Why Relapse Happens And Finally Staying Sober After Going Back to Rehab

When a person who has struggled with drug or alcohol addiction comes home from a florida detox and wellness center, it can be easy to forget for both the person as well as their families and communities that there is still a lot of work for them to be doing in order to continue remaining sober.  Addiction is a chronic disease like that of asthma, with symptoms that can go into remission. However, the addiction to a drug or to alcohol itself is a disease that can never be cured, only managed. Symptom management, triggers and cravings as well as the refining of the skills necessary to resist those triggers and cravings, must come from continuous treatment to sustain and maintaining the person’s sobriety and their place in their active recovery.

Treatment recovery houses in Florida, drug detox, rehab, and comprehensive aftercare relapse prevention therapy has never been more available to those living in the sunshine state than it is these days. The opioid epidemic has shone a bright spotlight on the copious drug and use and deadly substance abuse in the state of Florida – one of the easiest places in the nation to illicitly get opioids, the United States and indeed, across the wide world. This bright light has illuminated holes in the legislation where regulation could live to tighten up how these medications are prescribed by doctors and to put into place safety measures to stem the tide of drugs flowing from prescription to the street. It has revealed a desperate need of funding for treatment programs as well as the immediate need for insurance companies to work with their members to cover more treatment for those suffering with addiction who are under their coverage programs.

Continuing Aftercare Treatment with Relapse Prevention Therapy

Relapse is really scary for those who have just gotten home from intense inpatient substance use disorder treatment, or even for those who have just gotten through an outpatient detox and rehab program. Once someone reaches active recovery – the phase of maintenance where the person struggling with the chronic disease, addiction to a drug or alcohol it can sometimes feel like relapse is just there, waiting for them to react strongly to a trigger and then give in to one of their cravings. Their chemical dependence on the drug can just feels it looms there, not too far off, ready at any minute to take over their life again, the way their drug or drink of choice ran their life before the asked for help and went through a drug or alcohol detox and rehab treatment. That heartbreaking aspect of this difficult tendency for those struggling so much with this relapse worry, is that it can be one of the very things that drives them into a relapse to begin with. This is especially true if they suffer from an anxiety related dual diagnosis or co-occurring mental health disorder. The kind of intense anxiety this subject can cause can trigger a resurfacing of the symptoms from that co-occurring disorder and those symptoms could very easily exacerbate their addiction, leading to relapse.

A healthy concern about relapse is a positive development because it means that someone is ready to live a life apart from the substance that was ruining their lives. But that kind of intense fear cause take the person down the worst road possible and end them up in the dangerous place they want least of all to find themselves. But instead of allowing fear to tear them apart, it is important to build a life with the kind of infrastructure that will help keep the addict within a set of healthy boundaries that helps them to remain in active recovery, managing their sobriety in effective ways with the life skills they learned in detox and rehab, those that they continue to work on in an active recovery relapse prevention therapy program of some kind. Fear can absolutely tear people apart if they focus on it and allow it to. It draws a person in and gnaws away at their resolve. Instead, avoiding the kind of pitfalls in their life that will be discussed in this article, and building the kinds of safeguards suggested here can go a long way to helping a person avoid the pitfall of relapse. After all, no one should ever teach a child to deeply fear something instead they should show them the safety measures needed to avoid danger. Never, “don’t go down the stairs you could fall down and die.” Always, “hold on to the railing so you’re safe on the way down these steep steps.” The same is true when creating a life optimally designed to keep the person suffering from chronic addiction, sober and healthy for the long term.

That being said, a relapse, when experienced can be very scary and does have a higher rate of fatal overdose. Relapsing is unfortunately a part of most chronic diseases, yes, but it is also vital that relapse is taken deadly seriously. If someone revisits their drug or drink of choice, the results can be so devastating because they often do not consider just how long they’ve been sober, in fact it is likely they aren’t even considering that. People usually can justify anything to themselves if they are in the face of the right trigger or craving to get them to pick up the pipe, or the glass and enter into that tragic place again. Many drug related deaths happen every year due to relapse because users often take the same dose they were taking when they left the drug for medical detox, when they first walked up to the detox and rehab center and asked for the help they needed to save their lives to begin with. But when the addicts go back to the previous dose that made them feel just right before the detox process and the before the rehabilitation therapy, the length of time they have been without the drug in their bodies will often cause an overdose. Tolerance, though with some drugs it can be grow quickly, it still needs some time to build up in someone’s system. Often people who overdose want just one hit, want to only dip their proverbial toes in the water of their old addiction and walk away clean. Unfortunately that is almost never the case. People either take their old dose and drown in the rough waters of relapse, end up in the hospital, or they they get hooked again by chemical dependence and emotional addiction. Though very occasionally addicts can find their way back from a relapse, usually through the help of a strong and loving safety net, it i somewhat of a phenomenon.

