Beware: 3 Kinds of Relapse that Will Send You Back to Drugs
How can I keep myself off drugs after finishing my drug rehab program? Congratulations—you’ve really done it! You’ve finished your drug rehab program and you’ve gotten over your addiction. That is truly something to celebrate. But before you get too carried away with your sense of accomplishment, realize that relapse is very common after completing rehab. You should be aware of all the dangers of relapse and how to prevent it before you’re back where you started—using drugs. Read about how nutrition can help you avoid relapse.
Emotional Relapse: Feeling Like There’s No Hope
How do I stay clean now that I’m over my drug addiction? There are 3 different kinds of relapse that you need to watch out for, and each of them can send you back to your drug addiction. With the first one, emotional relapse, you aren’t really thinking about using drugs again, you’re just getting emotionally out of balance, which can trick you into thinking you need drugs to re-stabilize. You may experience mood swings, anger, defensiveness, and isolation. Learn more about relapse on wikipedia.
Mental Relapse: To Use or Not To Use
How do I find adequate relapse prevention to keep myself from going back to drugs? You find yourself trying to convince yourself that using drugs again wouldn’t be so bad of an idea. Your mind is at war against itself—part of you wants to stay clean and part of you wants to get back to the drugs. You may start thinking about how you weren’t really in such a bad place when you were addicted to drugs. Or you might even hear yourself saying, “I’m stronger now—I can use drugs without getting addicted. I’ll just use a little bit.” Make the right choice: back to rehab.
Physical Relapse: Losing the Battle of Wits
What can I do to prevent relapse to make sure I don’t need to go back to rehab? Physical relapse is when you lose the battle and you get in the car and drive to the store and buy more prescription pills or alcohol or go back to your drug dealer. This is like the moment where you really take the leap back into drugs. It may feel surreal—like you told yourself so many times during detox and rehab that you wouldn’t do this, but here you are going through the motions. Don’t let this happen to you: check out Banyan Treatment Center, where Florida drug rehab and relapse prevention is our specialty.
