Recovery Glossary

The language of recovery, defined in clear terms.

What is a sponsor?

One of the quiet engines of 12-step recovery is simply one person walking the road a little ahead of you.

What is a dry drunk?

Putting down the drink is the start, not the finish. The difference between dry and well is the work that comes after.

What is the pink cloud?

Early recovery can feel surprisingly wonderful. That high is real — and worth understanding before it shifts.

What does HALT mean?

Sometimes the thing that puts recovery at risk is not a crisis. It is a missed meal and a bad night's sleep.

What is codependency?

Loving someone through addiction can quietly cost you yourself. There is a name for that, and a way back.

What is enabling?

Almost every act of enabling starts as an act of love. That is exactly what makes it so hard to see.

What does "one day at a time" mean?

The idea of "never again" can crush a person on day one. "Just today" is something almost anyone can carry.

What is recovery capital?

Recovery is not just willpower. It is everything you can draw on — and the good news is, you can build more of it.

What is powerlessness?

It sounds like defeat. In recovery, it is closer to the opposite — the honesty that finally makes change possible.

What is surrender?

Not waving a white flag at the addiction — laying down the doomed fight to beat it alone, so something better can begin.

What is a "higher power"?

The phrase that makes so many people hesitate at the door is, in practice, one of the most open ideas in recovery.

What are amends?

More than "sorry." Amends are about repairing harm with changed action — and knowing when reaching out would do more harm than good.

What is urge surfing?

You cannot stop a wave from coming. But you can learn to ride it out — and waves, like cravings, always break.

What is harm reduction?

An approach built on a simple, humane premise: keeping people alive and safer matters, whether or not they are ready to stop.

What is abstinence?

The most straightforward recovery goal of all — and, for many people, the most reliable: none at all.

What does "rock bottom" mean?

A familiar phrase with a dangerous myth attached: that you have to lose everything before you are allowed to get well.

Looking for a quick definition? Browse the full A–Z recovery glossary — short, plain-language meanings for 27 core recovery terms.

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Twelva is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, SMART Recovery, or any recovery fellowship. Program names and marks are the property of their respective owners. This page is for general information and is not medical advice.