Relapse Prevention

What is Relapse Prevention?

Relapse describes the process where a former addict now in recovery chooses to revert back to his or her addictive behaviour. The process of relapse is complicated and often triggered by an assortment of complex emotional and psychological triggers. In fact, the psychological act of relapse precedes the physical act of relapse. Relapse begins as an unconscious act on behalf of the recovered addict and one which is difficult to avoid in the absence of learned coping strategies and/or professional support.

Many professionals believe after residential rehabilitation, a comprehensive relapse prevention plan is the most important component of drug and/or alcohol addiction treatment.

As you return home you may be returning to a negative atmosphere and social circle that are still abusing substances. So, remembering all the coping skills, outcome expectations and how to manage lifestyle factors and cravings you learnt during rehabilitation is crucial.

When relapse is likely to occur a number of changes in the recovered addict’s behaviour will take place. The first step towards relapse has been termed emotional relapse.

Our Relapse Prevention Plan

At Ocean Recovery we take considerable pride when it comes to our relapse prevention record. Our clients’ relapse rate is much lower than the rehabilitation industry averages.

Notwithstanding our stellar relapse prevention record, some of our clients will invariably relapse upon their return to normal life. Relapse occurs in spite of the many hours our therapists and medical staff devote to each rehabilitation programme. Relapse is an ever-present risk for all those in recovery for the remainder of their life.

Our relapse prevention programme thus builds in safeguards to prevent relapse from occurring in the first place and importantly in ensuring a firm process is in place should relapse occur.

A key element of relapse prevention is learning how to identify when you are entering a high-risk situation. And then implementing the coping skills you learn during residential rehabilitation which increases your self-efficiency and thus decreasing the probability of relapse.

But if you feel unable to resist the urges of relapse alone, our clients leave our residential rehabilitation centre with full access to an after-care support team.

This support team acts as the first point of contact should relapse occur or you feel overwhelmed with the temptation to relapse. A helpline is provided to our clients. Relapse prevention supplements which are learnt during residential rehabilitation aim to ensure recovery is as uninterrupted as possible. This is inclusive with each of our 28-day treatment packages.

Relapse Progression

If an emotional relapse is not dealt with appropriately a process is known as mental relapse will take place. During a mental relapse, the recovered addict becomes ever more conscious of his or her desire to continue with addictive behaviour.

Often the individual will reason the addiction will be more manageable ‘this time around’. If advice is not sought swiftly the consequences could be life-threatening as the addiction returns and old levels of tolerance are no longer present.

This is why our relapse prevention plan is designed to be implemented in daily life so the need to use is halted as soon as possible.

There are also a number of signs to be aware of at the stage too, which your friends and family should also be conscious of:

• A slip – It could take place at a party or other social event and could be taking a sip of alcohol during a toast or ‘just tonight because it’s [someone’s] birthday’. From an outside perspective, this could be seen as fine, but it is a slippery slope and the person in recovery’s tolerance will now be much lower.
• Borrowing money – But never having new items or being secretive about what the money is for.
• Missing items – Are high-value items from the home now missing? They may have been sold for the money.
• Being overly defensive – When asked about recent behaviour or action do you become very defensive or deny concern.
• Sudden mood swings – Or are you being very impulsive in ways particularly out of character.
• Avoiding outpatient meetings – Distancing yourself from your professional support team.