Warning signs are there ~ Relapse

If you have a friend or loved one who is in recovery, relapse is a real issue and a common thing. Many stumble along their recovery road but along those stumbles there are warning signs there.

There is a period of time during recovery where a person will feel impending dread, dread that they will no longer be able to experience that euphoric high once experienced while in their addiction. They may feel like all of the positive thinking they had done in their early recovery wasn’t a reflection on their true feelings towards sobriety, as if they are lying to themselves when they say they are grateful for their new found clean and sober life.

When these feelings come on, it can be very overwhelming and last for many days. The recovering addict may isolate themselves from anyone and everyone who may very well been the same people who could help them through these feelings. This can be their biggest mistake and a huge step towards relapse.

When you begin to believe that no one else could possibly understand how you are feeling and don’t reach out and ask for help – relapse is just seconds away. When you notice a loved one or friend in recovery beginning to pull away, stop attending support meetings, isolating themselves, that is when it is even more important to pull them back in. For the person in recovery – force yourself no matter how uncomfortable it feels at first, to reach out for help. It is the times when you don’t feel like you need anyone else that are the most important times to surround your self with others. Every day a person in recovery can face struggles making a strong support network essential in a healthy recovery.

If you need help, are struggling with an addiction, or know of someone who is, please contact A Better Tomorrow Treatment Center today. We are here to help.
http://www.abttc.net/
Phone: 800.971.1586
Fax: 800.401.8464
24 Hour Addiction HelpLine
Tel. (800) 396-9389 (7 days 24 hours)
e-mail: info@24houraddictionhelp.com
http://www.24houraddictionhelp.org/

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How to Support an Addict who has Relapsed

If I have said it once, I have said it a hundred times plus – the road to recovery is not an easy one, but a road worth traveling. There is going to be difficulties, the only difference is, that in recovery, you have gained a better understanding of what brought on your addiction and developed tools to help counteract it from rearing its evil ways again. However, as I have also said before, relapse happens in recovery, and unfortunately, more times than not. As far as percentage of those who relapse during recovery, that is a hard question to answer in exact numbers. For one thing, not all report that they have relapse, not all re-enter a treatment center, and some never live to tell. Various numbers have been stated anywhere from 70% to 90% of addicts in recovery will relapse. Are them numbers correct, it is hard to determine. What is more important than what numbers can tell you is what you can do to help an addict in recovery who has relapsed, get back on the right track.

It is hard to see a love one return to drugs or alcohol after they left an addiction treatment program, sometimes devastating. Family embers can feel that all that effort was in vain, by both the addict and themselves. Some may want to throw the towel in and just give up while others want to do everything in their power to “fix” things to the extent there is nothing they wouldn’t sacrifice to get their loved one back on the right track. Neither one is a healthy response; you can neither throw the towel in nor become self sacrificing.

Here are some important tips to help you help the relapsed addict get back on track while protecting your own well being.

Remember who controls ownership of the addiction. This is the addicts’ battle and they need to own it, not you.

Hold the addict accountable for their recovery from the relapse.

Do not make excuses for the addict , dismiss the problem, or take on the addicts problems.

Encourage the addict to re-enter their original addition treatment plan and or attend addiction support group meetings.

Don’t push. Make your feelings heard as far as them seeking out help with direction then step back. They have to want to get back on the right track and no amount of pushing will change that. It is not your job to make them better; it is theirs alone.

Avoid the blame game. Do not try to remove the addicts’ guilt or anxiety about relapsing. Allow them to work through their feelings and it can be those exact feelings of guilt that can lead them back to recovery. Allow them to own them. However, don’t try to get the addict to feel guilty either. Inflicting guilty feelings will work in reverse than self-guilt and not motivate them to seek help.

Take care of yourself and do not allow the addict to pull you down with them.

Set an example of healthy living and healthy decision-making.

Be supportive by not having addictive substance in your home.

Don’t be discouraged and try to stay optimistic. The National Institute on Drug Abuse states that drug addiction often requires more than one round of therapy. A relapse does not mean that the addict will never lead a “clean life” just that they may require more than one round in treatment.


If you need help, are struggling with an addiction, or know of someone who is, please contact A Better Tomorrow Treatment Center today. We are here to help.
http://www.abttc.net/
Phone: 800.971.1586
Fax: 800.401.8464
24 Hour Addiction HelpLine
Tel. (800) 396-9389 (7 days 24 hours)
e-mail: info@24houraddictionhelp.com
http://www.24houraddictionhelp.org/

Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Twitter too!
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ABTomorrow
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ABTomorrow