Relapse After Drug or Alcohol Rehab

It is relatively easy for many people to change undesired behaviors temporarily, maintaining behavior changes is much more difficult.

That is why during drug rehab, the program supports you to change in multiple areas of your life, so that at any given time you are always moving ahead, even when one particular area may be left on the back burner for a while.

A lapse, or a slip is the initial use of a substance after an individual has made a commitment to abstain from that substance.

A relapse is a full return to the maladaptive behaviors originally associated with the use of the substance

Craving is Increased by a Single Use of Drugs or Alcohol

The expectation of use increases craving and a single dose or use of a drug or alcohol causes the body to react in an anticipatory way, i.e. you have trained your body to expect that you don’t stop at one glass or pill or injection.

When you lapse or slip, this single use puts you at risk for a full relapse, your body remembers and asks for more through escalated craving.

If you use the skills you have learned during drug rehab or what I am suggesting here, you can learn from this lapse and take action to reduce risk for further use.

Although you can learn from a lapse and from a full relapse, the most effective learning occurs during drug and alcohol free coping with life problems and by achieving your life goals

It is during the sober periods like rehab and addiction treatment that the skills are practiced to maintain continued sobriety. You do not have to relapse and slip to learn how to be sober.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 1st, 2005 at 3:38 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.