10 Most Common Triggers for Relapse and How to Avoid Them Lantana Recovery: Addiction Treatment Rehab Center

Understanding how these triggers affect you is vital to avoid potential relapse. Focus on how much better your life will be once you stop using drugs or alcohol for good. Think about what’s driving you to quit, such as rebuilding damaged relationships, keeping a job, or getting healthy again. Being aware of the stages of relapse and having a plan to deal with them can help prevent you from using again. Follow these 10 techniques to help you stay on track with your recovery.

Relapse Risk Factors

Relapse prevention strategies play a key role in managing the four main triggers for relapse in recovery. These strategies include therapy and skill development, medications, and monitoring. Both positive and negative emotions can serve as triggers in recovery. Negative feelings like stress, depression, or anxiety can lead to substance use as a coping mechanism, while positive emotions can lead to the belief that one drink or use won’t hurt.

Chronic Physical Health Conditions

Common triggers for relapse will also be discussed, ranging from external triggers in the environment to internal triggers within an individual’s thoughts and emotions. Identifying these triggers is essential in developing effective relapse prevention strategies. Recognizing and managing high-risk situations is essential in preventing relapse. Seeking support from loved ones or professionals can also be beneficial in maintaining long-term recovery. Relapse prevention involves understanding the stages of relapse, which include emotional, mental, and physical stages. Emotional relapse is characterized by poor self-care and symptoms such as bottling up emotions, isolating, not going to meetings, and poor eating and sleeping habits.

Creating a Relapse Prevention Plan

These need to be people that you’ll feel comfortable calling on if you encounter one of your triggers out in the world and need someone to talk to as a tool to help prevent relapse. Avoiding triggers is only one part of the puzzle when it comes to addiction and recovery. As we’ve mentioned a few times, it’s important to learn healthy coping mechanisms to help you handle yourself if you happen to encounter one of your triggers while you’re out types of relapse triggers in the world. Avoiding all of your triggers isn’t always an option, but running into one when you’re going about your daily business doesn’t necessarily have to trigger a relapse. If a person isn’t equipped with effective coping skills or neglects to use them to their full potential, the likelihood of acting on their urges increases. The last stage of relapse is the one most people think of first — returning to the use of drugs or alcohol.

Furthermore, long-term sobriety fosters healthier relationships with family, friends, and loved ones, enabling individuals to rebuild trust and establish a critical support system. If you’re not sure how to move through the recovery https://ecosoberhouse.com/ process, follow one of the relapse prevention plan models that are available. Substance abuse and mental health expert Terry Gorski has a nine-step relapse prevention plan that can help you recognize and manage relapse warning signs.

• But with good coping skills, a person can learn to let go of thoughts of using quickly.
• Emotional distress, such as stress, anxiety, or depression can also lead to relapse.
• Clinical experience shows that when clients feel they cannot be completely honest, it is a sign of emotional relapse.
• In addition, feelings of guilt and shame are isolating and discourage people from getting the support that that could be of critical help.
• They must confront the damage caused by addiction to their relationships, employment, finances, and self-esteem.
• The causes of substance dependence are rarely obvious to users themselves.

If you or a loved one has experienced a relapse, or are just considering treatment options, we are here to help you. The Recovery Village has a strong record of helping people with substance use disorders to achieve recovery. Reach out to one of our understanding team members today to learn how you can start on your path to recovery. Recovery is an ongoing process and can involve many fluctuations and challenges. During this process, thoughts, feelings, or situations, sometimes referred to as high-risk situations, can cause you to be reminded of past substance use and feel tempted to return to these behaviors. Recovered provides a directory of treatment options that can be used to treat cocaine dependence and provide relapse prevention strategies.

Exposure to substances or peer pressure

• While it is a common part of the recovery process, it can lead to dangerous behaviors that may harm both the relapsing individual and their loved ones.
• Old friends may be an external trigger if you used to engage in substance abuse with them.
• Relapse is the return to substance abuse after being drug- or alcohol-free.
• In many cases, users cave to drug use during a window of opportunity and falsely believe it will cause no harm.

CBT is a form of psychotherapy that helps identify negative thoughts that lead to substance abuse. CBT effectively reduces the risk of relapse and is an integral component of the recovery process. This blog explores relapse prevention, strategies for avoiding triggers, and coping mechanisms to manage urges of repeat negative habits. As soon as things start getting hard, it’s tempting to turn back to addiction. Instead, learn how to practice relaxation, and how to be relaxed in any and every situation.

List of Triggers for Relapse: Identifying and Managing High-Risk Situations

• Emotional relapse is the first of three stages of relapse, so keeping an eye on your emotional state is an important way to manage triggers.
• This is a reason that a lot of support programs employ the use of a sponsor; it can be critical to have someone to talk to when the urge to use arises.
• This may vary from person to person and be influenced by things such as extent and length of use.
• If addiction were so easy, people wouldn’t want to quit and wouldn’t have to quit.

It can also be assuring to know that most people have the same problems and need to make similar changes. They think it is almost embarrassing to talk about the basics of recovery. They are embarrassed to mention that they still have occasional cravings or that they are no longer sure if they had an addiction. 3) Clients feel they are not learning anything new at self-help meetings and begin to go less frequently. Clients need to understand that one of the benefits of going to meetings is to be reminded of what the “voice of addiction” sounds like, because it is easy to forget.

What are the stages of relapse in the recovery process?