"The Mindfulness Workbook for Addiction" by Rebecca E. Williams, PhD, and Julie S. Kraft, MA, LMFT, is a practical, evidence-based guide designed to help individuals manage the intense emotional states that often fuel addictive behaviors. The book’s core strength is its integrative approach, skillfully blending the mindful self-acceptance of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), the thought-challenging of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), and the emotional-regulation skills of DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy).

The authors focus specifically on addressing the three primary emotional triggers of addiction: grief, stress, and anger. By using a workbook format, the book teaches readers to apply mindfulness to recognize and tolerate these difficult emotions without resorting to compulsive behaviors. It emphasizes that freedom from addiction is achieved not by fighting negative feelings, but by accepting them, understanding their origin, and choosing constructive, values-driven responses. This workbook empowers readers to build a diverse toolkit for emotional regulation, making it an indispensable resource for cultivating lasting stability and peace in recovery.

Study Guide for Recovery

This study guide is designed to help you explore the concepts in "The Mindfulness Workbook for Addiction" and apply them to your own journey of emotional sobriety.

Key Themes & Concepts

• Integrative Skills: Learning a versatile set of skills by drawing on the strengths of ACT (values and acceptance), CBT (thought change), and DBT (crisis management).
• Emotional Triggers: Directly addressing the role of grief, stress, and anger as major high-risk emotional states that precede addictive behavior.
• Mindfulness for Acceptance: Using mindfulness to embrace difficult emotions (grief, anger) without judgment, understanding that resisting them increases suffering.
• Opposite Action (DBT Principle): Learning to identify an impulse to act destructively (e.g., in anger or sadness) and choosing a healthy, opposite action instead.

Discussion Questions

1. Which of the three primary emotional triggers (grief, stress, or anger) is currently the biggest risk to your sobriety? What is one mindfulness tool you can use to specifically target that emotion today?
2. The workbook integrates ACT's acceptance and CBT's change strategies. Identify one emotion you need to simply accept today, and one thought pattern you need to actively challenge and change.
3. The book offers tools for coping with grief. What is one unexpressed or unprocessed grief (loss, past mistake, lost identity) that you are willing to bring a mindful, compassionate awareness to this week?
4. Think about an instance where you felt intense anger. How could using a DBT skill (like opposite action or distraction) have helped you to tolerate that feeling without acting on a destructive impulse?
5. What is one small, simple exercise from the workbook you can commit to practicing daily to strengthen your ability to remain mindfully present during moments of high stress?

Additional Resources

• Video: "Mindfulness for Addiction Recovery" (Authors' Teachings):
  • Watch a video or lecture by one of the authors, Rebecca Williams or Julie Kraft, where they discuss the application of mindfulness in clinical recovery settings. (Search "Rebecca Williams Julie Kraft mindfulness addiction" on YouTube.)
• Resource: ACT Guided Meditations for Addiction:
  • Access free, guided audio meditations rooted in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help you clarify values and practice acceptance. (Search "ACT guided meditations for addiction".)
• Article: "DBT Skills for Emotional Regulation in Recovery":
  • This article explains how core DBT skills like emotional regulation and distress tolerance are effectively used by individuals in recovery to manage intense feelings. (Search "DBT skills emotional regulation addiction".)
• Website: The New Harbinger Workbook Resources:
  • The publisher often provides additional downloads or resources related to their self-help workbooks, which can complement the exercises in the book. (Search "New Harbinger mindfulness workbook for addiction resources".)