Recovering from a Relapse – After you have been working a program of recovery in your life for some time, a relapse can be a devastating experience. It makes you feel like a complete failure as a human being, which can cause you to want to call yourself a few bad names and beat yourself up pretty badly. The thing is, relapse can and does happen. The fact is, unfortunately, that MOST people who commit to walk a road of recovery relapse more than once in their attempt to find a new way to live.
Here is some sound advice you can take to heart if you ever find yourself recovering from a relapse:
Don’t beat yourself up. This is easier said than done, of course. Your first instinct will be to want to shame and guilt yourself for going back to your old addictive behavior. However; it is important that you keep in mind that this does absolutely no good. It only serves to make you feel worse about your situation than you already do. This can potentially drive you deeper into the relapse to mask your negative feelings. You are not a failure. You are a human being who makes mistakes.
Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again. Remember – change isn’t easy. Learning how to live a lifestyle that is free from addiction can be quite challenging. You may have to fall down a few times before you learn to walk a straight line in recovery. It’s okay! Just make the decision that you are going to get up and try again. The failure is not in the relapse. The failure is in staying in the relapse.
Learn from your choices. Relapse is always a choice – we are never forced to return to our old behavior. We make the conscious decision to use drugs, gamble, smoke cigarettes, or watch porn again. We give into the compulsion. What can you learn from this relapse that will help you in the future? What can you do to make sure it doesn’t happen again? Use this as a learning opportunity and a chance for growth.
Get honest with your support system immediately. One of the worst things you can do after you relapse is to keep it a secret. It is important that you are accountable to the people who care about you so that you can get through this difficult time. Keeping them in the dark will always be to your detriment.
Engage in a healing practice to cleanse your spirit – whether it’s through prayer, meditation, or yoga. Returning back to old behavior can weigh tremendously on your spirit. Be sure to turn to whatever spiritual practices you rely on to get re-centered and reoriented to a place of wellness.
Recovering From A Relapse
The most important thing you can do if you relapse is to get back into recovery right away. The longer you stay in your addictive behavior, the easier it will be to continue it. Jump back into healthy activities that will make you feel good about yourself as soon as you can.
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If someone is passing out cocaine at a party, or you’ve heard self-medicating with Xanax might help reduce your constant feelings of anxiety, you might be wondering. Can you ever take hard drugs in moderation and still be safe?
The answer may seem complicated. You might have read a story online about someone who claims to cocaine ‘occasionally’ and still live an otherwise healthy lifestyle. The reality is that these substances can affect everyone differently. And the severe consequences of misuse are no small price to pay to experiment with drugs you’re unsure about.
If you’ve ever thought about recreational drug use or your own ability to self-moderate, read on as we explore what even small doses of opioids, prescription drugs and other powerful stimulants do to the body, and how they can put you at risk for drug addiction.
Why It’s Not Possible to Self-Regulate Drug Use
The most glaring problem with the idea that you can completely control the extent of your drug use is that drug addiction is not a lack of willpower or self-control. Addiction works by affecting your brain’s reward center. Each time you use a drug that produces feelings of euphoria, your brain is flooded with the pleasure chemical dopamine. Over time, your body becomes accustomed to this increased level of dopamine, and intense cravings occur when it doesn’t happen. This is all wired into your biological survival mechanism (that is, your body literally believes it will die if it doesn’t get more of the substance), which is why addiction overrides your normal reasoning and logic. That’s why people who struggle with addiction continue to engage in their addictive substance use or behaviors despite their desire to quit. Or its negative impacts on their life.
Typically, addiction begins with experimentation. Testing limits and pushing boundaries is normal behavior, especially in earlier stages of life. But what most people don’t know is how quickly this can spiral out of control when it comes to substance abuse. As drug use continues, users’ tolerance increases, causing them to use more of the drug to achieve the same effect. This paves the way for physical dependence and addiction. Even over just a short period of time, drug use rewires the parts of the brain responsible for impulse control. Making it all the more difficult to discontinue use and overcome the powers of addiction.
The Dangers of Opioid Addiction
Whether you’ve been prescribed opioids by a medical professional or take them under illicit circumstances, the effects can be the same. Opioids are among the most highly addictive drugs available anywhere in the world, as they directly impact the way the brain perceives pleasure. Ingesting in small or moderate dosages can create feelings of relaxation and euphoria that keep users coming back from more… and more, and more.
Unfortunately, opioids also quickly create a tolerance that makes small and moderate dosages insufficient to sustain the same effects over time. The need for more of these drugs in shorter periods of time to recreate the same ‘high’. This makes opioids a highly addictive, and deadly, class of drugs.
What Happens When You Use Ice (Meth)
While most ice use begins socially – you’re out with your friends, someone offers a line, and you figure, “Why not?” – there’s a mountain of evidence to show why this is one drug you don’t want to come anywhere near. Ice is so addictive because it’s tremendously powerful and fast-acting, creating intense feelings of pleasure, energy and clarity. But that intense high is followed by an equally intense low.
