It’s not uncommon for recovering addicts to relapse during their road to recovery. Even those dedicated to living a life of sobriety can succumb to the relapse triggers they are often faced with in all areas of their everyday life.
In fact, many people will fall off the wagon on numerous occasions during their recovery.
The key to avoiding relapse is to understand the places, people, or social situations that can act as triggers. Once you’ve identified your triggers, you can put an effective plan in place to help you manage and avoid them.
Here are some of the most common relapse triggers for recovering addicts.
Negative emotions are one of the biggest relapse triggers. It’s often emotional situations that result in addicts turning to drink or drugs in the first place.
Many people misuse drink and drugs when they are sad, lonely, angry or have experienced some form of trauma. It’s important that you learn how to effectively manage your emotions so that you don’t turn to drink or drugs as a coping mechanism.
Stressful situations can also be a major trigger so, again, it’s important that you understand how to manage these situations, without relapsing.
Life can be incredibly stressful, challenging, and overwhelming. Whether you have money worries, family problems, or your relationships with your loved ones are at breaking point, stress can cause a range of mental and physical symptoms and many people turn to drink or drugs as a way to escape their worries.
With this in mind, it’s important to take steps to manage and prevent stress.
Another potential trigger is social isolation. Many addicts find that their relationships with their family and friends have broken down, resulting in feelings of loneliness and isolation during their recovery.
The good news is, there are many support services that you can reach out to during your journey to recovery, including rehabilitation centres, support groups and recovery groups.
Finally, one of the most common relapse triggers is putting yourself in situations where you know that drugs and alcohol will be readily available.
Although it’s often easier said than done, it’s important that you avoid these situations in order to avoid the urge to use drugs or alcohol again.
Instead, you should change your circle of friends, find new hobbies or, if you do want to spend time with old friends, make sure that you do so in the right environment.
At ANA, we work closely with our clients to help rebuild their lives, gain confidence and self-worth and believe that they can live a healthy, responsible, and productive life, free of addictive substances.
Contact ANA today, our friendly team is on hand and ready to help.