One of the most important ways, if not the very most vital of ways for a person continuing their precarious journey through struggling with addiction can keep the worst from happening is to maintain continuous aftercare treatment in the form of continuing behavioral therapy with individual therapy sessions, group therapy, a 12 step program, or ideally all of these three kinds of treatment, or some kind of combination of them. These programs will help the addict to sharpen their emotional intelligence, teaching them to be more resilient against their triggers. These types of group programs like group therapy and any number of 12 step programs offer a hearty safety net, or support group for those who don’t feel like they have one, or even for those who do. It really isn’t possible to have too many people behind a person who is struggling with addiction, cheering them on.

If you are seeking drug rehab centers in South Florida, detox and wellness centers are everywhere, but FHE Health offers best in class quality of service, licensed medical staff as well as a qualified florida psychiatric services staff. Our advanced neuro treatment program can help us diagnose mental health disorders or dual diagnosis so that treatment programs can truly be individualized. This kind of treatment can allow for a lessened likelihood of relapse.

Relapsing Doesn’t Mean You’ve Failed, But It Is Serious

According to The National Institute of Drug Abuse, relapse is not necessarily a reflection of success or failure when it comes to the previous treatment that a person has gone through. However it is true that working with programs that are not molded specifically to the individual patient, or programs that are missing the tiered approach of medical detox to behavioral therapy focused rehabilitation, to relapse prevention outpatient aftercare therapy, can indeed make it more likely that a person suffer from an episode of relapse.

Relapse does not mean that a person suffering from addiction has failed. Afterall, drug and alcohol addiction is indeed a chronic disease. These types of diseases do have a tendency to come out of remission when the situation or environment allows for it.  However, it should most definitely be taken seriously and dealt with with a call for help to someone in the addict’s safety net as well as an immediate return to continued treatment.

The National Institute of Drug Abuse explains that, “While relapse is a normal part of recovery, for some drugs, it can be very dangerous—even deadly. If a person uses as much of the drug as they did before quitting, they can easily overdose because their bodies are no longer adapted to their previous level of drug exposure. An overdose happens when the person uses enough of a drug to produce uncomfortable feelings, life-threatening symptoms, or death.”

With the emotional and psychological side of substance abuse and chemical dependence, it is easy for someone struggling with the addiction to return to the deep and wide shame spiral in the days and months after they have gone through a relapse. This crumbling of the emotional guard rails that they learned how to create for themselves in rehab can perpetuate the relapse behavior and have someone fully entrenched in their addiction once again. Shame can be the proverbial kiss of death for rehab veterans when it comes to relapse. Those suffering from drug and alcohol addiction who have successfully gone through a treatment program can often feel immense regret and self hatred, but equally as detrimental to them is the fear of disappointing their loved ones, their friends and family, and whomever is negatively affected by their addiction.