Says Dr Nicole Lee, Adjunct Associate Professor at Curtin University’s National Drug Research Institute in Australia. “The ‘come down’ period is like a hangover, a recovery period after which people may move into withdrawal if they are dependent”. The uncomfortable feelings associated with that comedown cause many users to reach for more. This lead far too many people down a dangerous road to addiction.
Why You Can’t Just Use Cocaine ‘Occasionally’
Like opiates, cocaine creates dramatic surges of dopamine in the brain. A central nervous stimulant, cocaine increases the amount of energy users feel. Keeping them highly stimulated and creating short-lived, dangerously addictive rushes of euphoria.
Because of the powerful short-term effects of cocaine use. It can be a highly addictive drug that completely alters the chemical makeup of the brain. People experimenting with cocaine often struggle to maintain occasional or moderate use because of the intense highs and lows experienced after each use. Cocaine leaves the body almost as quickly as it enters the bloodstream after being ingested. This makes it all the more likely that even occasional use will result in a very dangerous form of addiction.
The Bottom Line: All Drug Use Can Lead to Addiction
Experimenting with prescription opioids like Xanax or Valium or stimulants like cocaine and ice can be tempting. From their potential as self-medicating substances, to the peer pressure of recreational use. The allure of ‘occasional’ or ‘moderate’ use can be tempting.
But no matter how strong you are, the power of addiction can quickly turn what started as experimental drug use into a dangerous and deadly habit. Predisposition to addiction can be a hereditary condition. Drug use restructures the chemicals of the brain, making moderating your use or quitting completely an extremely difficult task. An almost impossible task for anyone to accomplish on your own.
Can’t Quit? Get Expert Help for Addiction at DARA.
If you’re struggling to stop your drug use, our team of compassionate addiction experts can help. Here at DARA, our goal is to help you find your true self again with our all-inclusive treatment programs set in the serene scenery of Thailand. As the most experienced drug and alcohol rehab centre in Thailand, we truly believe in every client’s ability to recover. And we provide individualised support along every step of the way.
If you or someone you love is addicted to drugs, alcohol or toxic behaviours, help is right here for you. Recover in paradise with the addiction experts at DARA: contact us to learn more about the variety of recovery options we have on offer to help you start living your best life.
The statistics for success rates for drug and alcohol treatment seem to vary according to who is measuring success. The very definition of “success” seems to vary quite a bit also. Success depends on definitions of rehabilitation. If you are getting the impression that this is a murky topic, you are right. There are those who do not see total abstinence as a goal the idea of success changes dramatically. The bottom line is that an overall picture of success from treatment is actually pretty good.
If we take just one figure as emblematic of the overall issue we can get a sense of what is happening. According to one study 51% of addicted people who enter inpatient rehab complete the treatment program. Of that group, 21% remain sober for at least five years. Before jumping to conclusions about how to interpret these numbers we should consider similar figures for other health problems.
The “relapse rate” for drug addiction is something on the order of 40-60%. A disease such a diabetes is 30-60%. Putting the statistics in the larger context of treatable health issues changes the way we look at success for treatment. Health problems which require long-term treatment and attention generally carry a relapse rate that can appear alarming at first glance. Upon consideration in the larger context, the success rates appear much more promising.
Rather than focusing entirely on statistics—statistics by definition lie anyway—we should focus on personal outcomes and how we need to live our lives. For someone who is struggling and suffering with addiction, treatment offers recovery and healing. The choice between a continued downward spiral in a doomed drug or alcohol problem, and a chance at a healthy life from rehab and treatment is not much of a question. The benefit of treatment is not in the numbers. It is in the results individuals actually find in their lives.
What is more, the statistics are only bleak if taken in isolation. Placed against the recovery rates for similar health problems, the recovery rates for addiction are extremely encouraging. The science of addiction continues to evolve. With this, the forms of treatment also change and become more effective and more available.
Some things to consider are the fact that not all treatment centers track their clients beyond the time that they leave. Many of these people remain sober and live productive drug-free lives. There are some treatment programs which do not consider total abstinence to be a measure of success. This is a thinry issue for some, but this fact complicates claims of success.
I went through drug and alcohol treatment, and when I made the decision to seek treatment I did not consult the statistics. I looked to the state of my own life. Countless other people make the decision to seek treatment with the same motivation. Countless people the world over find a new lease on life by going through drug and alcohol treatment at a reputable rehab facility.
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Always look for the silver lining. Keep your chin up. Just keep smiling. There are a million motivational posters, sayings, and memes available at the press of a button or two, but why are they so popular? The fact is that positive thinking is actually beneficial in a number of ways. Positive thinking is a tool that can be used to help get through the toughest days of early recovery and continue to help long term. Read on to learn the benefits of positive thinking as well as ways to help keep you positive over time.
