relapse prevention Archives

Preventing Relapse In The New Year

Posted on December 28, 2017 by JohnAdmin

Relapsing during addiction recovery is when the urge to use overwhelms you to the point where you fail to resist it, and you find yourself using again. This is more than just a simple error or mistake – to most people, it’s an act of self-betrayal that can take a lot of emotional strength to overcome. Not only do you have to come to terms with the fact that you’ve gone against something very important to yourself, but you must find a way to forgive yourself to move forward and do your best in preventing relapse before it happens.

Addiction recovery is very much about learning to come to terms with your past, and promise to yourself that you will do better – not just for others, or out of some misguided sense of punishment, but because that is the best thing for yourself and you want the best for yourself.

Many people ignore this crucial fact, covering up the self-love and gratitude aspects of addiction with distractions, pity or self-doubt. It doesn’t matter if you consider it spiritual or psychological – if you cannot come to terms with the things you have done and agree to give yourself another chance, then you won’t have the confidence in yourself to stick to recovery, and sobriety. This faith in your own abilities is tested even further after a relapse, and it is after these relapses that it is hardest to find hope for yourself.

That’s why we need the support and affirmation of others to help build us up to the point where we feel we are strong enough to turn our backs on addiction once and for all and help in preventing relapse. But you can prevent yourself from having to go through such a journey of relapse, through one straightforward way: Improving yourself.

By improving yourself and molding yourself in recovery to be someone you can be proud of, you can help in preventing relapse by by fighting both the psychology of addiction, and how it feeds on our negativity, and the neurological effects that addiction has on the brain, by relearning how to use your reward system effectively and working on the parts of your brain that may have been damaged from drug use. Here are a few example ways in which to improve your chances of preventing a relapse in the new year, and over years to come:

Preventing Relapse: Take Up Painting Or Music

The effects of art therapy on addiction have been noted, but you don’t need to seek approval from a therapist or enter a controlled environment to begin learning an art form, and then experimenting with it. Art, however, takes time and patience, and a lot of focus. This can be especially frustrating to someone in early recovery, who may be struggling with the neurological consequences of addiction, and their effects on both a person’s behavior and cognitive ability.

Thus, art can be an effective way to train these faculties, and learn the reward behind spending countless hours being bad at something, only to get better, and receive the recognition you deserve for it, while discovering a creative outlet that allows you to convey emotion in times when words just will not do – an issue that many have over the course of their recovery journey.

Get Into Hiking

Nature has a profound effect on people who struggle with addiction – in fact, being one with nature has a profound effect on people in general. It is good for your health, both physical and mental, and in turn can be an effective way to help rehabilitate someone, and help in preventing relapse, after an addiction by taking them outside of the repetitive stimuli of the city environment or indoor world, and out into a world of fresh smells, incredible sights, and real living things.

The exact reason for why we feel good when we’re out in forests and parks isn’t entirely understood, but it is well understood that it is important for us to be outside occasionally. Hiking not only provides you with an opportunity to take in a breath of fresh air and take in all of nature’s sights, but it also provides you with the opportunity to get some exercise, without having to necessarily to do in the sterile environment of a commercial gym, or at home, where the motivation to exercise can be difficult to come by.

Exercise is something every human being needs to live a healthy life and keep a healthy body, both of which can make a difference when going through early recovery. But that does not mean you have to suffer to stay fit. If other forms of exercise don’t sit well with you, then hiking may be an enjoyable way to burn calories, stay strong, and help in preventing relapse all at once.

Try Out A Sport

For some, the one thing lacking when it comes to exercise is proper incentive. While good health and physical fitness are rewards in and of themselves, they don’t necessarily inspire a direct sense of accomplishment. Rather, they take years to materialize and maintain, and the effects of exercise are rarely seen in the mirror at a drastic pace. Change is constant, and it’s difficult to track your own.

A sport, on the other hand, is numerical and tangible. There is a sense of competition, either with yourself or with others. The incentives are clear, and depend entirely on your own effort and skill. The rules are set, fair, and reliable. All a sport needs is your input.