Signs & Symptoms Someone Is Falling Into Relapse

• Their Eating Habits Change – One of the things that often happens with people who suffer from an addiction to an intoxicating substance is that they begin to eat differently. Some drugs give a person more of an appetite, others give a person less of an appetite, but usually the changes is measurable by even an outside observer. Weight loss and weight gain usually happen quickly. The person in the midst of an active drug or alcohol addiction will alter their eating habits in a very stark manner. Meaning they will either eat very little or way more than anyone needs to eat. When a person who has struggled with addiction comes home from a FHE Health drug detox and rehab facility, they will have spent their time in the program provided with exceptional therapeutic and medical service. They will have learned how to take care of themselves in a way that shores up their ability to take care of things like a proper diet for themselves. They will no the danger of not providing  yourself with your basic needs such as described above. It is a very dangerous sign if a person suffering from addiction begins to show signs of altered eating habits. They may be in the midst of revisiting their old drug of choice. It would be right in this circumstance for someone on the outside to be concerned.
• They Start Hanging Out WIth Their Old Crowd of Friends – Old friends can be a sign that someone is falling into relapse. Before an alcohol or drug addict gets help, they sometimes have a whole community build around people who they party with. People who they can rely on to not judge them for their addiction. Usually people who are also suffering from an addiction to the same substance that they are addicted to. During detoxification and rehabilitation it often comes clear to the addict that these relationships need to change in order to build a healthy new way of living, if not end all together. If a person goes back to those relationships and starts to wax nostalgic about the good old days, they may be relapsing, or just on the verge of doing so.
• They Begin Isolating Themselves –  Drug addicts often isolate themselves, spending full days, weeks sometimes alone. They likely did this before their treatment, and when they begin using again they will almost assuredly sink back into their own world, pushing away the real world, and both the people they do know and the people they do not know. They will likely especially push away family and close friends who they may fear will judge them for what they feel like is a glaring failure on their part. The shame spurs the isolation and keeps them hidden away, and falling deeper into addiction.
• They Start Drinking or Using “Casually” Believing They Are Well Enough To Do So – If someone begins to express a kind of cockiness around their sobriety, or a sureness or belief that they have been cured of their addiction, they will very likely relapse. These are the types of situations where someone will be more likely to say yes when a coworker thoughtlessly, or perhaps ignorant of the person’s struggle with an alcohol or drug addiction, invites the addict out for happy hour. They may think they can casually use the intoxicating substance they once engaged in to a point of life or death, but the fact is, addiction is not at all curable. This point will be excruciatingly clear the first time they come down from their “casual” fix and they are in the hospital. Or worse don’t wake up from the devastating relapse.
• They May Start Having Mood Swings – If someone who is back from treatment starts to exhibit mood swings it is of course possible that they are reacting to the difficulty of coming back home from treatment and trying to rebuild their lives, strategically. That kind of stress can indeed cause ups and downs. However, chemical substances taken can of course cause severe mood swings. Certain drugs lend themselves more to this side effect than others. If someone is having demonstrable fluctuation between a very high energy laden high mood and a low energy deep depressive mood, they very well may be using again.

Common Relapse Triggers and The Tips To Overcome Them

• Basic needs not being met
• Co-occurring disorders not being worked on and re-emerging from remission
• A big change in a person’s life, whether celebratory or regrettable
• Controversy or upset in the addicts local community or even the state of the global community

Meeting Basic Needs

One of the most difficult aspects of returning from addiction treatment for someone who has suffered from chemical dependence and is trying to manage their substance use disorder is rebuilding their confidence. The first step in this sometimes steep climb to building their confidence is the most important thing the addict can learn, which is how to love and care for oneself.

Giving oneself this sort of intentional and mindful attention can help an addict stay on their often treacherous road to recovery and help them stay focused on a sober life. There is no better source of inspiration, motivation, encouragement, and hope than that which you find in yourself as you learn to love yourself again, or even for the first time. But even more importantly, taking care of one’s basic needs, which is indeed a kind of self love, is a vital way to stem the tide of triggers and cravings and for the person dealing with controlling their addiction be sure that they have the energy to control their emotional reactions in difficult situations.

The way to begin this process of self care is to follow Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow was a psychologist who talked about human motivation. He created a pyramid to order the hierarchy of human needs to explain the levels priorities in which any person should meet their needs in order to lead a full and healthy life. His theory was that you couldn’t move up the pyramid if the needs of the level below weren’t fulfilled. This may seem obvious. But as a society we often disregard what is right in front of us and forget that we must take the time for the most basic things first.

The Hierarchy looks like this, beginning with your most basic needs, and moving up through the different levels of need:

• Physiological Needs: food, water, warmth, rest
• Safety Needs: security, safety
• Belongingness and Love Needs: intimate relationships, friends
• Esteem Needs: prestige and feelings of accomplishment
• Self-actualization Needs: achieving one’s full potential, including creative activities and endeavors.

If someone’s physiological needs are not met first, they are unable to find security and safety, and to have fulfilling intimate relationships. The list goes on, but it is the first three levels of Maslow’s hierarchy that are particularly triggering if they are not met for someone struggling with addiction. And, again,  most importantly the very first level of the hierarchy, when unattended to can lead very quickly into a downward spiral for the person recovering from chemical dependence.