First you must realize that positive thinking does not mean that you ignore life’s less than perfect moments. It instead means that you approach any unpleasantness with a productive and positive way of thinking in which you expect the best outcome, not the worst. So much of the world takes a glass half empty approach to life when the benefits of seeing the glass as half full are scientifically documented. A few of the known health benefits of positive thinking include an increased life span, lower rates of depression, better physical and psychological well being, and better overall coping skills. Any one of these benefits would be enough reason to give positive thinking a try, but all combined make something as simple as changing your mindset, a no-brainer.
Though positive thinking is as simple as changing the way you think, it is often a challenge for those who are in recovery. Addiction can alter the way the brain processes situations and thoughts that we take in each day. It can take time, consistency, and practice to break this negative thinking cycle. In fact, you will still think negatively, probably often. When a negative thought occurs, try changing the negative to a positive immediately. Something simple such as oh no it is raining again to the plants will grow well this year. As you practice this daily, positive thinking will become a habit. You should also learn to perceive more and judge less so that you can learn more about others and yourself. Take time to just listen when others speak and observe as you go through life. Often we waste words when silence would do much more good in the situation.
If you do find yourself in a negative situation or one in which something needs to be said, take time to compliment the person on a positive in the midst of the craziness. It may not seem like much but this small compliment can greatly alter how things proceed. A calm and kind word can defuse highly stressful situations if handled correctly.
As you start to change take note of what is working in your life and stick with it. There is no need to focus on what is not broken in the early stages of recovery. In relation to this, remember that you are not perfect. If you do start thinking negatively then simply alter the thought, we all make mistakes. The overall goal is to better yourself, not become perfect as that is unrealistic and unattainable.
Finally, have the courage to face and overcome your fears. Even when things look grim you can have the faith to believe they will get better. If you are going forward, just keep moving in the same direction.
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Addiction creates a lonely dichotomy for users. It is often that we are surrounded by fellow users, gamblers, and addicts, but the disease itself is excruciatingly lonely. Addiction, in any form, is the loneliest disease. We are typically our own worse critics when it comes to addiction. In fact, we tend to create a vicious cycle in which we turn to drugs, alcohol, or other addiction to combat loneliness and then become more lonely due to the same addiction. When you are lonely, especially over time, you can lose hope and isolate yourself to wallow in self pity, but moving out of this isolation vortex is possible when in recovery.
Try a few of the following suggestions to move yourself out of the isolation of addiction into the freedom that can be found in recovery.
One suggestion is to take time to mourn the loss of drugs, alcohol, pills, or whatever your form of addiction may have been. This sounds odd, but it is something that can be beneficial to many. If you think about the main role your addiction played in your life then this activity makes sense. Addiction can become your best friend, the center of your life, and the first and last thought you have each day. While this is not healthy it means that addiction was a crucial part of your life. Even if it was unhealthy. As you enter recovery that large part of your life is removed and you must adapt. Take some time to mourn this change. Not obsess over it. But mourn all that must be altered in your life. Set a time limit on this mourning.
Take all the time you need to say goodbye to a life that was not doing you any favors.
It is likely that your addiction allowed or caused you to hurt others over time. If you can make amends to these people in some way do so. But only if it is not going to hurt them in other ways. If there are people that have been hurt that you cannot make amends with then allow yourself to make peace with your past and move on. Staying stuck in the guilt of the past will do you no good in moving forward in recovery. Everyone has a past, let yours remain there.
Disconnect with unhealthy relationships while connecting with healthier people online and in person. The great thing about technology is that there are literally millions of ways to connect to others over shared topics and concerns. Use technology to your advantage to further your recovery. Additionally, meet others in your area that are healthy or in long term recovery as a way to further your own. This means you need to cut off old, unhealthy relationships which can be difficult but is worth your new life.
Finally, build your own self confidence. Nothing will further your recovery more than growing as a person who is addiction free. Part of this will be through setting boundaries, building relationships, and changing routines. But for the most part learning to trust yourself will help you fight the loneliness and stay addiction free.
Addiction is a deadly disease that kills you slowly by choking out each part of your life that is not addiction related. You have made a bold choice to enter recovery and should do all you can to stick with your choice. You are worth the effort.
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Due to the philanthropic subsidy and gratitude of key alumni members, DARA is able to offer one of the worlds’ most affordable and cost-effective luxury rehabilitation solutions. The treatment center has been re-appropriated from a former luxury tropical resort, and so a comparable level of care elsewhere in the world can cost anywhere from three to six times more. DARA provides a range of luxury accommodation options including sea view, garden view and private pool villas. Our villas are surrounded by beautifully landscaped tropical gardens and command elevated sunset views over the Western Pacific.
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The first Drug and Alcohol Recovery Center in Asia with world-class care and treatment. DARA Drug & Alcohol Rehab Asia is a full licensed bu Thailand's Ministry of Public Health, Located on the exotic island of Koh Chang.
DARA Rehab has been changing lives for more than 10 years and has been trusted by international clients around the world.
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