Relapse Prevention in Edison, NJ
Relapse prevention in Edison is a crucial component of any addiction recovery program. Throughout the recovery process, each patient is taught to identify and recognize their own unique addiction triggers.
Once those triggers are established, it's easier to tailor the right relapse prevention addiction treatment to suit that individual person's needs into the future. Therapy and counseling sessions strive to teach each recovering person some optimal ways to prevent high-risk situations.
According to research published by the National Institutes of Health, without effective plans for relapse prevention in Edison, the relapse rates among recovering addicts would be significantly higher.
What is Relapse Prevention?
Relapse prevention from drug or alcohol addiction is a plan of action for a recovering addict to reduce the risk of returning to a pattern of self-destructive or dysfunctional behaviors associated with addictive substance abuse.
It's common for many people to assume that getting through the drug or alcohol detox process should somehow mean the addict is cured of their addiction. What those people fail to take into account is that detox on its own does nothing to address the psychological triggers behind addictive substance use.
In order to prevent relapse, each individual person need to find their own personal strategy for relapse prevention for addiction recovery. Just as the triggers behind dysfunctional behaviors are different for each person, the actual strategies, tools and skills needed to stay clean and sober will also vary between people.
Relapse Statistics among Addicts and Alcoholics
The National Institute on Drug Abuse compares the relapse rates for addicts as being similar to those of other chronic relapsing diseases, such as asthma, hypertension and type 2 diabetes.
Depending on the type of drug being taken, the relapse rates are reported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to be between 40% and 60% for recovering addicts. However, certain drugs can have a much higher relapse rate.
For example, it's estimated that people recovering from addiction to strong stimulant drugs such as methamphetamine face relapse rates of up to 90%.
Further statistics published by the National Institutes of Health show that people who attempted to stop using drugs or alcohol on their own were significantly more likely to relapse after a period of remittance than those people who sought professional help from an addiction rehab facility.
Warning Signs and Symptoms of Relapse
Relapse prevention in Edison teaches recovering people that relapsing is never an isolated event. Instead, relapse is a series of events and emotions that lead up to the act of returning to a pattern of substance abuse. There are some warning signs and symptoms of relapse recovering addicts are taught to watch for.
Emotional Relapse:
The earliest warning signs are called emotional relapse. At this point, the person is not actively thinking about using again, but some emotions may be setting them up for a potential relapse in future. Signs and symptoms include:
- Not managing stress levels
- Poor eating habits
- Poor sleeping patterns
- Lack of self-care
- Not asking for help
- Not attending group support sessions or classes
It's important that early warning signs are recognized and acted on before symptoms progress into later stages.
Mental Relapse:
During the second stage of relapse, the person may become ambivalent about the recovery process. If early warning signs aren't recognized and acted on, it's likely the person will begin to experience more risky thoughts and emotions. Warning signs of mental relapse include:
- Thinking about using again
- Fantasizing or glamorizing past use or previous unhealthy relationships with people associated with using
- Believing that the addiction is now under control and using ‘just once' will be fine
- Planning a relapse around other people's schedules to avoid getting caught
Physical Relapse:
Physical relapse is the act of taking the drug or drink. If the earlier warning signs are not recognized and relapse prevention plans put into place, the risk of returning to past patterns of self-destructive behavior is extremely high.
In fact, by the time a person gets to the point of driving to the liquor store or calling a drug dealer, it's almost impossible to stop the relapse process from happening.
Aftercare Relapse Prevention Programs
Graduating from any comprehensive rehab program is a huge achievement in itself. However, once a recovering person leaves rehab, they're not simply left to live independently. Instead, it's important that the person has access to a diverse range of aftercare relapse prevention programs.
Most people assume that a relapse means that drug rehab treatments have failed. In reality, a relapse is simply a sign that the current aftercare relapse prevention programs need to be adjusted to allow the person to maintain sobriety over the long term.
Managing symptoms of addiction requires ongoing care and attention. It also means that a simple slip back into self-destructive behaviors should never be considered as a failure. Rather, it's an opportunity to amend the person's relapse prevention strategy to ensure the same problem doesn't happen again. Returning to sobriety after a brief lapse back into substance abuse is known as prolapse.
Relapse prevention in Edison provides recovering people with access to a range of aftercare programs that ensure they have the necessary support and skills needed to stay clean and sober. To learn more about our addiction treatment programs in Edison, call us today at (877) 804-1531.