Sue Feldman

Title: The relationship between goal setting and substance use recovery

Abstract

This presentation will explore the relationship between goal-setting and substance use recovery. Time is a central yet often under-theorized dimension in drug addiction recovery, shaping how individuals perceive progress, sustain motivation, and integrate behavioral change. Goal-setting, a well-established mechanism in behavioral psychology, provides a structured means through which individuals organize their actions across time. Goal-setting functions as a corrective cognitive framework by anchoring behavior to explicitly defined future states. Short-term goals create proximal reinforcement and support early abstinence by reducing the subjective temporal distance between effort and reward. Long-term goals, by contrast, facilitate identity reconstruction and meaning-making, allowing individuals to conceptualize recovery as a coherent life trajectory rather than an isolated behavioral intervention. Empirical studies indicate that effective recovery-oriented goals share several characteristics: they are temporally structured, hierarchically organized, and dynamically adjustable. Temporal structuring, such as daily, weekly, and milestone-based goals, helps individuals manage the extended and nonlinear nature of recovery. Hierarchical goal systems link immediate behaviors (e.g., attending therapy sessions) to distal outcomes (e.g., occupational reintegration), strengthening perceived contingency between present action and future benefit. Dynamic adjustment of goals, over time, accommodates fluctuations in motivation, cognitive capacity, and environmental stressors, which are common during recovery. Neurocognitive evidence further suggests that goal-directed behavior engages executive control networks that are often compromised in addiction, particularly within prefrontal regions implicated in planning and temporal integration. Repeated engagement in goal-oriented activity may therefore contribute not only to behavioral stability, but also to gradual restoration of cognitive functions related to time management and self-regulation. Goal-setting mediates the relationship between time perception and recovery outcomes by transforming abstract future-oriented change into actionable temporal sequences. Understanding recovery as a temporally extended process supported by adaptive goal structures has implications for treatment design, relapse prevention, and long-term recovery maintenance. We hypothesize that setting at least one short-term and at least one long-term goal contributes to substance use recovery through maintaining connections with other people in recovery. Our study reports on these findings from a statewide effort in the state of Alabama, USA to systematically collect data from community recovery resource centers throughout the state. Alabama, USA has historically had the highest opioid prescription rates in the US and has topped the overdose death rate. While those numbers are decreasing in Alabama, they are also decreasing across the USA. Illuminating “connecting points” with those in recovery is critical to this sustained progress.