Leading experts in relapse prevention based on interviews with former addicts found:

Relapse is generally not triggered by physical cravings, even in the case of substance addiction such as drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.

Addicts of all types relapse in response to stress related to feelings of anxiety, fear, anger, frustration, depression, social pressures and interpersonal conflicts.

What is Stress?
The stress response is unique:
It has no biological structure, unlike germs or viruses.
It is purely the result of how our mind and body function and interact.
It is the consequence of how we do or do not regulate our physical and mental functions.
It is a true example of the connection between how we think about things and our physical reactions to those thoughts.(Freedom from Stress, A Holistic Approach, Phil Nuernberger Ph.D. The Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the USA 1981.)

Stress is defined as
â??A mentally or emotionally disruptive condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health, usually characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, irritability, and depressionâ?? (Http://dictionary.reference.com)

Define what stress means to you

Take a moment and write down in your own words what your definition of stress is.
Add some concrete examples of what you think causes you to feel stressed.
You will be building your own stress inventory.

We are required to travel on roads with people we donâ??t know and who can pose considerable risk to us.
We spend time with people who are not of our choosing e.g. at work, at school, on the bus.
We have bills arrive in the mail and a wallet that never has enough cash.
We face the â??slip on the banana peelâ?? daily surprises the universe may throw our way just to test us.

Add any of these items to your stress inventory that ring a bell for you. By taking the time to do a real and complete stress inventory you can start to preplan and practice ways to deal with them before they arrive. Relapse doesn’t happen by accident. So many times when someone re-enters a drug or alcohol rehab program they will say they don’t know what happened. After the left the last rehab they were cruising along and then “bam”, it hit them and they started using or drinking again. What lead up to the “bam”? Most likely it involved stress of some kind. Let’s start to look more closely at these and see how to deal them most effectively in addiction treatment. Maybe you can avoid a “bam” in your life and avoid a relapse and multiple visits to rehab.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 16th, 2005 at 9:35 pm and is filed under Drug Addiction, Drug Rehab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.