Recovering from relapse is hard, but you can definitely beat it by not letting it get you down. The road to recovery never ends but the more familiar you become with recovery, the easier it becomes to keep moving forward. Relapse is extremely prominent in recovery but so is moving past it to be successful and sober.
A Natural Process
Many people don’t want to think relapse is just part of the cycle of addiction recovery but for some, it happens not just once but a few times before it sticks. Addiction is difficult to overcome and yet the sobriety path is full of possibility with people waiting to give you strategies for recovery that will help you grow and move forward. Seeing progress, even after relapse, can really help. The event of a relapse does not mean the progress made is lost, it does not mean treatment has failed. Relapse is about having a new opportunity to recover from addiction in a healthy and productive way. Get back on the road and keep moving.
Why it Happens
Relapse happens for many reasons but once you know why you fell down the rabbit hole again, you can adjust your recovery plan and focus on long-term recovery. The most common reasons for relapse include:
- Lack of adequate planning when transitioning from treatment to home. Having an appropriate aftercare plan with extra support will help you shore up resources for the journey.
- An ineffective aftercare plan does not address every level of recovery. Addiction affects a person from physical to emotional, mental, and spiritual. Transitioning home requires you to remain strong on all levels and firing on all cylinders.
- If you focus on hoping you can use substances one day again without going back into addiction, this can create a false sense of what recovery means and can result in relapse.
- A lack of social network to rely on for support will result in you continuing to struggle with success as positive, sober friends are the bedrock of recovery
- Untreated dual diagnosis can create huge challenges and barriers to success in recovery.
Get on Track
There are many ways to get on track if you are derailed in recovery. You can try the following:
- Take responsibility for your actions which requires daily, intentional practice
- Act immediately after relapse to get on the road to recovery. Remind yourself why you quit and why you continue on this current path in recovery
- Reach out to the support network and seek people who will help you realize success is an option. Drug treatment research has shown the quality of support and aftercare directly determines how a person bounces back from relapse so reach out to those networks
- Seek professional help to design a customized plan, monitor and support success along with getting prevention tools for the journey. Addiction specialists can really do wonders to get you back on the road to recovery when you have fallen by the wayside.
Get a new plan together and stick with it. Have support people in place to help you and check back into a treatment facility if you need added support. Don’t be afraid to reach out for fear of being shamed about relapse. It happens; what matters is how you deal with it now.
Relapse happens in addiction recovery; it is not the end of the road for you. There is still hope. Oceanfront believes in the power of people to change and move forward in the event of relapse. We are here to help shore up your addiction recovery plan and support your success. Call us to find out how we can help you get back on your feet: 877-279-1777
