What is a Relapse Trigger?

Do not focus on staying clean for the rest of your life; focus on staying clean today. Make sure to eat a balanced diet, get adequate sleep, and continue with your treatment program. When these needs are not met, you may become irritable and moody and will be more likely to use to offset those drug relapse triggers. If you do not take care of your body’s basic needs, drug relapse triggers emerge. Part of any successful treatment plan for alcohol or drug addiction involves managing the risk of relapse. Discovery Institute also offers individual therapy, coping skills development and implementation of recovery support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Some coping skills that are taught involve cognitive-behavioral therapy , dialectical behavior therapy and meditation.

• Researchers highlighted the importance of avoiding the people, places and things that remind patients of their former lifestyle.
• Remind yourself that creating a sober life takes work, determination, and perseverance.
• External triggers can be very powerful and sometimes, you may not be able to dissociate certain things with your past substance abuse.
• Medical Reviewers confirm the content is thorough and accurate, reflecting the latest evidence-based research.
• Keep this list handy so you’re never left wondering how to fill your free time.

Do your best to plan meals, engage in mindfulness, seek out social support and stick to a regular sleep schedule. Doing so will provide a baseline that helps reduce reactivity to triggers. The HALT acronym helps those in recovery keep an eye on some of the most basic human needs that can lead to or intensify triggers if not fulfilled.

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A pattern of relapse and remission is very common for those suffering with long-term addictions. However, it’s worth thinking about exactly what impact this has on your life and how it can be avoided. Remission can be followed by a likelihood of relapse so preventive interventions may stop future use. Post treatment relapse rates are very high so dedication and hard work is necessary. Your biological body clock is a trigger to undertake any routine behaviour.

• Treatment enables people to counteract addiction’s disruptive effects on their brain and behavior and regain control of their lives.
• Patients in rehab may consider skipping treatment sessions or support group meetings to spend time with their friends and family.
• In rats and humans, the hormone corticosterone increases the level of dopamine, a brain chemical that plays a major role in reward-seeking behavior, in the brain in response to stress.
• In recovery, people don’t have that option and often struggle to accept and process negative feelings.
• Meaning, you can purposefully avoid certain places, cut off relationships with certain people, and take other intentional actions to limit your exposure to triggers.
• Or, treating yourself to one, unnecessary new pair of shoes could lead to a shopping spree.

But sometimes medications need to be changed, which can lead to a mental health relapse if your symptoms begin to resurge. This can be distressing, types of relapse triggers especially if your medication had helped manage your symptoms for a long time. Obviously, there is no foolproof way to avoid financial stress.

Relapse Triggers

Encountering these triggers can be unavoidable, but by identifying them early, you can know what to expect. Stress significantly increases vulnerability to relapse triggers. Finding healthy coping mechanisms to deal with life’s inevitable stresses is necessary for long-term recovery. Stress, in all its many shapes and forms, runs rife throughout recovery as a relapse trigger. Whether it is being with people using drugs, or being in places where drugs are easily accessible, or an object that has strong connotations to drug use, this can trigger cravings and endangers recovery.