Hi my name is Bill Urell, and I’d like to speak to you a little bit on the subject of relapse statistics that are involved. 
First off, part of the definition of addiction is that it is a chronic relapsing disorder. Therefore prevention of relapse is one of the critical elements for treatment of drug and alcohol dependencies. There are a lot different statistics that are quoted by well-meaning people that are very inaccurate; stating that only 5 or 10 percent recover is misleading and dangerous.
Government statistics are usually the most reliable because they draw from a very large sample base. According to the Department of Health and Human Services in their technical assistance publication # 11 (TAP 11), they state that roughly 54 percent of all alcohol and drug abuse patients can be expected to relapse. But this is not failure, many go on to recover. Of those patients who maintained long-term abstinence roughly one-third of patients achieve permanent abstinence through their first serious attempt at recovery. The second third have a brief relapse episodes which eventually result in long-term abstinence and a third have serious chronic relapses which result in eventual recovery from chemical addiction.
Now here’s the problem as I see it with all statistics. Statistics assume that we fall into categories through random events. Recovery is not a random event. you determine by your action and adherence to a program of recovery, which group you place yourself in. If you do not take you recover seriously, do not follow suggestions, and choose to pick up, drinks or drugs then you place yourself in that percentage of people who relapse by your own actions. Your actions determine which group you fall into, not random events.
Although addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder and relapse is a symptom of addiction, it is preventable. It is preventable through your choice and your actions.
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this was such a helpfull website! thank you!
What percentage of addicts relapse is like asking how big is a box? The box size depends on the box, and the relapse-free recovery depends entirely on the addict. When a person fully commits (and I mean completely and whole-heartedly with no reservations whatsoever) to the idea that sobriety is better than their drug of choice, the percentage of addicts that don’t relapse goes skyrocketing.
What percentage of addicts relapse is like asking how big is a box? The box size depends on the box, and the relapse-free recovery depends entirely on the addict. When a person fully commits (and I mean completely and whole-heartedly with no reservations whatsoever) to the idea that sobriety is better than their drug of choice, the percentage of addicts that don’t relapse goes skyrocketing.
You couldn’t be more right. It really is dependent on the addict. It’s almost unfair to make a statistic out of it because yes I am sure people will relapse before they are able to fully recover and some may never recover…but if I’m trying to recover from an addiction and I read something that says that I am more than likely going to relapse, then it’s almost like why try? I think statistics can be a dangerous thing to have. And a lot of them generally aren’t accurate.
This was a very helpful reading about relapse in drug prevention. It helped me a lot. Good job!!