Relapse On Drugs And Alcohol: 5 Tips On How To Survive A Relapse

No one in recovery wants to have a drug and alcohol relapse. But if it occurs, would you know what to do? These tips on how to survive a relapse may help avoid a lot of unnecessary pain.

Due to the frequency with which they occur, knowing what to do in the event of a relapse is an essential part of a relapse prevention plan.

First things first; don’t let guilt and shame paralyze you into inaction because you have had a slip or relapse. Unfortunately, in recovery, as in life, pain can be a valuable learning experience. The trick is to use the experience to get back into recovery and emerge from the experience even stronger.

Here are 5 tips to help you turn it around:

1. Don’t give in to despair. It is an attractive rationalization to believe that you have just proved you can’t do this. If you believe you can’t do something, what’s the point in trying? Go down that road and you’re off to the races.

2. Stop using. You are not a failure and hopeless; that is shame speaking. You are human, and as such we make mistakes. Don’t give into the idea that because you had a slip, you may as well go whole hog.

3. Get help immediately. Yes, that means telling someone you had a relapse and need help to stop now. Trying to keep it a secret will only increase the negative feelings generated.

4. Figure out what went wrong. Relapse just did not sneak up on you. It happened because of your action in wanting to use or your inaction of sticking to your recovery plan. Outside help of a counselor, sponsor or someone in long term recovery is needed to give an outside perspective.

5. Restart your recovery with overwhelming force. Become proactive in your recovery; apply even greater effort and priority to it. Apply overwhelming force, take what you think you need and double it. One key shared by people in long term recovery the idea that ‘I cannot drink or drug no matter what’. Adopt a ‘no matter what’ mentality.

And that is the tip of the iceberg on the subject of relapse prevention in drug and alcohol recovery. There is even more information available on what to do in case of a relapse on alcohol or drugs.

Tagged as: alcohol relapse, drug relapse, relapse