Aftercare course Session 12
Cross-addictions, process addictions, and the diagnostic that helps you spot the pattern early — in food, screens, shopping, sex, gambling, work, exercise, or a new substance.
What you'll learn
01
The features — compulsion, loss of control, continuation despite consequences, preoccupation, tolerance, using behavior to manage emotion — describe relationships, not substances. The same brain that ran the substance can develop the same relationship with food, screens, shopping, sex, gambling, work, exercise, or a new substance.
02
Do I do more of it than I intended? Have I tried to cut back and failed? Has it cost me something? Am I using it to manage feelings? Do I think about it more than I would like? Two or more yeses on a single behavior means it has crossed into addictive-pattern territory.
03
Cross-addictions named honestly to one person are dramatically more manageable than cross-addictions held in private. Apply the tools you already have — HALT, urge surfing, calling someone — to the new behavior. For some, a separate fellowship helps: GA, OA, SLAA, DA, or a specialized therapist.
Why it happens
The brain that ran your substance use is the brain you are still walking around with. It has a strong, well-grooved set of habits around reward-seeking, emotion management, and dopamine. When you removed the substance, you did not remove the brain. The brain is still reaching. And it will, very often, find something else to reach for.
The thing it reaches for is what we mean by addiction coming out sideways. The disease is not gone. It is just looking for a new door. Most cross-addictions go undetected longer than the original substance because they look socially acceptable — workaholism is praised, fitness is admired, screens are normal. The pattern hides inside the culture.
Knowing the brain does this changes what you do with it. You stop being surprised when a new behavior gets compulsive. You stop interpreting it as proof of moral failure. You start watching for it — the same way you watch for cravings. You catch it earlier. You name it. You bring it into the light. The cross-addiction is information, not failure.
Your worksheet
Five behaviors. Five questions per behavior. Honest answers, in writing, for the first time.
Session 12 · Worksheet
Ten quiet minutes. Answers save on this device as you type — no account, no upload.
Three reflection prompts for the week
For the diagnostic
Write down five behaviors you've done a meaningful amount of in the last month. Phone, food, shopping, gambling, porn or apps, work, exercise, caffeine or nicotine, a new substance, a relationship. Run all five questions on each. Two or more yeses on one means a real pattern.
For the conversation
If anything came up — anything at all — tell one person this week. Sponsor, coach, therapist. If nothing came up, tell that person too. The check-in itself is the practice. The secret is what makes it dangerous, not the behavior.
For the containment
If a real pattern showed up, build a small plan with your sponsor or coach. Technical interventions that reduce access (app blockers, removing food, closing a card). A specific fellowship if one fits (GA, OA, SLAA, DA, Workaholics Anonymous, SMART process groups). One disclosure conversation if it applies.
Up next
The phone, the post, the announcement, the long scroll at 11 p.m. How to be careful with social media in early recovery — and how to handle the in-person question of what you've been up to.
Continue to session 13If this brought up more than it answered
CVR recovery coaches work with one client at a time. Private, one-on-one, no scripts. If you want to talk to someone, we can usually get back to you within a few hours.
If you need help right now
These lines are free, confidential, and open 24/7 — for you, for your person, or for anyone you love. You don't have to be in the worst moment to call.
Overdose or medical emergency
911
Signs of overdose: slow or stopped breathing, blue or gray lips or fingertips, gurgling, unresponsive. Call 911, give naloxone (Narcan) if you have it, and roll them onto their side. Stay on the line.
Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
988
Call or text 988 any time you — or someone you love — is in emotional crisis, thinking about suicide, or just can't carry it alone tonight.
SAMHSA National Helpline
1-800-662-HELP
Free, confidential treatment referral and information for individuals and families dealing with substance use. In English and Spanish.
Never Use Alone
1-800-484-3731
A person answers, stays on the line while someone uses, and calls for help if they stop responding. No judgment — harm reduction, not intervention.
Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-7233
Substance use and abuse often overlap. If you're being hurt, threatened, or controlled — physically, emotionally, or financially — trained advocates can help you think through what's next.
Naloxone (Narcan)
Get it free
Naloxone reverses opioid overdose. It's available over the counter, and many programs mail it for free. Keep it in your house, your car, your bag — even if you don't think you need it.
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