3 Different Phases Of Addiction Recovery

Although most people have great intentions, many people that go through addiction recovery end up having a relapse at some point in time.

There are three basic phases that can be considered with addiction recovery. Here me out on this because there are a lot of ways to look at it…this just makes sense to me. Each stage has opportunities for growth and some goals. Of course there are dangers that are a party of every phase as well. So, here’s a closer look at each phase and the dangers that can ensue.

Phase #1 – Early Recovery

When people are going through the first phase, early recover, the goal is to abstain from taking any chemicals that are mood altering. They need to stop. If they are going to do that, there are certain things that have to happen:

-    They need to understand addiction and global effects
-    They must identify and learn coping skills and refusal skills
-    They must develop and start a support system that is based on sobriety.

Those people in this stage must learn to develop feelings, thoughts, as well as behaviors that are all based on the principles of recovery. These must replace the ones they had while they were addicted.

During this phase, the main cause of relapsing is that they don’t develop the social and recovery skills in order to build up a lifestyle that is based on recovery and abstinence.

Phase #2 – Middle Recovery

Middle recovery has one main goal – being able to have a lifestyle that is balanced.

People need to identify their past and the mess it was, and address this disaster. Since phase one already helped them to establish abstaining, now they need to continue to mature and grow. Sometimes they end up dealing with more stress as they get involved in the world. Some of the things addressed in this phase include:

-    Working on the repair of friendships and family relationships
-    Working to re-establish self worth and self esteem
-    Beginning to get back out there into society and becoming productive

The top cause of a relapse during this phase is dealing with relationships as well as emotions that come with problems in life.

Phase #3 – Later Recovery Period

In this third stage of their recovery, people are working to change various issues that keep them from being satisfied with life. The goal is to come to a place in life where they are free, happy, and full of joy. New ethics, purpose, and morality is developed and choices are made according to these things. This is a new phase of time when they move forward and grow personally. Things that are worked on include:

-    Taking personality issues and examining their source
-    Figuring out behaviors that are sabotage life and changing them
-    Dealing with issues that come with the family of origin

During this third phase, the main cause of going through a relapse is not being able to cop with childhood issues that are unresolved, or avoiding the changes that need to be made in personality and lifestyle.