Why Does Relapse Happen?
While drug addiction treatment through rehab often leads to a long life of sobriety and avoiding substances, the truth of the matter is that addiction is a chronic illness. What that means is that even if you quit using some drug or another that you were addicted to, you may experience cravings for the rest of your life. Over time, these become easier to shrug off or ignore entirely, but those cravings are sometimes just too much for some people. This is usually because someone actively attempted to get the rehabilitated addict to use drugs again. This is one instance where peer pressure is more powerful than any other situation since there is already an underlying problem that’s already difficult for many to control.
What’s the Best Way to Prevent Relapse?
Although it can lead to a few rough social interactions, one of the things that patients learn while in rehab is to stop spending time with people who they used to do drugs with. This can be very problematic for some people because the people they were using drugs with are often friends that have been in the picture for years, if not decades. Still, it is that longevity why the pressure from these people is so powerful against someone who recently went through rehab.
That all being said, and even though it is especially difficult to do, avoiding people from the past who still use drugs is the single best way to keep from relapsing. If you have a loved one who is at risk of relapse, understand that they will be feeling especially lonesome after rehab, and make sure to spend more time with them than normal until they can make new, sober relationships.
Relapse is addiction happening all over again. If the relapse is only a few days, it’s not necessarily a full addiction and the user should seek guidance through their aftercare program. However, if the relapse leads back to a full blown addiction, full rehab should be pursued once again. If you or a loved one has relapsed after rehab, give us a call at (866) 319-6126 to see how we can help today.