It’s a fantastic way to improve yourself – and a wonderful way to help in preventing relapse, by focusing your attention on something entirely different and entirely motivating. You don’t have to go pro – even something as simple as timing and tracking your jogging to improve distance and speed can become competitive, and give you a more engaging way to train, rather than following a program you find boring.

Learn To Cook

While it is a basic life skill and many people can cook, most people cannot cook well. Many people simply throw ingredients together to create a passable meal and satiate their hunger, not out of love for food or appreciation for the harmony between different combinations. If you’ve ever felt like cooking is something you could get into but never had the push to really try to, now may be the perfect opportunity for you to get started.

It has never been as easy to learn how to be a great cook than today. However, it still isn’t glamourous. Get ready for spending many hours doing tedious kitchen tasks, prepping ingredients, practicing your chopping, and learning to use all the utensils and tools of the kitchen.

It may take time, there will be failures and frustrations, but there are few things people respect as much as good cooking. Everyone needs to eat, and if you happen to be extremely good at making delicious things, you’ll have no trouble making plenty of new friends. Speaking of which:

Make New Friends

Drug addiction recovery can be quite lonely at times. You may have had to leave some friends behind when making the change over to sobriety, and even if you did reconnect with others, relating to addiction together – or to similar hardships – can be hard. Tackling these issues on your own is even harder.

With some friends, that can all become much easier. Among the many other ways of preventing relapse in the new year, take it upon yourself to meet new people, and connect with them on things that truly matter to you.

How to Talk About Addiction To Your Loved Ones

Posted on December 19, 2017 by JohnAdmin

It’s incredibly difficult to talk about addiction. Not only is it an issue that permeates you to the point where your own will becomes difficult to follow, but it can also be a tremendous source of strife in families, tearing them apart.

Finding a way through an addiction with your relationships intact takes a massive amount of dedication, understanding, love, and work – on everyone’s part. Regardless of whether you’re struggling with addiction and need the help, or if your loved one is struggling and needs your help, you’re going to have to learn to talk about addiction with one another and fight this fight together, keeping in mind that it will be very difficult at times.

If You’re Struggling With Addiction

It takes a lot of strength to realize that you have a problem. Overcoming denial is often the first step to truly making a difference in your situation, although where to go from here largely depends on your means, and the problem at hand. Sometimes, addiction warrants medical attention, medication, and strict therapy. At other times, it might just be enough to check into a treatment center for a regular outpatient program.

For when things are very serious, consider sober living in your talk about addiction. These are programs that exist as communities, designed to hold together and teach one another to live in sobriety, in their own way. Sober living communities don’t hold one single way of life to be true – they accept that everyone must walk their own path of recovery, utilize different treatments, tackle different problems, and work within different limitations.

No one can dictate your life to you. It’s on you to decide where to go – but you can seek help, guidance, and knowledge, and there are no better places for these things than in a sober living community.

If You Think They Have A Problem

If your loved one is the person who seems to be struggling with an addiction, then it’s important to distinguish between them accepting this struggle, or them denying it. Both have very different paths, and require a very different approach to talk about addiction.

An intervention to talk about addiction may be in order if your loved one is in denial. Get the family together, contact a professional, and create an opportunity for the intervention to take place. Be prepared, and be pragmatic. This isn’t a bait for a fight, but a plea to open their eyes to the reality – that they’re hurting those they love, and that they need help.

Offering Help & Talk About Addiction

If you know your loved one has a problem and they know it too, then something as simple as standing by them, and giving them your unconditional love and support can mean a great deal. You don’t have to pledge to anything specific, or even take charge in “fixing” them. Recovery is very much an individual path, but it relies massively on the help of others. But you can’t be the captain to their journey. Be there for support and to talk about addiction, not more.

How To Support Your Loved One

The first thing you should do is inform yourself. There are things you should and shouldn’t say, and things you should know. Some things are blatantly obvious: you shouldn’t shame an addict when you talk about addiction, because they often carry more than enough self-guilt and shame, and adding onto it will do nothing but make things worse. You also shouldn’t blatantly insult them – it won’t “anger” them into betterment, but will just destroy your relationship. Here are a few other examples:

“It’s not a problem.”

