Recognising the Signs of Relapse
Whether you are personally in recovery or are concerned that your loved one is at risk of experiencing a relapse, we would recommend looking out for the following warning signs;
- – Insomnia
- – Sleeping too much
- – Suffering from exhaustion
- – Feeling run down
- – Isolation from others
- – Changes in eating habit
The above warning signs are often an indication that an individual is suffering from an emotional relapse. When ignored and left to escalate, emotional relapses can cause an individual to suffer from a mental and physical relapse.
This sees them turning to the substance they were once addicted to in order to mitigate any pessimistic feelings they are experiencing.
How to Minimise the Risk of Relapse?
As touched on above, although relapsing is a somewhat familiar setback that can be encountered throughout addiction recovery, many precautions can be taken to minimise the risk of relapse.
If you are in recovery and are worried about relapse, we would recommend doing the following;
- Take advantage of sobriety support – attending a sobriety group such as Alcoholics Anonymous will enable you to share your experience with others and seek support from individuals that know how you are feeling. In doing so, you will likely be provided with a wealth of tips that can help you overcome and mitigate the risk of relapse.
- Address the factors that are contributing to your emotions – addressing your emotions and the factors that contributed to your addiction is something that you will have done throughout the rehabilitation stage of your addiction recovery. As you embark on your long-term recovery journey outside of rehab, it is essential to continue to do this. Addressing the factors that are contributing to your emotions can offer you the ability to make any necessary changes to your routine or life at home. For example, if stress at work has seen you encounter emotions that you are struggling to cope with, addressing this will help you to determine how you can overcome these emotions. This could be as simple as talking to your employer about how you feel or asking for a reduced workload.
- Keep a journal – Journaling helps millions of people across the world understand and explore their emotions. If you are worried that you are at risk of relapsing, you may have various emotions building up inside you that you are yet to let out. Writing any thoughts and feelings that you are experiencing down will help you relieve yourself of any emotions. In turn, you will have the ability to mitigate your risk of relapse.
- Talk to your loved ones – if you are struggling with your emotions and are concerned that you will relapse, we would encourage you to talk to your loved ones. They will be there to support you every step of the way and can provide a shoulder to lean on should it be needed.
- Contact us – if you are increasingly worried that you are going to relapse and you have attempted to take advantage of the above tips, we would urge you to contact us. We can support you and ensure that relapse can be prevented.
If you are supporting a recovering alcoholic and find yourself concerned that they are at risk of relapsing, we would recommend doing the following;
- Talk to your loved one and try to understand how they may be feeling.
- Show empathy and ensure that they know you are there for them
- Determine any triggers that may influence your loved one’s risk of relapsing and find ways to avoid them.
- As stress is one of the leading causes of relapse, we would also encourage you to help alleviate any stress or pressure that your loved one may be experiencing. This could be as simple as taking on some of the tasks they would usually fulfil around the house.
- Encourage your loved one to seek professional support – If you have attempted to help your loved one decrease their risk of relapse, but find that they need additional support, encouraging them to seek professional support may be in their best interest.
How Asana Lodge Can Help Minimise the Risk of Relapse
If you are hoping to minimise the risk of relapse as you recover from your drug or alcohol addiction, we are here to help you.
At our residential rehab in Blackpool, we have a specialist relapse prevention team on hand to help clients that complete our treatment programmes identify any triggers that may cause them to relapse.
In uncovering said triggers, we can provide them with coping strategies and tools needed to steer clear of temptation.
We are well aware that the first 12 months after leaving rehab pose to be the most difficult for individuals in recovery. As a result, we additionally provide 12 months of free aftercare support to diminish the chances of relapse.
Although avoiding temptation may be somewhat tricky, as our clients leave our treatment centre and return to their everyday life, the tools we provide have proven time and time again to be successful.
Contact Us Today
Regardless of whether you attended our residential rehab for treatment for your addiction or not, if you are concerned that you are at risk of relapsing, we are here to support you. We would encourage you to contact us as soon as possible.
Likewise, if you are concerned that a loved one or even friend is at risk of relapsing, please contact us today. We can give you the tools needed to support them and help them to overcome any issues encountered.