• Food – When someone does not attend to their nutrition the stress on the body ends up becoming affecting the functionality of the brain. They will experience a lowering of energy and a lack of emotional control. In a recovering addict this could lead to a dangerous situation as they need every ounce of emotional control in order to stare down a trigger and walk away from a bad situation.
• Water – The same as with making sure someone’s nutrition is on point, dehydration can be a remarkably debilitating state of being. Water makes up the majority of the human body, so it lends itself to serious medical side effects including a faltering brain function.
• Warmth – Without warmth a person’s body will constantly be tensed up. Eventually a persistent lack of warmth will cause a body to go into severe anxiety. When a person is suffering from drug or alcohol addiction, a constant kind of tenseness and eventually anxiety, can tear down any boundaries and walls the person with the addiction may have built, and leave them quite vulnerable to relapse.
• Rest – Equally as detrimental as the other basic needs on this list is making sure that one gets plenty of rest. Minimum rest for someone struggling with drugs or alcohol substance use disorder, or any healthy adult is 6-8 hours of sleep a night. Everyone has their sweet spot when it comes to sleeping, but without 6 hours of sleep a night a person’s body will eventually begin to lose the ability to control its body functions. Exhaustion can make a person emotional, have mood swings, and feel events much more intensely.

Co-occurring Disorders

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a dual diagnosis, otherwise known as a co-occurring disorder or a comorbidity, is very often a concern with people who suffer from an addiction disorder. Dual diagnosis is defined as an addict suffering from both chemical dependency on a substance, be it alcohol, prescription medications, or illicit drugs, as well as some form of mental illness – both disorders simultaneously. It does not matter which disorder came first the mental health complications, or the chemical dependency and emotional addiction to an intoxicating substance, but the two frustrate each other’s symptoms and ultimately lead to more relentless and life threatening addiction as well as a more severe and formidable mental health disorder.

Dual diagnosis, or co-occurring disorders, come in many different forms and therefore can include many different types symptoms and consequences for their presence in an addicts life. Drugs and mental illnesses alike range from high energy to no energy in symptoms- from eating too much to malnutrition. There are other polars that are present for the victim of these two disorders.  Understanding the common forms of mental health disorders that the dual diagnosis can take can be helpful to anyone struggling with substance abuse disorder and a mental illness. A deeper understanding of these disorders will widen the perspective on how someone trying to maintain sobriety can get to the heart of their dual diagnosis and properly support further treatment of both their addiction and their mental health disorder.

Some Common Mental Health Disorders That Can Act As a Dual Diagnosis to Drug or Alcohol Addiction Are:

• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD – PTSD is a disorder that occurs in someone who has gone through any number of different types of traumatic events like a natural disaster, violent crime, war or combat, or any serious accident. Addicts and others who have PTSD experience thoughts and emotions that haunt them and disrupt their lives. Flashbacks, nightmares, and overwhelming fear can force the victim to relive the trauma they experienced over and again.
• Major Depressive Disorder – Major Depressive Disorder is a mental health disorder characterized by low energy, loss of interest in passion projects, extreme weight loss or gain, severe insomnia, and suicidal ideation. There are several different types of depressive mood disorders that vary in severity and symptoms.
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or GAD – GAD patients present with a near constant unease and fear about an endless variety of different topics in their lives. Some common worries are career related, financial in nature, family stuff, or other anxieties. Victims of GAD are often aware of the irrationality of their anxieties on a proportional level, but due to an intense fear of loss of control, the addict or person suffering from GAD will try to proactively and recklessly take control of risky or possibly anxiety inducing situations.
• Bipolar Disorder – Bipolar disorder symptoms cause a person to experience shifting moods that alter in a spectrum of different moods and energies and at a variety of different speeds of sing. These moods can range from manic to depressive and several steps in between. Bipolar disorder continues to be studied and psychiatrists continue to shift their understanding of the disorder as new studies come out. Someone suffering from the disorder can be hypomanic, which is a mood characterized by high energy, sometimes to the point of disrupting the patient’s life but rarely shown to be violent or self harming in any way. There are some who suffer from a disorder that is mostly rooted of the depressive pole. This kind of bipolar disorder is “bipolar II disorder”.
• Eating Disorders – Eating disorders are a category of different types of mental health disorders, though society has for years labeled them as a personal failing on the part of those who suffer brutally because of the disorder. Much like drug or alcohol addiction, the disorder comes with a heavy stigma bringing with it social repute, judgement from not only those they don’t know but even those they believed cared for them, and misconceptions about whether the disorder can be halted just out of pure will.. It is clear that social stigma plays a deep role in sustaining the disorder. Some eating disorders include people who over eat regularly, almost never eat, binge eat and then purge the food by vomiting, taking laxatives, among other methods.
• Depersonalization Derealization Disorder – According to the Mayo Clinic, depersonalization derealization disorder is when a person feels like they are observing themself from outside of themselves, like an out of body experience, as if they are living in a dream. They may even feel as though they aren’t real at all. 
• Personality Disorder – Personality disorder is a disorder where the victims relationship suffer greatly. This disorder can often result in issues with someone’s career, their personal relationships, and all types of different interpersonal interactions.
• Panic Disorder – Panic disorder is mental health disorder under the anxiety disorder category. This mental illness causes panic attacks. These are are overwhelming and sudden. They cause feelings of deep terror and a startling feeling of loss of control. Physical symptoms often accompany the panic and can present as an accelerated heart rate, or a heavy weight on the chest, even someone’s throat closing up.
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – This disorder is most commonly called OCD. It presents through a person’s efforts to stave off their own rational or irrational thoughts and obsessive paranoia. The addict or other person suffering from OCD sufferers greatly. As they are unable to escape their own disturbing thoughts the person, consciously or unconsciously builds compulsive habits. These compulsions are the efforts of the person to try and quell their obsessions, and to try to work against the haunting paranoia or at least to quiet it in some way.

