Relapse Prevention

It’s also worth noting there are different stages to relapse. Relapse is indeed a process as opposed to a singular event. Relapse can start some weeks and even months before you see a physical relapse take place. Learning about the early warning signs of relapse is key in its prevention.

Emotional Relapse

Emotional relapses don’t necessarily mean the user is thinking of using. Instead, their emotions and behaviours may set them up for a possible relapse. Signs of emotional relapses include anxiety, intolerance and even anger and defensiveness. You may also notice mood swings, a desire to isolate as well as poor eating and sleeping habits. The early stage of an emotional relapse is much easier to pull out of. As the relapse goes deeper, the pull becomes harder and the series of events becomes much faster.

Dealing With Emotional Relapse

One of the best ways to deal with emotional relapses is to start practicing self care. By taking better care of oneself makes the desire to escape much less. By ignoring self care, not practicing good hygiene or good eating habits or even good sleep habits, one can begin to feel exhausted and struggle with normal day to day life which in turn can lead to wanting to escape. Look for signs of stress, tiredness and even struggling to complete daily tasks and you may well find a sufferer within the emotional stage.

Mental Relapse

In a mental relapse, sufferers may find themselves at war with their own mind. Part of them wants to use while another part of them doesn’t want to use. At the very early stages of a mental relapse, the addict may merely think about using from time to time however in the latter stages, this becomes a constant thought, all day, every day. They may begin to think about people and places they used with along with more glamorous thoughts about the past. You may even see them begin to socialise with past friends and begin lying about their whereabouts. Once again, at the very early stages of a mental relapse, it’s much easier to pull back from however, it can be difficult to notice this stage beginning without warning from the sufferer themselves.

Dealing With Metal Relapse

It’s important for someone struggling with the beginning of a mental relapse to talk about their feelings and urges. Distractions work well in this instance also, providing a different focus as opposed to the thoughts of substance abuse. We also suggest making relaxation a big part of recovery in order to help the addict make peace with their mind when erratic thoughts begin to take over.

Physical Relapse

Physical relapses occur once you’ve passed through emotional and mental relapse stages. It unfortunately doesn’t take long to pass from emotional and mental stages through to the physical stage of actually using and it can be difficult to stop the relapse once it’s got to this point. Recognising the early warning signs is much better in order to avoid reaching this stage altogether.