The CHIME Model for Addressing Addictive Problems (and Life)

In many approaches to addressing addictive problems, eliminating or at least reducing the problematic substance or activity is the immediate priority. That priority makes sense, except when it does not. You might not be ready to make that level of change, even though you may recognize your addictive problem is indeed a problem.

An alternative approach is to focus on what you could be adding into your life, rather than taking out of it. Various alternative approaches have been suggested. We covered some of them here and here. By adding positive aspects to your life, in time, you crowd out the need or desire for other (problematic) approaches to pleasure, satisfaction, and happiness.

The CHIME framework arose from an impressive effort that identified 5,208 scientific papers on how people address mental and emotional problems (“personal recovery in mental illness”), reading 366 of them, and focusing on 97 of them, to come up with 13 characteristics of the “recovery journey,” five recovery processes, and a set of stages and substages in that journey. In this blog I will focus on the five processes, partly because they are so easy to remember!

The CHIME components are not just a guide to resolving an addictive problem or a mental illness. They can be used as a guide for a well-lived life:

CHIME: Connectedness, Hope & Optimism, Identity, Meaning, Empowerment

• How much am I connected with others?
• How much hope and optimism do I feel? How quickly can I return to hope and optimism when I seem to have lost it?
• How strong a sense do I have of who I am (and how much am I not bothered by the attempts of others to stigmatize or demean me)?
• How much meaning do I experience in my day-to-day life, and when thinking about my life in longer timeframes?
• How much strength and control of my life do I experience (in the parts I can control)?

I hope your life is moving in these directions (and chiming like a beautiful bell!)

Source: Leamy, M., Bird, V., Le Boutillier, C., Williams, J., & Slade, M. Conceptual framework for personal recovery in mental health: systematic review and narrative synthesis, Br J Psychiatry, 2011 Dec;199(6):445-52.

Liked this article on the CHIME Model? You might also be interested in: Drug & Alcohol Cravings- 10 Useful Methods to Cope