When you leave drug and alcohol rehab you have everything in place. You have a place to go that is safe. You have a job to go to. You have a detailed plan with structure for the first 2 weeks. You have new skills to learn. You have safe social situations to attend. However what if with all these things in place you still end up using. A single use after rehab is called a lapse. How do you prevent a lapse from turning into a relapse? A few simple rules can absolutely prevent a lapse from turning to a relapse from turning into full blown drug and alcohol use.

First is to remove any remaining drugs or alcohol from your home. It must be flushed down the toilet IMMEDIATELY. If you cannot do this or are afraid that you will use it before you destroy it, get a friend or family member to dispose of any remaining drugs or alcohol. Secondly phone or sit down with someone you trust and go through your relapse prevention plan with a careful eye as to what went wrong. Look objectively at the area that allowed you to place yourself in a situation to use. Bulletproof this area. Find different solutions. If you discuss your lapse immediately you can stop the guilt and stress that will lead to futher useage. There is never a reason for a single use to turn into a relapse.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 at 9:53 pm and is filed under 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.