Relapse Prevention Plan

Getting enough sleep is vital, especially in these early stages when the body is still trying to recover from the damage done by substance abuse. The goal of the relapse prevention stage is to bolster the patient’s skills for averting such relapses.

After a period of successful abstinence, many patients feel increasingly confident that they will now be able to handle moderate use of alcohol or drugs. However, abundant evidence indicates that patients with schizophrenia have extraordinary difficulty using moderate amounts of drugs or alcohol. Therefore, https://ecosoberhouse.com/ helping patients maintain an awareness that they are vulnerable to relapses of their substance use disorder is an important element of relapse prevention. A relapse prevention plan helps a person to identify the initial phases of a relapse – emotional and mental – before physical relapse occurs.

Holiday Relapse Prevention Tips

Some of these high-risk situations can present themselves strictly because of stress, or others may arise in the fashion mentioned above. Social peer pressure, whether it be direct or indirect, has an effect. Friends pleading with you to drink at a party would be an example of direct pressure whereas indirect pressure would be friends inviting you out to drink after work.

• “It can be a written plan or verbalized plan that you work on, ideally with an addiction professional or person in long-term recovery who can help guide you,” Sternlicht says.
• It is most common for physical relapse to occur when an opportunity presents itself.
• It is also helpful to identify situations where relapse happened or situations where relapse felt like a necessary step.
• This can help with your decision making and reduce the risk of relapse.
• Substance use is a negative coping skill, sohealthy coping skillswill prevent relapse and result in positive outcomes in the long-term.

It shouldn’t be expected that an individual completely forgets about drinking or drug use after suffering from an addiction. Instead, though, recovering addicts should learn coping skills that help them move on from those thoughts as they occur to them. The most important thing you can relapse prevention do to prevent relapse at this stage is take better care of yourself. You use drugs or alcohol to escape, relax, or reward yourself. Therefore you relapse when you don’t take care of yourself and create situations that are mentally and emotionally draining that make you want to escape.

Identifying High-Risk Situations

Some researchers divide physical relapse into a “lapse” and a “relapse” . Clinical experience has shown that when clients focus too strongly on how much they used during a lapse, they do not fully appreciate the consequences of one drink. Once an individual has had one drink or one drug use, it may quickly lead to a relapse of uncontrolled using. But more importantly, it usually will lead to a mental relapse of obsessive or uncontrolled thinking about using, which eventually can lead to physical relapse. Occasional, brief thoughts of using are normal in early recovery and are different from mental relapse. When people enter a substance abuse program, I often hear them say, “I want to never have to think about using again.” It can be frightening when they discover that they still have occasional cravings.

A common example is when people give themselves permission to use on holidays or on a trip. It is a common experience that airports and all-inclusive resorts are high-risk environments in early recovery. Another form of bargaining is when people start to think that they can relapse periodically, perhaps in a controlled way, for example, once or twice a year.

Creating a Relapse Prevention Plan

It does not indicate failure, as it is often a natural part of the healing process. A relapse prevention plan helps to prevent a relapse or minimize the consequences of a partial relapse. Find ways to reward yourself for steering clear of drugs and alcohol by providing incentives for yourself. Engage in self-care activities that will make you look and feel better about your recovery and how far you’ve come. A positive experience like getting your hair cut or getting a massage will help you realize there are much healthier ways to cope. Also, self-care helps boost your self-esteem adding to your personal growth. For each of the relapse stages, there are different signs one might give out.

This article is meant to be a brief overview of relapse prevention skills. You can learn more about relapse prevention skills and identify coping mechanisms in therapy and counseling.

Why Relapse Prevention Fails

As a result, you’ll feel less discouraged about how much more time you’ll need to put toward your long-term goals. Seeking ways to relapse, such as finding activities surrounding drinking (e.g., happy hours or birthdays).

Recovering alone is not only hard, but it can be painful, and to some, almost impossible. There is a way to make things easier, and there are many who can help while in recovery. Engaging in relaxation techniques like meditation, breathwork, and yoga will help you slow down your mind and refocus on the bigger picture. Slowing down your mind will help you review your thought patterns and avoid old habits that led to negative experiences. Another common trigger for relapse is feeling hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. If you get the urge to use, you are most likely feeling one of the HALT symptoms. Having unrealistic expectations about the holiday season can cause a great deal of stress, which can increase your risk of relapsing.