Table 1 The ‘behavioral change techniques’ (BCTs) contained within Breaking Free from Substance Abuse

Baseline and progress check assessments

Monitoring behavior to provide feedback about progress towards goals; Encouraging new behaviors via positive feedback

Goal setting; self-monitoring

Self-monitoring of behavior; Feedback on outcome(s) of behavior

Lifestyle Balance Model

Generic formulation; Idiosyncratic formulation; Personalized feedback; Case formulation – understanding the links between situations, thoughts, emotions, behaviors, physical sensations and lifestyle

Node-link mapping (International Treatment Effectiveness Project - ITEP); Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

Information about antecedents; Information about health consequences; Salience of consequences; Information about social and environmental consequences; Information about emotional consequences

Difficult situations domain of LBM

Assessment; Self-monitoring; Standardized measures; Psychoeducation on impact of problematic situations; Intervention to help people in distress access support; Recognize–avoid–cope; Relapse prevention for coping with environmental/situational/emotional triggers; Creating action plans on how to avoid or cope in high-risk situations

Psychoeducation; Guided self-help; Relapse prevention; Refusal skills

Social support (unspecified); Reduce negative emotions; Problem solving; Action planning; Instruction on how to perform the behavior; Behavioral practice/rehearsal; Behavior substitution; Avoidance/reducing exposure to cues for the behavior; Goal setting

Negative thoughts domain of LBM

Psychoeducation on impact on negative thoughts; Mind traps; Cognitive restructuring; Challenging thoughts that may be unhelpful

Psychoeducation; Guided self-help; Node-link mapping (International Treatment Effectiveness Project - ITEP); Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

Information about antecedents; Information about health consequences; Salience of consequences; Information about social and environmental consequences; Information about emotional consequences; Re-attribution; Framing-reframing

Emotions domain of LBM

Psychoeducation on impact on emotions; Attention narrowing; Attention switching; Emotional regulation; Recognizing/understanding/normalizing emotions; Developing more appropriate coping strategies

Psychoeducation; Guided self-help; Coping strategy enhancement (CSE); Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy

Information about antecedents; Information about health consequences; Salience of consequences; Information about social and environmental consequences; Information about emotional consequences; Behavioral practice/rehearsal; Reducing negative emotions; Problem solving; Social support (unspecified); Behavioral practice/rehearsal; Distraction

Physical sensations domain of LBM

Psychoeducation on impact of physical sensations; Urge surfing; Body scanning; Relapse prevention-based techniques

Psychoeducation; Guided self-help; Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy

Information about antecedents; Information about health consequences; Salience of consequences; Information about social and environmental consequences; Information about emotional consequences; Instruction on how to perform a behavior; Behavioral practice/rehearsal; Reducing negative emotions

Unhelpful behaviors domain of LBM

Psychoeducation on impact of destructive behaviors; Activity scheduling; Behavioral activation; Encouraging new behaviors via positive feedback; Increasing activity to increase energy levels and relieve boredom

Psychoeducation; Guided self-help; Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

Information about antecedents; Information about health consequences; Salience of consequences; Information about social and environmental consequences; Information about emotional consequences; Non-specific reward; Non-specific incentive; Reward approximation; Rewarding completion; Goal setting (behavior); Action planning

Lifestyle domain of LBM

Psychoeducation on impact of lifestyle; Creating SMART goals for recovery; Goal setting;

Increasing treatment engagement and retention; Increasing readiness to change behavior

Psychoeducation; Guided self-help; Motivational enhancement therapy (MET); Implementation intentions

Goal setting (behavior); Problem solving; Goal setting (outcome); Action planning; Non-specific reward; Focusing on past success