Successfully completing alcohol addiction treatment is a huge achievement which you should be incredibly proud of. Naturally however, you might be anxious about your next steps as it feels like you’re stepping out into the world on your own.
There are many different aspects to recovery and avoiding relapse is a very important one. While nobody plans for this to happen, unfortunately it is a possibility and being prepared for it can help you get back onto the road to recovery much quicker.
Relapse is common
Unfortunately, relapse is a very common part of alcohol addiction recovery. Don’t let this discourage you, make you think there’s no point in getting clean or use this as a get out of jail free card however.
You can pick yourself up and try again or even better, you can learn from your relapse. What triggered it? How were you feeling at the time? What was so bad in your life that made the urge to drink so strong? If you can identify these things, there’s a strong possibility that you will be able to avoid these triggers in the future.
Seek help
There’s no reason why therapy shouldn’t be an ongoing process if you’re fighting alcohol addiction. Overcoming the urge to drink will be a lifelong battle and an addiction therapist can help you to keep this under control, especially when times are difficult.
If you have relapsed despite attending therapy, don’t give up. You could even try a different approach. After all, there is no one recovery path that works for everyone. If you have been attending individual therapy for example, you might benefit from group therapy where you can talk to others who know what you’re going through.
Remember, in order to increase your chances of success in recovery, you have to be fully committed and willing to do whatever it takes.
Understand the reasons behind alcohol addiction
There are a number of reasons why people repeatedly relapse including:
- Ambivalence – as long as you hold onto the idea that there is even the slightest amount of enjoyment involved with drinking alcohol, you will be tempted to relapse.
- You haven’t found a recovery method to suit you – there is no one recovery path that has proved effective for every person hoping to build a life in sobriety. If you keep failing at one particular treatment option, consider trying something different.
- The claim that relapse is a normal part of recovery can be used as a justification. It is true that those who manage to enter sustained recovery will often have a history of failed attempts, but this does not mean that people need to relapse multiple times before they can get sober for good.
- Some individuals enter recovery as a means to appease others. They don’t really want to stay sober and will relapse as soon as they believe it is safe to do so.
- If people fail to make sobriety their number one priority, they are less likely to make it through early sobriety.
- Some people struggle to maintain their sobriety unless they have plenty of support. This may mean that they need some type of recovery fellowship or therapy sessions.
- The individual has taken on too much in early recovery and as a result they become overwhelmed.
- If people are unprepared for dealing with relapse triggers and other obstacles, they will be more likely to be caught out by them.
- The transition from rehab to home can be a particularly difficult time in recovery. It is vital that the individual adequately prepares for this.
- Sometimes people become over confident because they have managed to stay sober for a few months. They then stop doing the things that have been keeping them sober and they end up relapsing.
- You may have an undiagnosed / untreated mental health condition or trauma that you’re struggling to cope with.
If you think that you or someone you know may need alcohol addiction treatment, please feel free to contact Toronto Trauma & Addiction Counselling in the strictest of confidence and we will be more than happy to help.
