Addiction & Mental Health Glossary

The 12 Steps of AA are a set of guiding principles published by Alcoholics Anonymous in 1939. They outline a structured path through recovery built on honesty, self-examination, amends, and ongoing personal accountability, supported by connection to a Higher Power as the individual defines it.

Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA) refers both to people who grew up in households affected by alcoholism or other dysfunction and to the 12-step fellowship that supports them. Clinically, growing up under a parent’s addiction affects emotional regulation, attachment, self-worth, and relational patterns into adulthood.

Alcoholics Anonymous is a free, peer-led fellowship of people recovering from alcohol addiction. Founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, AA operates through local meetings held worldwide, in person and online, where members share their experiences and support each other’s sobriety using the 12-step framework.

Cognitive-behavioural therapy is a structured, evidence-based form of psychotherapy that helps people identify, challenge, and change the distorted thinking patterns and learned behaviours that drive substance use. In addiction treatment, CBT targets the automatic thoughts and triggers that lead to cravings and relapse.

Corticosteroid therapy is the medical use of synthetic hormones that mimic cortisol(the body’s natural anti-inflammatory) to treat swelling, immune overreaction, and organ inflammation. Their role is to manage medical complications that arise from prolonged substance use or that surface during recovery.

D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is a school-based prevention program founded in 1983 by the Los Angeles Police Department in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District. It places uniformed law enforcement officers in classrooms to teach students about the dangers of drug and alcohol use, with the goal of preventing substance use before it starts.

A digital detox is a deliberate period of reduced or eliminated use of smartphones, social media, and internet-connected devices. In addiction recovery, the term applies both to the technology-restricted environment of residential treatment and to the broader recognition that compulsive screen use can share behavioural patterns with substance addiction.

Individual therapy in addiction treatment is a private, one-on-one session between a client and a licensed therapist focused on uncovering the root causes of substance use, building coping skills, and addressing co-occurring mental health conditions. It provides the depth and confidentiality that group settings cannot.

Inpatient rehab is a residential addiction treatment program where a person lives on-site and receives structured clinical care around the clock, including medical supervision, individual therapy, group counselling, and psychiatric support. It separates the addict from their environment and delivers the most severe addiction treatment outside a hospital.

Intervention counselling is a professionally guided conversation designed to help a person with addiction recognize the impact of their substance use and agree to enter treatment. A trained interventionist prepares the family beforehand, facilitates the meeting, and has a treatment plan ready to activate the moment the person says yes.

A lifetime aftercare program is a post-treatment support structure that provides ongoing access to therapy, peer connection, clinical check-ins, and crisis resources for as long as needed, with no end date. It exists because addiction is a chronic condition, and the risk of relapse doesn’t disappear when residential treatment ends.

A lifetime family program is a structured support offering that provides ongoing therapy, education, and crisis resources to the families of people in addiction recovery, for as long as they need it. It recognises that addiction damages entire family systems, not just the person using, and that lasting recovery depends on healing those relationships too.

A medical detox program is a clinically supervised setting where a person withdraws from drugs or alcohol under the care of physicians and nurses who manage symptoms with medication, fluids, and continuous monitoring. It is the safest entry point into addiction treatment for anyone with physical dependence.

Mindfulness therapy in addiction treatment uses meditation, body awareness, and present-moment attention exercises to help people observe cravings, emotions, and triggers without automatically acting on them. It teaches the user to recognize, name, and let go of their feelings to retrain the reactive cycle that drives substance use.

Nutritional support in addiction treatment refers to structured dietary care, such as meal planning, supplementation, and clinical monitoring, designed to restore the physical health that chronic substance use has degraded. Most people entering treatment are malnourished, deficient in key vitamins, and carrying metabolic damage that affects mood, cognition, and energy.

Outpatient care for addiction is structured treatment, therapy, group sessions, medical check-ins, and psychiatric support. The treatment is delivered on a scheduled basis that allows the person to continue living at home, working, and maintaining family responsibilities. It offers clinical support without removing someone from daily life.

Phospholipid therapy is an integrative treatment that delivers phosphatidylcholine and other phospholipids(the primary structural components of cell membranes) through oral supplements or intravenous infusion. In addiction medicine, it is used in some private clinics to restore liver cells and brain membranes damaged by prolonged alcohol or drug use.

Psychotherapy in addiction treatment refers to structured, evidence-based therapeutic work aimed at changing the thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that sustain substance use. It goes deeper than coping-skill instruction, targeting the psychological architecture that made addiction possible in the first place.

A rehabilitation program for addiction is a structured course of clinical treatment designed to help a person stop using substances, address the causes behind their use, and build the skills needed to sustain recovery. Programs range from residential stays lasting 30 to 90 days to outpatient schedules that allow someone to continue working and living at home.

Relapse prevention is a clinical framework, originally developed by psychologist G. Alan Marlatt, that teaches people in recovery to recognize high-risk triggers, manage cravings, and interrupt the chain of events that lead back to substance use. It treats relapse not as a moral failure but as a predictable, preventable clinical event.

Sex Addicts Anonymous is a free, peer-led 12-step fellowship for people recovering from compulsive sexual behaviour. SAA applies the framework of honesty, self-inventory, amends, and peer support, adapted for behaviours instead of substances.

SMART Recovery (Self-Management and Recovery Training) is a secular, science-based mutual support program for people recovering from addiction. It uses cognitive-behavioural and motivational techniques to help members build self-empowerment, manage cravings, and maintain balanced living, without the spiritual framework or references to a Higher Power.

A support group in addiction recovery is a gathering, in person or online, where people with shared experience around substance use meet regularly to give and receive encouragement, accountability, and practical guidance. Groups may be peer-led or facilitated by a licensed clinician, and they serve as a long-term anchor for recovery that clinical treatment alone can’t replicate.

Therapy and counselling in addiction treatment refer to structured sessions – individual, group, or family. This therapy is led by licensed professionals who help a person identify the causes behind their substance use, build coping skills, and develop a plan for sustained recovery.

Wellness and recreation in addiction treatment refers to structured physical, creative, and mindfulness-based activities incorporated into clinical programs to restore physical health. It reduces stress and provides clients with healthy sources of pleasure and routine that replace substance use.