Euphoric Recall

Euphoric recall is a cognitive bias in which a person remembers a past experience in an unrealistically positive light, emphasizing or exaggerating its pleasurable aspects while overlooking or minimizing the negative aspects that accompanied it. The concept is most widely discussed in the context of substance dependence, where a person recovering from addiction may recall the pleasurable effects of past drug or alcohol use while discounting the harm it caused, creating a belief that renewed use would provide quick relief from present distress. In addiction recovery, euphoric recall is described as a significant obstacle because it can override the low mood, sometimes called psychic numbness, that often accompanies early recovery and that would otherwise support continued abstinence, thereby raising the risk of relapse.