Living in recovery and avoiding relapse during the holidays.

The holidays can be a festive and heartwarming time of year. For many people, holiday parties, family gatherings, and celebrations with friends are times to eat, drink, and be merry. But the holidays can also be a very lonely and depressing time for those who have no place to go. Both situations can cause stress. For those in addiction recovery, holiday stress can trigger a relapse.

Preparing for Holiday Challenges to Addiction Recovery

Coping With Urges, Individuals, Motivation | 7 comments

What’s your plan?

December is here and opportunities for urges and cravings seem to be everywhere. SMART volunteers have put their heads together to offer some suggestions to help you navigate this month’s challenges.

Remember, people who achieve long-term sobriety have three characteristics in common:

1. They make a firm commitment to abstinence.

2. They make lifestyle changes to enhance that commitment.

3. They plan and practice for urges and drinking situations.

Recovery Coaches from Capital Recovery Center Mr. Craig Dingle and Mr. Michael Williams Jr. 

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Everyone is welcome no matter your pathway to recovery or recovery status!

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Motivation for Recovery

Ask any group of people just starting recovery why they want to stop drinking and using right now, and you will get many different answers:

“I was arrested, and it’s either this or jail.”

• • •

“My wife says if I don’t stop, we are finished.”

• • •

“Last time I used, I thought I was going to die; I know I will if I use it again.”

• • •

“They are going to take the children from us unless we stop.”

• • •

“I’ve been drinking for twenty years now; it’s time to change.”

Which of the people quoted above are most likely to be successful in recovering?

Before you can implement any relapse prevention tips, you need to have a thorough understanding of what relapse is. Being able to recognize the signs of relapse will enable you to ask for help quickly when it’s needed most. Common signs of emotional relapse often include mood swings, isolating oneself, being angry or defensive, and poor eating and sleeping habits. Signs of mental relapse include fantasizing or thinking about using drugs or alcohol, glamorizing past use, lying about your feelings or behaviors, and hanging out with old drug-abusing friends.

What Are The Warning Signs of a Relapse?

The warning signs of a relapse can often occur over a prolonged period of time and involve a process with many warning signs. Many people consider any return to drugs and/or alcohol relapse. While substance use is the final step in a relapse, it is not the only thing to look for. In addition to substance use, signs of an active or impending relapse from drugs or alcohol can involve:

• Compulsive or Risky Behavior

• Destructive Thoughts

• Neglecting Coping Skills

• Refusal to Engage in or Withdrawal from Healthy Habits

• Return to Unhealthy Behaviors and Environments (People, Places & Things)

• Dishonesty or Deception

• Mood Swings

• Romanticizing Drug or Alcohol Use

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Isolation/Withdrawal from Social or Group Activities

Recognizing and addressing the warning signs before a relapse happens is the most effective way to prevent one from occurring. One warning sign of relapse is when individuals in recovery begin to romanticize drug use or relive the days of their drinking and using, looking back on them in a favorable light. A person in recovery may begin to think that they can use it again successfully or without falling back into full-blown addiction and associated behaviors. If an individual begins to talk about his or her ability to use successfully again, it is often a sign that relapse is looming.

https://recoverycentersofamerica.com/relapse-prevention/

Identifying the early signs of a relapse can help prevent you from resuming drug use.

Each person desires to stay sober after undergoing drug detox and rehabilitation. However, withdrawal symptoms may cause an intense craving for the previously used drug. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), approximately 60% of people who struggled with addiction relapse within one year of treatment. Applying a combination of various relapse prevention techniques can help maintain lifelong sobriety.

A relapse prevention plan consists of a set of strategies designed to prevent you from descending into the three stages of relapse. These strategies intervene at crucial moments during your recovery. Depending on your preferences, plans can take the form of detailed written outlines or general verbal techniques. The key is to equip yourself with the necessary tools to maintain your sobriety. Before creating your Relapse Prevention Plan, it’s essential to thoroughly understand what a relapse is and how it operates.

One of the essential coping skills taught in relapse prevention classes is mindfulness. Being mindful involves developing awareness without judgment. By honing mindfulness skills, individuals struggling with addiction learn to recognize and accept the continuous flow of subtle thoughts and triggers that may lead them toward relapse. Becoming conscious of these triggers empowers people to exert control over them, enabling them to choose not to react impulsively.

Dealing With Urges – The Relapse Prevention Plan

A relapse prevention plan is not something set in stone, but rather, a list of possible measures. There are many proven, effective ways for each step. Nonetheless, having the right mindset is crucial for any of them to work. It might be hard, but the focus on recovery needs to be a priority.

Before anything, one of the most defining factors of relapse prevention plans is triggers. You need to understand what it is making you crave or abuse substances in order to avoid it. Substance dependence is the result of external stressors being too much to handle for current, known coping mechanisms. Some of the most common ones are:

• Experiencing withdrawal symptoms and wanting to make them stop

• Being surrounded by enablers

• Bad relationships, people who are not supportive

• Having drug supplies and/or paraphernalia around

• Feelings of loneliness and/or purposelessness

• Depressing events such as unemployment, deaths, breakups

• Places that remind you of using

More often than not, there are deeper underlying causes of substance use disorder. These can be a trigger for relapse someone might not be aware of. This is one of the main reasons why therapy is of utter importance. Not just to help with recovery and for a relapse prevention plan, but to help you improve and understand yourself better.

Early Relapse Prevention

Relapse prevention at this stage means recognizing that you're in emotional relapse and changing your behavior. Recognize that you're isolating and remind yourself to ask for help. Recognize that you're anxious and practice relaxation techniques. Recognize that your sleep and eating habits are slipping and practice self-care.

If you don't change your behavior at this stage and you live too long in the stage of emotional relapse you'll become exhausted, and when you're exhausted you will want to escape, which will move you into a mental relapse.