Whether you’re recovering from a sex, drug, gambling or alcohol addiction, naturally, relapse is the thing you’re working hard to avoid.
There is absolutely no doubt that recovery is difficult but with the right support, you will be able to get through it. If you’re recovering from an addiction, below are five great relapse prevention strategies which can also be adopted if you’re overcoming an eating disorder or mental health condition.
Plan ahead
Planning ahead can make all the difference if you know you might be faced with a tricky situation. If you’re a recovering alcoholic for example, the office Christmas party will be difficult to navigate. You don’t want to skip it in case people think you’re not a team player but being surrounded by alcohol and lots of drunk people will test even those with the strongest willpower.
A great way to overcome this problem is to offer to be the designated driver. This way you have a valid excuse for not drinking which won’t result in questions being asked. Alternatively, you could say you have an early start the next day or need to get back for the kids so you have a good reason to leave early.
Seek help for mental health disorders/trauma / unresolved family of origin issues
Many people who develop addictions do so because they have an underlying mental health condition or they’re struggling to deal with the aftermath of a traumatic life experience that they’ve never come to terms with. The most common underlying problem is that of the unresolved family of origin issues which often result in insecure attachment and/or Complex PTSD.
Addictions frequently mask mental health disorders and they often become more evident when the addictive behavior stops. As long as any issues remain suppressed and unresolved, your risk of relapse will be high.
On the other hand however, someone is far more likely to overcome their addiction if they can understand the underlying cause of it and what their triggers are.
Develop your social circle
When recovering from an addiction, particularly one to drugs or alcohol, you will need to think about the people you hang around with.
Anyone still using should be removed from your life because it’s very easy to be led back into temptation.
Instead, you should associate yourself with people who are going to be a positive influence on your recovery. This may include friends and family who love you and therefore want to help you get better.
Another great choice is others who have overcome an addiction. Building up a network of people who have been through similar experiences reminds you that you’re not alone, they can keep you on track when you’re feeling tempted and importantly, they’re also someone to talk to when you’re having a difficult day.
Have something to focus on
Having something positive to focus on during recovery is crucial. There are a number of things you can do including:
- Exercise
- Get a hobby
- Sign up to a course
- Focus on your career
- Help others who are going through recovery
- Set yourself a target
- Meditate
- Self-development
Have a relapse prevention plan
Relapse is a process, not an event and in order to understand prevention, you have to make yourself aware of the stages of relapse.
Emotional relapse – in emotional relapse, you’re not thinking about using. Your emotions and behaviors may be setting you up for possible relapse in the future however.
Signs include:
- Anxiety
- Intolerance
- Anger
- Defensiveness
- Mood swings
- Isolation
- Not asking for help
- Not going to meetings
- Poor eating habits
- Poor sleep habits
Mental relapse – in the early phase of mental relapse, you’re idly thinking about using. In the later phase however, you’re definitely thinking about using which could lead to drug addiction relapse for example.
Signs include:
- Thinking about people, places and things you used with
- Glamorizing past use
- Lying
- Hanging out with old using friends
- Fantasizing about using
- Planning your relapse
- It gets harder to make the right choices as the pull of addiction gets stronger
Physical relapse – once you start thinking about relapse, if you don’t have a prevention plan in place, it doesn’t take long to go from here to physical relapse.
Relapse can start weeks or even months before the event of physical relapse so it’s important to recognize when you’re feeling weak and may therefore require extra support.
Early relapse prevention involves recognizing that you’re about to enter drug addiction relapse and changing your behavior. As well as reminding yourself to ask for help or attending a drug addiction treatment center, it’s very important to practice self-care at this stage. For example, if you don’t take care of yourself and eat poorly or have poor sleep habits, you will feel exhausted and want to escape.
If you think that you or someone you know could benefit from talking to a therapist and developing drug addiction relapse prevention strategies, please feel free to contact Toronto Trauma and Addiction Counselling for more information and we will be more than happy to help.
