licensed mental health professional with specific training and expertise in problematic behavior and addiction recovery.