These dual diagnosis, if not treated together with the addiction can and will lead to a relapse for someone suffering from an addiction. They must be treated together in order for successful treatment to take place.

Change In An Addict’s Life

People struggle with change. It’s a common problem in our society. The kicker of the matter, however, is that change in life is inevitable. Even changes as repetitive as one’s birthday. Turning another year older can be extremely hard for people. Changes to a job like demotion or getting laid off, changes to social circles like a friend moving away. Even small changes like someone’s favorite coffee shop can at times be difficult to handle. Everyone knows that change is not always a bad thing, however. If an addict comes home from rehab and is welcomed into the arms of a loving support system with an aftercare program for continuing relapse prevention therapy, then that change is absolutely positive. If someone receives a substantial raise at work, or perhaps a coveted promotion, that is also usually a very positive change in someone’s life. A change worth celebrating.  It may not be perfectly obvious, but a change that feels like a big win to a person can still cause a relapse for someone struggling with drug addiction. The difficult types of change such as losing a job often throws someone suffering from a substance use disorder into relapse, and for obvious reasons. Especially if it is the first big and difficult change to happen since the addict came back from their recovery program, it can be so difficult not to walk back over to their intoxicant of choice and drown their sorrows. This is a very dangerous way to relapse because it often causes someone to overdose. Wanting to quiet the struggles in life is usually what got someone to addiction to begin with.

Good change, while exciting can cause a relapse because of the way people often tell themselves that they “deserve this drink”, or “it’s just to celebrate”. And then, suddenly, three days later they are still celebrating.

To maintain sobriety in the face of change, one must be open and aware, planning the way they will deal with changes as they come. A plan of attack is always the way to remain sober in difficult situations. When someone who suffers from addiction knows their limits, has canned lines to answer people who want to take them out to a bar to celebrate or empathize will help them to make it through the situation with their sobriety intact.

Take A Break From The News

It really doesn’t matter what side of the political argument of the day that you are on, or your social beliefs. No one can escape the seemingly endless amount of news that is thrust in our faces by every type of technology that runs our modern society. News cycles run twenty four seven. Notifications ping a person’s phone over and over again all day and night long. The more technology advances the smaller the world becomes, the more we know about the atrocities that are happening on the world stage. This can be a good thing, especially since it is important to be informed.

However, someone who suffers from an addiction must allow their sobriety to come before their state, national, or world wide citizenship. If someone is in the first months of trying to maintain their sobriety, or even if they have been on the journey of active recovery for a decade, it is okay and good to take a break from the news sometimes. It will continue to go on without them, and the tension in the world can most definitely make keeping a relapse at bay more difficult. Because so many addicts also suffer from mental health co-occurring disorders, a constant eye on the news can weaken resolve, deepend depression, and antagonize paranoia.

Put Your Sobriety First

Wanting to be an informed citizen does not have to mean you sacrifice your active recovery for agonizing over the state of the world. The world can feel terrifying to someone vulnerable because of mental health or addiction disorders. War, hunger, poverty are all terrible things that can feel demoralizing at times but it is vital that someone who suffers from an addiction to alcohol or drugs know that they can and must justify taking breaks from the barrage of constant headlines and articles that are available to read. If they don’t reach that place, binging news can lead to severe relapse. The kind of disillusionment with life that can come with sinking your thoughts deep into the atrocities of the world can be a dangerous thing, and just to ease the mind, an addict may want to go back to that drug that offered them contentment or at least a distraction from the turmoil of the world around them.

