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IAC© Approach To Addictions & Addictive Behaviours | Mark Franklin's 3 Step Addiction Approach
When I finally got better from my serious problem drinking problem in 2011, I came up with my IAC approach (pronounced eye-yak)! IAC stands for Identify, Acknowledge, Change, and it was towards the end of attending a 3 month rehab day programme in Fulham, London where IAC was first born 13 years ago. Our group was doing a module on addiction approaches and we had to present our ideas to the rest of the groups. I was obsessive about simplifying everything at this stage in my recovery (which is important to focus on - but I was totally obsessed about it….) so I set about trying to come up with a solution to simplify the amount of “steps” it takes for people to take when they were “activated” or “triggered” into craving or thinking about their drug or behaviour of choice. I came up with I.A.C (Identify, Acknowledge, Change). Over the last 5 years or so I have been developing my IAC approach and utilising it more and more in my one to one sessions with great success, so I decided to bring it to life in the form of an accessable book where I introduce the "earworm" concept and 13 week programme which will be available soon. Below is a brief definition of what The IAC approach is and when IAC Online will become available.
I.A.C©
Breaking Down The IAC© Approach To Addiction | How IAC© Addictions Therapy Works
It was when I Started to learn about the fight or flight response whilst attending community day rehab when things started to fall into place with my own understanding of addictions. How we get activated or triggered by thoughts, or by external stimuli via the amygdala in the brain, and how we were pretty much unconscious (or unconscious most of the time) of this happening whilst we are in active addiction. I started to think about how we could learn how to identify thoughts earlier and then somehow slow down the fight or flight response. We are more emotionally unable to connect with people and express ourselves the more we get into addictive cycles because of the way the central nervous system (CNS) is affected and we need to be able to re-take control of our Central Nervous Systems.
IDENTIFY
This is where Identify from IAC comes from, meaning we have to be able to learn how to IDENTIFY the thought, or IDENTIFY the urge, or IDENTIFY the craving first. This is much harder than it may at first seem! Research shows that approximately 95% of the time, our thoughts are running from our Subconcious parts of our brain where we are contanstanty retrieving data from memory storage in the brain - You can think of the subconscious as a kind of RAM (Random Access Memory) in a computer.
For anyone learning how to identify something before you know that you're thinking about something is an extremely difficult thing to do and it is especially difficult for those of us with drug or alcohol problems, due to the connection to impulsivity and obsessiveness that we inherit with “the problem”!
When I work with my clients at my Leeds addictions therapy service, we learn to pick up on those micro feelings, that little bit of time that is there just before the point that the neural pathways get activated and brought online. That time is there……it's just that we are not yet aware of it. We learn how to identify that emotional reaction to the environment or thought by certain tools that I provide for the client in order to bring complete awareness to when the very first thought appears. Learning to Identify emotional reactions to to the environment (both inner and outer) is the first step to taking control of our thoughts, urges and cravings.
Acknowledge From The IAC© Approach To Addictions | How To Acknowledge Urges & Cravings
Once We have learnt how to identify the thoughts, urges or cravings we then need to learn how to acknowledge that thought, urge or craving. We are so used to trying to push those thoughts away when we have previously tried to stop drinking, using, gambling or picking up our mobile devices.
ACKNOWLEDGE
We need to be able to ACKNOWLEDGE that thought in order to PROCESS the thought. Think of your head as a giant pinball machine and the thought, urge or craving as the Pinball. Once the Pinball enters the pinball machine it bounces around, and the ball sometimes gets stuck. We then try to nudge the ball and the flippers lock up and the ball ALWAYS falls between the locked flippers. Think of the ball just like a thought in the brain…..if we don't PROCESS the reason WHY we are thinking about drinking, using, gambling etc, then the thought will always find its way to where it wants to be.
There are things that the IAC approach puts in place in order to help us slow down our primal wiring and bring our bodies and brains back into a calmer, more relaxed state. It's only when we are back in this more relaxed state that we can ACKNOWLEDGE and PROCESS the thought. We process the thought, craving or urge by asking ourselves WHY we are thinking about or being triggered into thinking about drinking, using or gambling.
Change From The IAC© Approach To Addictions | How To Change Our Behaviour After Urges & Cravings
CHANGE
Once we have Acknowledged and processed the thought, then we can move onto CHANGE. The thought has been processed which means that the thought is not stuck in the neural pathways waiting for the right hand side of the brain to send the command to the REWARD PATHWAYS.
Often people try to use distraction when craving, however if we try to distract ourselves before we have IDENTIFIED and ACKNOWLEDGED the thought then we are fighting a losing battle, as the brain has not Processed WHY we have been craving or thinking about our drug, or behaviour of choice. Only once we have PROCESSED and made sense of the thought can we then move on to CHANGE (or distract).
An example of CHANGE would be doing something completely different or taking yourself out of one environment into another, like going for a walk, run, or just moving into a different room in your home. Our learned behaviours can be changed, I tend to utilise the Transtheoretical model AKA “Stages Of Change”, (or cycle of change) by Procheska & Diclemente as it fits with the IAC approach and REBT (Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy). I walk through the stages of change in my therapy sessions and my IAC Approach Programme which will be available soon.
I am, at the time of writing this, developing the online IAC programme that will help teach indivduals how to IDENTIFY early subconscious thoughts about their drug or addictive behaviour of choice, ACKNOWLEDGE the thoughts.... and work out why they might be thinking that way, and then CHANGE the outcome by processing the reason and changing their behaviour. The IAC approach can also be accessed by my new book “Sober Days - How To Train Your Earworm & Stop Drinking Alcohol” which is released in 2025.
Please note this page will be updated periodically so please check back in a few weeks to see more added about IAC. Errors may be more common on this page due to more updates.
Mark Franklin | Addictions Therapist & Creator Of The I.A.C© Approach
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