It is a problem. Addiction is a huge problem, and there should never be any qualms about it. This is a fight, one that you are fighting together as a family. Don’t accept the misery as part of your lives – work together to create a better life, and even when things are looking down and the thought of giving up is tempting, you must be the rock that helps your loved one work their way through it all, and get better despite it all.

Don’t undermine them by minimizing the issue when you talk about addiction.

“You’re not trying hard enough.”

You cannot truly tell how hard someone is trying, unless you are in their shoes. This goes for addiction, as well as any other mental health issue. Undermining their efforts by telling them they’re not “enough” in any shape or form when you talk about addiction simply pushes them away from you, and deeper down a hole of self-doubt.

If you don’t like that fact, then you need to consider whether this is about you or them. Your opinions of how things should be to them are irrelevant, when they’re the ones struggling with the condition.

Instead of telling your loved one that they aren’t doing enough to get better, support them in what they’ve already taken on. If you have successfully gotten help and entered treatment, it’s just a matter of getting through each day, a day at a time. There is no magic switch, no confetti and fireworks when the addiction is beaten. It’s a long road, and you must create your own happy little celebrations.

“Aren’t we important to you?”

There is no greater accusation that this. Someone who has gone out of their way to get help most definitely cares about you – otherwise, they would see no reason to summon every ounce of their willpower and strength to take a step against what has become their very instinct, need and want. Addiction is powerful, especially if it’s something as addictive as heroin or alcohol. Breaking from these substances isn’t just done on a whim – it takes incredible determination, and many years.

If your loved one is still fighting, even after a relapse or two, then that is a testament to their love for you – and their willingness to go through the pain again and again just to get to those blissful, sober days spent loving one another and being happy.

The Most Important Bit

Addiction treatment and recovery takes as long as it takes. There are no set timelines. No strict deadline for total sobriety. No statistics through which you could establish a rough outline for when you’ll have your “normal” loved one back. Life will never be the same, and it can take years for the addiction to finally take a backseat once and for all.

But that isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it can be a good thing. Now can be the moment for you to reinvigorate and reinvent your relationship, and take the time to better yourselves. Why should only one of you go into recovery and treatment? Become better people together, by undertaking a journey of your own, and embracing this change as a positive one. No matter how terrible things get, there is one thing we never lose – our ability to choose how to feel about our circumstances, and our ability to draw strength from one another to survive any ordeal.

9 Relapse Triggers To Avoid During Recovery

Posted on January 3, 2017January 3, 2017 by JohnAdmin

Recovery and Post-Treatment Life

Recovery is the last stage in battling drug and alcohol addiction. However, it is a stage that has no definitive end. Once a person leaves primary treatment they will be a recovering addict for the rest of their life. This is because a return to drugs and alcohol can occur a day, a year, or ten years after primary treatment is over. Relapse is always a possibility when dealing with a chemical dependence.

Immediately following treatment, recovering substance abusers begin a journey involving regular therapy, 12 Step meetings, and transitional living. These post treatment tools help recovering addicts create a sober life.

Making Changes

Prior to leaving primary treatment, plans are made for recovery. Often times this involves sober living. The absence of former social circles that may have been connected to prior drug use is necessary.

Relationships carry a lot of emotional baggage in life and sobriety is dependent on as much serenity as possible. Cutting out past relationships is crucial for recovery during its most precarious stage. Eventually, after time, recovering addicts may be able to have relationships with people that they want to. They will be better equipped to handle any obstacle. But in the immediate future, it is important to embrace changes. Sobriety needs to be kept at the forefront of all choices in life after treatment.

The Dangers of Relapse

Relapse can happen at any time. Therapy, meetings, and new living environments may stall potential dangers, but unforeseen encounters may occur. There are so many dangers of relapse and each person is susceptible to different things. This is due to complex histories and experiences.

During recovery it is important to take participate actively in group meetings and therapy. Uncover repressed emotions that you have actively avoided through drugs and alcohol. Through the work of discovering deeper parts of yourself, you may be able to combat the dangers of relapse.

9 Triggers to Avoid

Toxic People

Cutting out harmful relationships in your life will help with recovery. Relationships constantly filled with trauma, chaos, anger, and hurt all need to be examined. Dysfunction and pain lurk at the base of every damaging relationship and during addiction recovery it is important to examine those aspects. Determining what people can remain in your life is a crucial step. Toxic people are triggers to avoid.