Getting Away From The News When It Feels Like It Is Everywhere

It may feel like it’s not possible to walk away from staring, the metaphoric deer in the headlights, straight at the troubles of the world, as if stunned, or desperately wanting to better what is around you so much that you have trouble looking away. However taking a break is possible and vital to those in active recovery, or anyone at all who wants to remain healthy. Politics are more polar than ever and the contention can rapidly turn personal.

Every form of entertainment and every form of technology seems to be emphasizing news. It scrolls by on social media, people post articles and share stories with intense and scary videos attached. Podcasts have become a hugely popular medium and many of them are news related. Television has always been full of news stories, but even late night shows are no longer just about comedy. It is even virtually impossible to be in line at the grocery store and not encounter some form of political message be it from the others in line for checkout or via the trashy magazines that people love to hate or hate to love in the impulse grab section of check out. But there are ways to minimize exposure.

Social Media Everyone from one’s elementary school camp counselor to a person’s 12 step program sponsor shares controversial news articles and opinion pieces on Facebook, Twitter, Snap Chat, or whatever social media you prefer. The addict may go to check an even for their 12 step program and their sponsor posts a triggering article about a political happening, or a natural disaster and the emotional toll can cause an emotional whiplash for the sensitive person dealing with addiction, or even someone who isn’t addicted to a substance.

Podcasts are equally as threatening although it is possible to have more control over which podcasts a person listens to. Some popular podcasts offer weekly or daily news updates and interpretation of that news. These have become something of a replacement for the evening or morning news for many people.

TV News has become a less popular medium of news consumption with aging baby boomer still watching cable news, but the younger generations focusing more on the avenues for news that are listed above. However, cable news has seen an increase in viewers of late. Late night shows are also doing riffs on the news cycle more than ever. Watching late night news can not only depress someone who suffers from dual diagnosis or even just an addiction, but it can also be detrimental to one’s sleep cycle. As can reading a news article on a device as the blue light is terrible for allowing someone to reach deep sleep after they’ve used the device.

Stepping Back Can Be Healthy

Changing the frequency with which someone consumes news stories can truly alter someone’s resilience in their journey of active recovery. Watching the downfall and rising up of different political figures, the heartache of hurting nations, and so many other difficult topics in the news can be a huge liability to someone staring in the face of chemical dependence and psychological addiction. Even though it may feel to someone like they have to be awake to it all 24/7 the actual truth is that no one can hold up to that sort of expectation. The real truth is that everyone’s first responsibility is to their own health and wellbeing.

Tips For Someone Suffering From Addiction to Slow Down or Change the Way They Consume News

1. 1. Stop the phone notifications! When someone is suffering from a drug or alcohol addiction the last thing they need is that foreboding little ding on their phone telling them there is another news story that they should pay attention to. The first step to a healthier relationship with the headlines is for the person to quiet them, so they can approach the current events on their own terms, when they are ready and emotionally prepared to consume information that may be emotionally heavy. Halt the notifications on all news as well as social media, since so many people right now are on social media for news and are sharing those articles and thoughts with everyone they know.
   2. Consume other entertainment or distract yourself with a passion project. Conceivably the person suffering from addiction has other interests besides what is being reported on the daily news. For the few days of taking a break from the news, it is advisable for a person to busy themselves with other activities in order to break the news habit. Working on a passion project such as writing a book, painting a portrait or the family deck, or any number of different projects can be a great distraction for someone suffering from addiction or even someone who just wants to step away for a while.

• Taking Action? Even if a person suffering from addiction and in active recovery has a hard time stepping away from thinking about is the state of the world and how they have no control over where it will all go next, it is absolutely necessary that they find a way to process the ongoing barrage of difficult news in a non triggering way. A strategy to help the world and to help break the news habit could be for the person to do something about a cause they care about. They could volunteer at a nonprofit that they feel like is important to the wellbeing of their community or the world. They could phone bank or canvas for a political figure they care about. Any kind of action could make things feel more hopeful.

If You Are Relapsing And Need Help, There is Compassionate Treatment Available

Going through relapse, while common, and not an indication of failure of the addict and not necessarily of the treatment they previously completed either, is very dangerous and therefore actions should be taken preemptively to avoid such a devastating experience. Aftercare is so much more critical than people believe it is.

But if relapse is something that has already occurred for a person, it may be possible that they have to seek more treatment. FHE Health has many different programs and is capable of taking into consideration previous treatment that the patient went through as well as any unique and individual variable in the person’s life that could affect their addiction.

Give us a call at (866) 653-6220 or contact us online today to learn more about relapse prevention, as well as options for further post relapse treatment at FHE.