Relapse Prevention: Know Your Triggers

When practicing healthy ways to manage triggers, you can detach from any painful or stressful situations that may create triggers. If a person isn’t equipped with effective coping skills or neglects to use them to their full potential, the likelihood of acting on their urges increases. The last stage of relapse is the one most people think of first — returning to the use of drugs or alcohol. It’s not just negative events that can result in addiction relapse triggers. Getting a new job or earning a promotion can trigger a relapse in a couple of different ways. For one, you might be tempted to use again “just this once” as a means of celebrating.

Specialists often recommend “thought stopping” strategies, the development of refusal skills, and the avoidance of high-risk situations. Addition treatment will help patients learn how best to utilize these strategies while forging their own recovery path. It is the culmination of an emotional relapse and a mental relapse. Physical relapses are one of the most challenging stages of relapse to overcome.

Autumn is a Time of Letting Go In Order to Change

For example, someone in recovery from heroin addiction who is suddenly exposed to the substance during a visit to a friend’s home is at a very high risk of experiencing a trigger. Just the sight or smell of the substance can create deep, hard-to-stop thoughts of using. It’s possible for any external trigger to happen without you being aware of the event that caused it. For example, visiting a family member’s home may make you uncomfortable, but you don’t know why. Years later, you may work with a therapist to uncover the abuse that occurred there.

You might begin bargaining with yourself, replacing one substance with another or you might begin to rationalize the use of drugs and alcohol by minimizing the consequences. You might also start permitting yourself to use a substance once or twice a year, thinking you’ll be able to control your usage habits. Although it’s important to note that occasional thoughts of using while in recovery are normal and even frequent, dwelling or acting on those thoughts is what will lead to relapse in the end. Seeing an old friend you used to use drugs or alcohol with can cause you to develop urges or cravings to use again. Additionally, running into an old drug dealer or spending time with a person who uses drugs and alcohol are both extremely dangerous and tempting situations to be in. According to Psychology Today, stress is a key risk factor in addiction and relapse.2 This is something that researchers have long known to be true. When it comes to addiction recovery, things like stressful life events combined with a lack of coping skills can create the perfect storm for a relapse.

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Coping methods learned in therapy help people remain grounded and reduce the craving for the escapism of substance abuse. One important study examined theeffect of visual triggersin people who were former users of cocaine. Researchers showed the participants photos of cocaine and related situations and found that the images resulted in a subconscious emotional response in the brain.

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• In a moment’s time, you may feel overwhelmed and simply unable to pull yourself together.
• Initially, many addicts first use drugs and alcohol to avoid unwanted emotions.
• Unhealthy diets will derail recovery by causing sleep problems, headaches, and low energy.
• On average more than 85% of individuals are susceptible to relapse in the following year after drug and alcohol treatment.

There are many categories of addiction relapse triggers, and they fall into multiple groups. They can be emotional, environmental or mental, and often a trigger falls into multiple categories. These are 10 of the most common triggers in addiction recovery, along with quick tips on how to avoid them. Internal triggers are thoughts and emotions that can cause cravings to use. Internal triggers can be more difficult internal triggers to manage than external triggers as you cannot physically separate yourself from your thoughts and emotions. Internal triggers are often negative emotions and thoughts, but they can also be positive feelings such as joy or confidence as well. Emotions like anger, guilt, irritability, and low self-esteem can surface when individuals are triggered, spiraling into various behaviors and compulsions.

What Are Internal and External Triggers?

For the recovering addict, simply being aware of these 3 phases of relapse can help prevent one before it actually occurs. Dialectical behavioral therapy builds on the ideas behind CBT, emphasizing paying attention to our thoughts and feelings. It uses mindfulness and other techniques to help people reevaluate negative thoughts and emotions https://ecosoberhouse.com/ and reduce stress. Many people in recovery benefit from relapse prevention plans. They outline their triggers, treatment goals, and courses of action. Identify what internal triggers — emotions, thoughts, or memories — are liable to trigger cravings. When you experience them, recognize them for what they are and then allow them to pass.

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• Or, when you’re out having fun with your friends, you may feel confident and in control, so you may permit yourself to smoke marijuana because you convince yourself that you deserve it.
• To fully recover from addiction, you must modify the harmful behavioral and thought patterns in your life.
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You have to make sure that you prepare yourself with the proper tools and coping methods to avoid being surprised by cravings. A trigger is social, psychological, and emotional situations and events that compel an addicted person to seek their substance of choice, eventually leading them to relapse. When an addicted person uses drugs or alcohol for a prolonged period of time, it changes the brain—eventually associating certain stimuli with the desire to drink or do drugs. Dual recoveryrefers to those with dual diagnosis so dual relapse prevention planning is necessary. Issues like a flare up of the psychiatric illness and symptoms such as obsessive behaviour or hallucinations are obvious triggers. Now that you have identified a list of triggers, take a moment to determine which emotions and feelings were activated and the emotional state you reached. For each trigger you picked, which emotions and feelings were activated?