Addiction glossary
The words, in plain English
The terms people actually search for at 3am — "the crash", "redosing", "the fear", "chasing the high" — explained honestly, without the jargon or the lecture. What each one really means, what it feels like, and why it matters. Written by someone who's been there.
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Honest questions, scored the way a specialist would — a private read on where you actually are.
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B
Binge Drinking
What actually counts — and why the pattern matters more than the total.
Read →Bingeing
Hours or days of using on a loop. The binge–crash cycle, and where it starts.
Read →Blackout
Alcohol memory loss — why it's a serious red flag, not a funny story.
Read →Bump
"Just a bump." The small dose that quietly becomes the whole night.
Read →C
California Sober
“I only smoke and drink now.” Harm reduction — or a side door back in?
Read →Charlie, Beak & Co.
The street names for cocaine — and the reality the friendly slang hides.
Read →Chasing the High
Reaching for a first hit you'll never get back — the engine of escalation.
Read →Cocaethylene
The toxic substance your body makes from cocaine + alcohol — and why it's so risky.
Read →Cocaine Crash
The sharp drop after the high — drained, wired and reaching for more.
Read →Cocaine Nose
The nasal damage from snorting — nosebleeds, lost smell, a perforated septum.
Read →Cocaine Overdose
The warning signs, and exactly what to do. If it's happening now, call 999 / 112.
Read →Codependency
Losing yourself in someone else's addiction — rescuing, walking on eggshells.
Read →Cold Turkey
Quitting abruptly — when it's just hard, and when it's dangerous.
Read →Comedown
The flat, anxious 1–3 days after — mild withdrawal, and what it's telling you.
Read →Complacency
The quiet relapse risk when things are finally going well.
Read →Cross-Addiction
Swapping one addiction for another — why the escape-engine finds a new outlet.
Read →Crossfading
Mixing weed and drink for a bigger hit — and why it backfires.
Read →Cue Reactivity
Why a place, a song or a person can hijack you — and how to retrain it.
Read →D
Delirium Tremens (the DTs)
The alcohol withdrawal that can kill — know the signs, never quit cold alone.
Read →Dependence vs Addiction
Physical withdrawal versus compulsive use — why the difference matters.
Read →Detox
Clearing the drug safely — and which ones need medical supervision.
Read →The Disease of More
Never enough — one is too many and a thousand never enough.
Read →Dopamine Fasting
The trendy “reset” — what it gets right, and the myth it's built on.
Read →Drunkorexia
Skipping meals to “save room” for drink — an eating disorder stacked on a drinking one.
Read →Dry Drunk
Sober on paper, still miserable — why abstinence alone isn't recovery.
Read →Dual Diagnosis
Addiction plus a mental-health condition — why both need treating.
Read →E
F
G
The Geographical Cure
Thinking a new city or job will fix it — why you take yourself with you.
Read →Gratitude in Recovery
Why a real gratitude practice protects your mood — not toxic positivity.
Read →Greening Out
Cannabis overwhelm — dizzy, sick and pale. Why it happens, and that it passes.
Read →Gurning & Coke Jaw
The involuntary jaw-clenching on stimulants — why it happens and the damage it does.
Read →H
Hair of the Dog
The morning drink that “cures” a hangover — and the red flag when you need it.
Read →Half-Life
What it means, and why it shapes comedowns and withdrawal timing.
Read →HALT
Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired — the four states that drive most relapses.
Read →Harm Reduction
What it means, where it genuinely helps, and where stopping is the safer aim.
Read →I
K
L
M
N
O
P
PAWS — Post-Acute Withdrawal
The long tail of low mood, poor sleep and craving waves — normal, and it fades.
Read →People-Pleasing
Losing yourself to keep everyone happy — a quiet driver of relapse.
Read →The Pink Cloud
The early-recovery high — and the week 2–3 trap when it fades.
Read →Playing the Tape Forward
The tool that runs a craving past the first hit to how it really ends.
Read →Potentiation
When one drug ramps up another — and why that causes overdoses.
Read →Pulling a Whitey
Going pale, sweaty and sick on weed — the cause and how to handle it.
Read →R
Recovery Capital
Everything in your corner that keeps you sober — and how to build more of it.
Read →Redosing
"Just one more line." Why you can't stop at one — and why it's a red flag.
Read →Reward Deficiency
When normal life stops being enough — the engine under “the disease of more.”
Read →Rock Bottom
The myth that you have to hit it before getting help. You don't.
Read →S
Self-Sabotage
Wrecking your own progress without meaning to — and how to catch it.
Read →The Sesh
Session culture and the quiet price it extracts — and when it stops being fun.
Read →Sober Curious
Questioning your drinking without a label or hitting bottom.
Read →Speedballing
Mixing an upper and a downer — one of the most dangerous combinations.
Read →Spice (Synthetic Cannabinoids)
Why “fake weed” is far more dangerous and unpredictable than cannabis.
Read →Spiritual Bypassing
Using “positivity” and good vibes to skip the actual feelings — and the work.
Read →Stinking Thinking
The distorted thoughts that quietly talk you back into using.
Read →Suicide Tuesday
The midweek crash after a big weekend — why it gets dark, and that it passes.
Read →Surrender
Not defeat — letting go of the control that was never working.
Read →T
T-Break
A tolerance break from weed — and the honest question if you can't take one.
Read →Tapering
Coming off gradually and safely — and why some tapers must be doctor-led.
Read →Tolerance
Needing more for the same effect. Why it builds, and what it means for your risk.
Read →Trigger Stacking
When small triggers pile up and overwhelm your defences.
Read →Triggers
The people, places and feelings that fire a craving — and how to plan around yours.
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