Mentally Handling an Addiction Relapse

Posted on March 18, 2010
Filed Under Addiction, Relapse |

depressedAddiction recovery is not something that is a short term process. It sometimes takes many attempts at recovery before you can truly find a place of healing and leave your addiction alone for good. While the physical complications of addiction relapse can be significant, the mental aspects can be just as bad. So how do you handle it mentally when you find yourself on the backside of an addiction relapse?

The first thing you must do is understand the nature of addiction recovery. To expect a complete and total success story from the get go is likely being a bit naive. Addictions can run very strong and the likelihood of relapse is high. Keeping this in mind can make getting back in the saddle much easier.

If you find that you have relapsed with your addiction, however slightly, you should not beat yourself up for it over and over. Depression will only complicate the situation even more. Relapses happen and all we can do is get right back to recovery and start again.

There is something to be learned from addiction relapses, however. We should not ignore them, as they can be strong indicators of our addictions. What happened just prior to your relapse? Were you under a large amount of stress or did something specific happen? What preceded the addiction relapse? These are the questions that can help point to your personal triggers.

For example, if you were hanging out with your buddy that smells of alcohol and you ended up taking a drink, what does that tell you? Maybe you should not hang around with them when they smell of alcohol the next time around, right? We have to learn from our mistakes to truly overcome our addictions.

Addiction relapses are certainly not a good thing, but they can be used as tools in our ultimate addiction recovery. Spend time paying attention to them, and they can tell you a lot about yourself and your addiction.

When you do relapse, you will inevitably beat yourself up. You may even have people around you that do the same thing. While this is understandable given the frustrations that addiction brings, it is not something that you should wallow in. Do not sit and beat yourself up for days when you slip. First, you should acknowledge your relapse. Second, you should ask yourself why you relapsed. Finally, you should talk with your therapist about what you can learn from your relapse. All of these things are important to your ultimate recovery.

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