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In the realm of addiction, relapse has a more specific meaning—a return to substance use after a period of nonuse. Whether it lasts a week, a month, or years, relapse is common enough in addiction recovery that it is considered a natural part of the difficult process of change. Between 40 percent and 60 percent of individuals relapse within their first year of treatment, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Relapse in addiction is of particular concern because it poses the risk of overdose if someone uses as much of the substance as they did before quitting.

• Many of these signs and symptoms, including those that reflect a negative-affect state (e.g., anxiety, distress, and anhedonia) also have been demonstrated in animal studies involving various models of dependence (Becker 2000).
• It’s an acknowledgement that recovery takes lots of learning, especially about oneself.
• When individuals do not change their lives, then all the factors that contributed to their addiction will eventually catch up with them.
• However, a physical relapse does not always indicate that someone will face addiction again or need rehab.

Attention should focus on renewing old interests or developing new interests, changing negative thinking patterns, and developing new routines and friendship groups that were not linked to substance use. Fewer people seek out treatment for alcohol addiction than for any other mental illness. This means family and friends can play a significant role in helping people access the treatment they need.

Steps to Take if You’re Abusing Alcohol

However, some drug addictions may be harder to treat than others. Because setbacks are shared among all types of drug addictions, it can be difficult to tell what drug has the highest relapse rate. Therapy is extremely helpful; CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) is very specifically designed to uncover and challenge the kinds of negative feelings and beliefs that can undermine recovery. By providing the company of others and flesh-and-blood examples of those who have recovered despite relapsing, support groups also help diminish negative self-feelings, which tend to fester in isolation. What is more, negative feelings can create a negative mindset that erodes resolve and motivation for change and casts the challenge of recovery as overwhelming, inducing hopelessness. A relapse or even a lapse might be interpreted as proof that a person doesn’t have what it takes to leave addiction behind.

Individuals use drugs and alcohol to escape negative emotions; however, they also use as a reward and/or to enhance positive emotions [11]. In these situations, poor self-care often precedes drug or alcohol use. For example, https://ecosoberhouse.com/ individuals work hard to achieve a goal, and when it is achieved, they want to celebrate. But as part of their all-or-nothing thinking, while they were working, they felt they didn’t deserve a reward until the job was done.

How Important is Alone Time for Mental Health?

• Build a support network of friends and family to call on when struggling and who are invested in recovery. Over the long term, alcohol abuse can lead to physical illnesses that affect the liver, such as alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis. These are serious illnesses that can lead to disability or death. Research also shows a connection between heavy alcohol use and heart disease, respiratory disease, and cancer. It is important for clinicians to be aware of the complexities of substance use disorders (SUDs) and recovery, so that they can provide optimal support for the patients progress and maintenance of recovery.

Clinical experience has shown that occasional thoughts of using need to be normalized in therapy. They do not mean the individual will relapse or that they are doing a poor job of recovery. Once a person has experienced addiction, it is impossible to erase the memory. But with good coping skills, a person can learn to let go of thoughts of using quickly. The transition between emotional and mental relapse is not arbitrary, but the natural consequence of prolonged, poor self-care.

Elevated Stress

It’s also necessary to schedule regular opportunities for fun. The risk of relapse is greatest in the first 90 days of recovery, a period when, as a result of adjustments the body is making, sensitivity to stress is particularly acute while sensitivity to reward is low. It alcohol relapse is important to know that relapse does not represent a moral weakness. It reflects the difficulty of resisting a return to substance use in response to what may be intense cravings but before new coping strategies have been learned and new routines have been established.

You wouldn’t expect that you could self-treat hypertension or diabetes without the help of medical professionals. If you need support, help, or have questions, please contact our team at The Recovery Village. While relapsing can bring about shame and feelings of failure, a relapse is generally accepted as an expected part of the recovery process for most people.

People in recovery from alcohol addiction are at the highest risk of relapse during the early alcoholic recovery stages, in the immediate moments after a traumatic event or during times of transition. Most people in recovery must actively take steps to avoid relapse for the rest of their lives. During the mental relapse stage, a person actively thinks about using drugs or alcohol again, and they may attempt to rationalize returning to drug use. Internal conflicts and bargaining are frequent during this stage as people feel strong urges to use drugs or alcohol, but know that doing so hinders recovery. Co-occurring disorders put you at higher risk for addiction relapse. If you’re not managing mental illness symptoms with therapy, medication, and healthy practices, you may feel an urge to self-medicate with alcohol.

• Due to the previous two stages, the individual is no longer equipped to combat this final stage.
• You may think about how good it would feel to relieve difficult emotions, boredom, or stress with a drink.
• It is often said that recovering individuals are as sick as their secrets.
• Being alone with one’s thoughts for too long can lead to relapse.