Certain Locations

Locations may be triggers to avoid. A former home where there may have been abuse, a school where you may have started using, or an apartment where your addiction grew, can all be triggers.

Transitional living provides a fresh start away from harmful locations where there may have been temptations. After sober living, a change of location is often encouraged. If it is a realistic option, therapists, sponsors, and group members will support the decision. A return to old environments, even after sober living, may still be a bad idea. It may simply be the healthiest choice to start over.

Stress

Avoiding stress is easier said than done. Stress can pop up when it is least expected. In sober living, you can cut down stress levels by engaging as much as possible in therapy, with roommates, or with twelve-step group members.

Prior to treatment, addicts would use drugs or alcohol to combat stress. But people in recovery will learn to express their stress through healthy alternatives like talking with a therapist or another trusted individual. Repression is never the answer, it only makes a problem to grow.

Avoidance

Addicts choose the quick fix over lasting healing, which is how addiction grows. Avoidance of discomfort, stress, or pain results in unmanageable despair, which can only be diluted by more drug or alcohol abuse. That is the vicious circle addicts find themselves in prior to treatment. Avoiding participation may be a trigger for relapse. The opposite of avoidance is honesty, communication, and a willingness to be vulnerable and present. Recovering substance abusers learn these skills in post-treatment life.

Social Media

Social media is a trigger to avoid during recovery. Facebook reminders showing old friends who may have been part of your drug addicted life may be a temptation to return to that life. At the other end, seeing old acquaintances happy and living a different life may be defeating, due to your current struggles. Social media distracts from the present, which is harmful in recovery.

Television

Television can be a trigger because it creates opportunities for escape. Triggers lurk in moments of idleness and solitude. It is important to be mindful and present during recovery and remove any distractions, like television.

Negative Thoughts

Negative thinking is a trigger to avoid during recovery. People are sober for the first time and may be too hard on themselves when they think of everything that has happened. It is important not to linger on negativity, but instead, focus on your present sobriety and future possibilities.

Lack of Sleep

Racing thoughts and an inability to calm down may contribute to irregular sleep patterns. However, it is important to aim for sufficient sleep. Eradicating caffeine, sugar, and television before bed can help. When people are tired, they cannot think clearly or focus on the present.

Fear

Hope strengthens, but fear weakens. Recovery is not always a smooth road. There are many challenges along the way, but those obstacles will not hurt you the way drug and alcohol abuse can. Fear is a trigger to avoid during recovery. Combat this powerful feeling by talking openly and honestly with fellow peers, therapists, and addiction experts. Writing every day can help pinpoint reasons for fear, while promoting healing.

A Different Life

Life after recovery is a different life. The obvious change is that life is now entirely free from drugs and alcohol. The goal is to stay that way.

Practice self-care every day. This involves seeking the help of a trusted therapist, pinpointing triggers, and eradicating those triggers from your life. Removing yourself from harmful sources is the best act of self-care and can be a major source of healing. Finally, it is important to welcome the changes in your new life. Your health and well being depends on it.

9 Ways To Avoid Relapse

Posted on December 1, 2016 by JohnAdmin

Relapse is a moment of decline during the process of overcoming substance addiction. Because substance addiction is a serious chemical dependency, even with the success of a completing a treatment program, addiction urges can return, resulting in relapse.

Addiction Is a Disease

Drug and alcohol addiction is a disease. And like any other disease with biological and chemical components, it can be hard to recover without help. Ways to avoid relapse can include many elements, like medication, therapy, and holistic techniques. Drug and alcohol addiction is serious and should be handled in ways that address its severity.

Ways to Avoid Relapse

#1 Change Locations

Healing from drug and alcohol addiction begins when you enter primary treatment. In this beginning step, you are leaving the environment where your addiction was born in and starting a new life.

After primary treatment and detox, a change of location is strongly encouraged by mental health professionals and physicians. Studies indicate that a, “lack of a stable, alcohol and drug free living environment can be a serious obstacle to sustained abstinence.” Transitional living, like a sober living house, will provide a new living environment with professional support and freedom from old influences.

