Top 5 Relapse Triggers and How to Avoid Them

They’re based on building your knowledge and skills to combat substance use. Relapse prevention is an umbrella term that refers to strategies that https://ecosoberhouse.com/ help reduce the likelihood of relapsing. Most relapse prevention strategies focus on building cognitive-behavioral skills and coping responses.

• This episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast, featuring addiction specialist Erica Spiegelman, shares the skills that help in recovery.
• While they are meant to be a reason to gather and celebrate, those in recovery must expend extra energy to ensure they are coping well with gatherings that involve social drinking, for example.
• At this stage, working toward avoiding triggers or high-risk situations in which relapse could occur is critical.
• With the guidance of experienced professionals, these plans offer strategies for behavioral change.
• During this stage, the primary concerns of the patient are often coping with their cravings and avoiding relapses.
• Take the time to figure out what works best for you as part of your personal recovery journey.

But they can be stressful issues, and, if tackled too soon, clients may not have the necessary coping skills to handle them, which may lead to relapse. The tasks of this stage can be summarized as improved physical and emotional self-care. Clinical experience has shown that recovering individuals are often in a rush to skip past these tasks and get on with what they think are the real issues of recovery.

How Can I Prevent Relapse?

A person with diabetes will often relapse due to poor eating behaviors, for example. They just have to reset, practice healthy eating and get their blood sugar under control with the help of their doctor. Do your best to plan meals, engage in mindfulness, seek out social support and stick to a regular sleep schedule. Doing so will provide a baseline that helps reduce reactivity to triggers. Other than joining therapy groups and treatment programs, accessing relapse prevention workbooks can help immensely. Groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and SMART Recovery provide invaluable help, resources, and substance abuse group activities.

A person can find alternative routes to avoid high-risk places, such as places where they used to meet their dealers or bars where they used to binge drink. Self-efficacy refers to a person's confidence in their own ability to achieve something. When a person's self-efficacy is https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/types-of-relapse-triggers/ low, they may have a hard time believing in their ability to maintain sobriety. Once this happens, it may not be easy to control behavior or stop using. We are here to provide assistance in locating an Ark Behavioral Health treatment center that may meet your treatment needs.

The Stages of Relapse

These foundational physical and emotional conditions are absolutely critical areas of attention for those newly in recovery. A variety of peer support programs have been established to allow individuals who have progressed in recovery to assist people in earlier stages. Disulfiram is a medication that inhibits aldehyde dehydrogenase resulting in the build-up of acetaldehyde, which produces uncomfortable physical effects. As a result, disulfiram acts as a deterrent against an alcohol relapse until the body metabolizes the medications. One significant challenge regarding the use of disulfiram is non-adherence. Such results are unlikely outside of observed therapy due to frequent discontinuation.

Follow me!