Relapse After Addiction: Causes and Prevention

Discovery Institute also offers individual therapy, coping skills development and implementation of recovery support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Some coping skills that are taught involve cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and meditation. These can help you banish old patterns for good and learn new ways of thinking. HALT is one of the more common and well-known relapse triggers in addiction recovery. These sensations can bring about a desire for the drug you’re working so hard to quit. You can avoid HALT-triggered relapse by maintaining a solid routine that includes meal scheduling, support meetings and getting enough sleep.

Emotional Relapse

The Marquette researchers stated a stressed animal previously exposed to cocaine will crave the drug because the dopamine surge from cocaine trumps the release of stress-related dopamine. Researchers deduced that the amygdala played an important role in producing focused and exclusive desire, similar to drug addiction. Internal triggers act in reverse, associating these signals to the substances that elicit them. The research maintained that subconscious cues are dangerous because they reinforce the patient’s desire to restart using drugs without them being aware of it. Researchers highlighted the importance of avoiding the people, places and things that remind patients of their former lifestyle.

Identify Triggers

• Addiction happens because the use of drugs or alcohol makes a person feel better in some way.
• Relaxing and taking time to do things that make you happy is another important part of self-care.
• It’s fine to acknowledge them, but not to dwell on them, because they could hinder the most important action to take immediately—seeking help.
• Recognizing these emotions can help you seek other therapy or a recovery meeting if necessary.

Medications can help you manage withdrawal symptoms before they trigger a relapse. Certain people, places, and situations can drive you back into drinking or using drugs again. It takes time to get over a dependence, deal with withdrawal symptoms, and overcome the urge to use. There are plenty of times when you may get stressed out at work or feel like you’re competing with others.

Addiction Triggers And How To Manage Them

Relapses are normal and provide insights into the factors that contribute to the unhealthy behavior. Different substances require different medications for effective management. For instance, medications can be used to help prevent relapses for different substances, such as nicotine, alcohol, opioids, cannabis, and methamphetamines. In this context, family function can encompass a range of factors, including communication styles, emotional support, and conflict management. For instance, supportive and understanding family environments can potentially reduce relapse tendencies, whereas dysfunctional or conflict-ridden families may heighten the risk.

• Mindfulness practices include staying in the present, being aware of your surroundings (including potential triggers), and meditation.
• Unfortunately, you may come across situations in which you run into these people.
• Recovered provides a directory of treatment options that can be used to treat cocaine dependence and provide relapse prevention strategies.
• Having confidence is important, but becoming overconfident may prompt you to feel like you don’t need a relapse prevention plan.

Unlock the four main triggers for relapse in recovery and learn key strategies for prevention. Careful and thorough coaching by a professional addiction counselor is key to helping an individual with an addiction identify their https://ecosoberhouse.com/ specific triggers and to make a plan to manage them. Lack of sleep often leads to self-neglect, which can make a person more vulnerable to using again. Recovery is a day-to-day process that requires a focus on healthy living.

Strategies for Relapse Prevention

Relapse can occur very soon after attempting sobriety, or after several years of sustained sobriety. Carole Bennett, M.A., is a family substance abuse counselor, lecturer, columnist types of relapse triggers and author based at her Family Recovery Solutions Counseling Center in Santa Barbara, CA. For the budding alcoholic/addict in recovery, relapse is all too often a nano second away.

• Discover how creating a reliable support network and utilizing coping skills and strategies can significantly enhance your chances of staying on the path of recovery.
• Relapse is not an event, but a process that can be divided into stages.
• Discussions often revolve around dealing with everyday situations without turning to substances.
• These incidents can be interpersonal conflicts, social pressure, negative emotional states, or positive emotional states.
• Understanding these triggers can help you stay motivated and on track with your recovery goals, ultimately leading to a healthier, happier life.
• Educating clients in these few rules can help them focus on what is important.
• Write down a schedule of your favorite support groups and attend a meeting for additional guidance.

Maintain a Support System

In the early stages of substance abuse, using is mostly a positive experience for those who are emotionally and genetically predisposed. Later, when using turns into a negative experience, they often continue to expect it to be positive. It is common to hear addicts talk about chasing the early highs they had. On the other hand, individuals expect that not using drugs or alcohol will lead to the emotional pain or boredom that they tried to escape. Therefore, on the one hand, individuals expect that using will continue to be fun, and, on the other hand, they expect that not using will be uncomfortable. When people don’t understand relapse prevention, they think it involves saying no just before they are about to use.

Being able to identify triggers and implement healthy ways to manage them will be critical skills for your recovery journey. The tasks of this stage are similar to the tasks that non-addicts face in everyday life. When non-addicts do not develop healthy life skills, the consequence is that they may be unhappy in life. When recovering individuals do not develop healthy life skills, the consequence is that they also may be unhappy in life, but that can lead to relapse.

In essence, relapse prevention is about understanding the four main triggers for relapse in recovery and developing effective strategies to manage these triggers. This process often involves a combination of therapy, skill development, and in some cases, medication. Engaging with a mental health professional is recommended to identify external and internal triggers, understand their causes, and learn how to cope with relapse triggers effectively in recovery [3]. Once mental relapse has occurred, it usually does not take very long to progress to the physical relapse stage. This is the stage that is most commonly thought of when one hears the term relapse.