#2 Separate from Toxic Sources

It is never too early to start thinking about separating from toxic sources. When you make the decision to stop using and enter treatment, distancing yourself from old friends (who may have been part of your drug or alcohol use) will be a necessary step. After completing primary treatment, the recovery process necessitates sobriety. Removing toxic sources like stress, former friends, and even family members (in certain cases), will be part of the process to starting over.

#3 Find a Therapist You Connect With

Therapy is an essential element of the recovery process. They will help identify and understand reasons for drug abuse, work through shame and residual feelings, and work through steps in recovery.

Sober living often provides assistance in working with a therapist in a group setting or individually. Regardless, if you don’t feel comfortable with the therapist, it is important to bring it up. They will not get offended. Therapists understand different personalities result in different connections. Staff members at sober living facilities (including therapists, sponsors, or mentors) are there to help and support you to remain clean and sober. And if you do not feel comfortable talking with a certain therapist, they will point you in the right direction towards someone who can help you achieve the goal of sobriety.

#4 Distance Yourself from Stressful Situations

Stress is responsible for a lot. It can cause physical symptoms in any person. If left unmanaged it can cause long-term diseases like heart problems, cancer, and other life-threatening illnesses. However, for a recovering addict, stressful situations or people can trigger something just as dangerous. It can trigger a relapse.

One way to avoid relapse is to work with your therapist and to talk to your recovering peers often. Share your experiences. Begin to analyze what situations have led you to drugs or alcohol or which people have left you with unmanageable feelings.

If there is even a sliver of hesitation, anxiety, nervousness, or fear in your gut, distance yourself from those stressful situations, immediately. You do not have to go anywhere that you are not ready for.

If you must go for some reason, have an exit strategy, have somebody that you can call (example: a sponsor), and have a rehearsed reason for why you have to leave. Stressful sources can be powerful triggers that can cause drug and alcohol relapse. Take care of yourself first.

#5 Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a helpful tool in preventing relapse because many who get hooked on drugs or alcohol, do it for the escape. And throughout the addiction, they are always looking forward to the next temporary escape from their present pain. Practicing mindfulness teaches recovering drug and alcohol abusers how to live in the present. Research studies show, “Mindfulness intervention programs reduce psychological symptoms and distress.” It nurtures positivity, growth, purpose, and emotional regulation.

#6 Build a Trusted Support System

Building a trusted support system in recovery can help a recovering substance abuser prevent a relapse. Studies show that having a support system increases chances for long-term sobriety. Members of a trusted support system include your physician, a sober living staff member, a therapist, a 12-Steps sponsor, a peer who is also in recovery, or a mentor who is familiar with addiction.

#7 Actively Listen and Share in Recovery Programs

Recovery programs only work if you do. Actively listen to each person’s story and try to find common ground in others’ histories and motivations for turning to drugs or alcohol. In doing so, you may find a similar idea or reoccurring theme that you connect with. Understanding origins can further help eradicate drug and alcohol usage.

You also have to actively participate. Sharing your experiences, pain, and trauma may be intimidating, but by doing so, you may be helping someone understand their own pain. They may realize that they are not alone in what they have endured by hearing someone with a similar story.

#8 Have a Full Schedule

Sober living facilities help with creating rules, structure, and guidelines for how to live a healthy, drug-free life. Once you leave sober living it is important to continue with that tradition and keep a full schedule complete with therapy, group meetings, wellness activities, and work. This will keep life free from unhealthy distractions or lures.

#9 Develop a Plan

Looking toward the future is incredibly beneficial in preventing relapse. With the help of a therapist, sponsor, or friend, make a plan for the future. Write it down. Creating concrete incremental goals helps keep hope and optimism at the forefront of recovery.

What Happens If You Relapse?

Relapse is a persistent problem for many recovering addicts everywhere. If you relapse, you have not failed. It is an obstacle on the road to sobriety. Discuss your options honestly with a mental health professional, psychiatrist, or physician, and take action on your next step.

Focus on Your Future

While recovering and trying to prevent relapse, it is important not focus on past mistakes or shame. Looking towards the future at your health and sobriety is what will help prevent relapse.