CDAAC Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 52 Content Areas

What the 52 Domains Actually Are

The Christian Drug, Alcohol & Addictions Counselor (CDAAC) credential comes through the Association of Christian Alcohol and Drug Counselors (ACADC). The pathway requires passing the CDAAC examination, and ACADC publishes a core curriculum of 52 linked modules that serve as the preparation backbone. This guide walks through all of them.

That distinction shapes how you should study. Because there is no published weighting, you cannot triage by percentage. Instead, treat every module as potentially testable and use the module's own assigned readings as your guide to what the issuer considers important. For a broader orientation to the credential itself, see What Is CDAAC Certification? and CDAAC Certification.

How the 52 Domains Cluster

Reading the list top to bottom can feel random: pharmacology sits near anger management, which sits near God and government. It helps to sort the modules into themes. The table below groups them by what kind of knowledge each demands.

Several domains straddle two clusters, so treat the grouping as a study aid rather than an official taxonomy.

The Clinical Core: Domains 1-4, 7, 9, 10, 14, 20, 24, 25

If you hold a conventional counseling background, these are the modules that will feel most familiar. They lean heavily on Robert R. Perkinson's Chemical Dependency Counseling (4th Edition), which appears as an assigned source across a remarkable number of domains.

Domain 25 (Suicide Intervention) is worth singling out: it assigns June Hunt's chapter 47 and pages 331-360 of Caring for People God's Way. Suicide intervention is a topic where you should absolutely supplement issuer readings with current crisis-response standards in your own jurisdiction, since the curriculum itself includes historical clinical references.

Domain 43 deserves its own mention. It covers the 12 Core Functions, TAP 21 competencies, the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) administration, and DSM-IV concepts. DSM-IV is a superseded diagnostic manual, so treat this module as historical framework knowledge and learn what your state expects today separately.

Faith-Integrated Counseling Domains

This is what distinguishes the CDAAC from secular credentials. The Life Principles Bible (New King James Version, edited by Dr. Charles Stanley) is cited in the large majority of the 52 modules, each tied to a numbered Life Principle. Candidates who skip it will miss the thread connecting most domains.

Other faith-integrated modules include Domain 5 (Breaking the Power of Shame, drawing on McGee's Our Search for Significance), Domain 19 (Rejection and the Wounded Heart), Domain 42 (Intimacy with God, from Swindoll), Domain 44 (The Art of Surrender, from Beth Moore), Domain 47 (Dangerous Belief Systems & Practices, from Anderson's Steps to Freedom in Christ), and Domain 48 (Living in the Sufficiency of God, from Stanley).

Family, Marriage, and Relationship Domains

A full cluster of modules covers relational counseling, and June Hunt's Counseling Through Your Bible Handbook is the recurring anchor:

• Domain 6, Family Systems: Tucker's Christian Families in Recovery plus Hunt's chapter 16 on the dysfunctional family
• Domain 16, Codependency: Dr. Stephanie Tucker's Christian Codependence Recovery Workbook
• Domain 27, Bonding, Relationships and Intimacy: Hunt's chapter 39 and Donald Joy's Relationships in the Image of God
• Domain 28, Premarital Counseling: Hunt's chapters 12 and 37
• Domain 29, Divorce & Separation: Hunt's chapter 30 and Dobson's Love Must Be Tough
• Domain 31, Parenting: Hunt's chapter 33
• Domain 34, Overcoming Attachment Disorders: Clinton and Sibcy's Attachments and Clinton's Turn Your Life Around
• Domain 35, Marriage & Family Counseling: Dobson again

Dobson's Love Must Be Tough appears in both Domains 29 and 35, so one careful read pays off twice. Attachment (Domain 34) is the most clinically grounded of the group and connects naturally to codependency and co-occurring disorders.

Law, Ethics, and Regulation Domains

Four modules deal with rules, and they matter because ethical missteps are a primary way counselors lose credentials.

Domain 13 (God & Government) is an outlier here: it assigns Charles Colson's writing, David Barton's Original Intent (pages 13-20), and ACLJ resources on current court decisions. Because it references ongoing litigation, expect parts of it to date quickly.

Domains Built Around Interviews and Written Work

A handful of modules are less about memorizing facts and more about producing something:

• Domain 21: complete a spiritual gifts inventory alongside David Hocking's Spiritual Gifts
• Domain 46: interview a recovery professional about current moral, social, or legal issues, then write a report
• Domains 50, 51, and 52: written theme papers or essays ("The Failure of Modern Psychology," "When Sin is Called Sickness," and "Does the Bible and Psychology Mix? Why or why not?")

These modules reveal the curriculum's stance on modern psychology. Domains 50 and 51 draw on Richard Ganz's PsychoBabble and Deceptive Diagnosis, which critique mainstream clinical practice. Understand that these represent the issuer's viewpoint and should be studied as such, not mistaken for clinical consensus.

How to Read the Source List

Three recurring sources do most of the work across the curriculum. Recognizing them lets you plan efficiently.

1. Life Principles Bible (Stanley): cited by number in nearly every module. Domain 45 alone cites principles 1, 6, 7, 9, 11, and 15.
2. June Hunt's Counseling Through Your Bible Handbook: supplies chapters for shame, anger, domestic violence, rejection, suicide, divorce, finances, parenting, identity, and self-worth.
3. Perkinson's Chemical Dependency Counseling (4th Edition): the clinical backbone for pharmacology, groups, co-occurring disorders, ethics, and core functions.

If you can only afford to acquire a few materials early, those three cover the greatest share of the list. For a structured approach to using them, see the CDAAC Study Guide, and for a condensed refresher near test day, the CDAAC Cheat Sheet.

Scheduling Domains Across Your Preparation

Since nothing is weighted, sequence by dependency rather than by importance. Foundational clinical modules should come first because later modules assume that vocabulary.

Leave rules and ethics for the end only if you have already read the Code of Conduct once; otherwise move Domain 17 earlier so you can apply it as you read case-oriented material. Practice questions help you test recall across the full list; use the CDAAC practice tests to check which clusters need more work.

Caveats You Should Know Before You Rely on This List

Several points deserve plain statements because they affect planning:

• No published blueprint. There is no official exam-domain allocation, item count, timing, scoring rule, or domain weighting in the supplied source. Do not trust any site claiming exact figures. For related questions, see CDAAC Passing Score and CDAAC Pass Rate.
• Conflicting hour counts. Public education-hour information lists 315 hours in the requirements information and 155 hours in the tuition information. Neither figure is reconciled here. Contact ACADC to confirm which applies, and review CDAAC Requirements for eligibility context.
• Fees and dates. No fee data was established in the source, so check CDAAC Certification Cost and CDAAC Exam Dates against ACADC's own current announcements.
• Historical and theological content. The curriculum contains older clinical references (DSM-IV, for example) and issuer theological views. Study them as curriculum content, not as contemporary clinical consensus.
• Separate pathways. The CDAAC examination pathway is distinct from other credentials; do not apply rules from other certifications to it.

If you are weighing whether the effort fits your career plans, see Is the CDAAC Certification Worth It? and How Hard Is the CDAAC Exam? for a fuller picture of difficulty and tradeoffs.

Frequently Asked Questions