The Phases and Warning Signs of Relapse

Terence Gorski & Merlene Miller
 
Phase1: The Return of Denial.  During this phase the alcoholic becomes unable to recognize and honestly tell others what he/she is thinking or feeling. The most common symptoms are:

            1. Concern about Well Being.  The alcoholic feels uneasy, afraid, and anxious. At times he/she is afraid of not being able to stay sober. This uneasiness comes and goes and usually only lasts a short period of time.

            2. Denial of the Concern. In order to tolerate these periods of worry, fear and anxiety, the alcoholic ignores ...<< MORE >>

Relapse Signs and Symptoms

Experiencing Post Acute Withdrawal: I start having problems with one or more of the following; thinking difficulties, emotional overreaction problems, sleep disturbances, memory difficulties, becoming accident prone, and/or starting to experience a serious sensitivity to stress.

Return To Denial: I stop telling others what I’m thinking/feeling and start trying to convince myself or others that everything is all right, when in fact it is not.

Avoidance And Defensive Behavior: I start avoiding people who will give me honest feedback and/or I start becoming irritable ...<< MORE >>

Relapse Prevention: Proces and Intervention

You will not want to miss this incredible information on preventing relapse. Discover the process of relapse and what warning signs to look out for. Recovery from chemical dependence occurs at five levels; Abstinence, Situation Change, Behavior Change, Emotional Change, and Personal Belief Change.

Download | Duration: 00:14:44

Staying Sober: Early Sobriety Part One

Typically, two thirds of those who try to break an addiction are back on their drug within three months. Stopping then is not the biggest problem. Many people can get off their drug, whatever it is, for a few days, a week, even a month or two. But inevitably, cravings, denial, and addictive thinking return and despite well intentioned vows and promises, they somehow end up using again. Staying off, it seems, is even more challenging than getting off.

The good news is that with a conscientious relapse prevention effort chances of recovery from addiction, arresting the compulsion, and living a full satisfying life are very good. But as with any illness, just getting the diagnosis is not enough. A person will need to put his own effort into prescribed steps in order to see improvement, for recovery is active not passive.

In this series we will present many of the tools for avoiding relapse that have worked for others.

Download | Duration: 00:36:33

Staying Sober: Early Sobriety Part Two

Typically, two thirds of those who try to break an addiction are back on their drug within three months. Stopping then is not the biggest problem. Many people can get off their drug, whatever it is, for a few days, a week, even a month or two. But inevitably, cravings, denial, and addictive thinking return and despite well intentioned vows and promises, they somehow end up using again. Staying off, it seems, is even more challenging than getting off.

The good news is that with a conscientious relapse prevention effort chances of recovery from addiction, arresting the compulsion, and living a full satisfying life are very good. But as with any illness, just getting the diagnosis is not enough. A person will need to put his own effort into prescribed steps in order to see improvement, for recovery is active not passive.

In this series we will present many of the tools for avoiding relapse that have worked for others.

Download | Duration: 00:29:23

Staying Sober: Early Sobriety Part Three

Typically, two thirds of those who try to break an addiction are back on their drug within three months. Stopping then is not the biggest problem. Many people can get off their drug, whatever it is, for a few days, a week, even a month or two. But inevitably, cravings, denial, and addictive thinking return and despite well intentioned vows and promises, they somehow end up using again. Staying off, it seems, is even more challenging than getting off.

The good news is that with a conscientious relapse prevention effort chances of recovery from addiction, arresting the compulsion, and living a full satisfying life are very good. But as with any illness, just getting the diagnosis is not enough. A person will need to put his own effort into prescribed steps in order to see improvement, for recovery is active not passive.

In this series we will present many of the tools for avoiding relapse that have worked for others.

Download | Duration: 00:35:36

Staying Sober: Later Sobriety Part Four

Typically, two thirds of those who try to break an addiction are back on their drug within three months. Stopping then is not the biggest problem. Many people can get off their drug, whatever it is, for a few days, a week, even a month or two. But inevitably, cravings, denial, and addictive thinking return and despite well intentioned vows and promises, they somehow end up using again. Staying off, it seems, is even more challenging than getting off.

The good news is that with a conscientious relapse prevention effort chances of recovery from addiction, arresting the compulsion, and living a full satisfying life are very good. But as with any illness, just getting the diagnosis is not enough. A person will need to put his own effort into prescribed steps in order to see improvement, for recovery is active not passive.

In this series we will present many of the tools for avoiding relapse that have worked for others.

Download | Duration: 00:24:02

Staying Sober: Later Sobriety Part Five

Typically, two thirds of those who try to break an addiction are back on their drug within three months. Stopping then is not the biggest problem. Many people can get off their drug, whatever it is, for a few days, a week, even a month or two. But inevitably, cravings, denial, and addictive thinking return and despite well intentioned vows and promises, they somehow end up using again. Staying off, it seems, is even more challenging than getting off.

The good news is that with a conscientious relapse prevention effort chances of recovery from addiction, arresting the compulsion, and living a full satisfying life are very good. But as with any illness, just getting the diagnosis is not enough. A person will need to put his own effort into prescribed steps in order to see improvement, for recovery is active not passive.

In this series we will present many of the tools for avoiding relapse that have worked for others.

Download | Duration: 00:36:31

Tip Thirty One: Finding your own way. No doubt, we have made just a bare beginning in the business of living sober. Time and again, we learn additional ideas that can help.<< MORE >>

Tip Number Thirty: Trying the Twelve Steps. "When all else fails," said the old country doctor, "follow directions."<< MORE >>

Tip Number Twenty Nine: Going to A.A. meetings.<< MORE >>

Tip Twenty Eight: Reading the A.A. message.<< MORE >>

Tip Number Twenty Seven: Letting Go of Old Ideas. What we try to achieve is a feeling of being relaxed and freed from the bonds of our old thinking. << MORE >>

Tip Number Twenty Six: Being wary of drinking occasions. For the first nondrinking months, it's probably a healthy idea to stay away from our old drinking buddies and haunts, and to find reasonable excuses for skipping parties where drinking will be a major entertainment. << MORE >>

Tip Number Twenty Five: Getting out of the 'if' trap. Some of us have a tendency to put other conditions on our sobriety, without intending to.<< MORE >>

Tip Number Twenty Four: Steering clear of emotional entanglements. Using "First Things First," we have found it helpful to concentrate first on sobriety alone, steering clear of any risky emotional entanglements.<< MORE >>

Tip Number 23: Seeking Professional Help. Once we have started staying sober, a lot of our problems seem to disappear. But certain matters remain, or arise, which do require expert professional attention, such as that of an obstetrician, a chiropodist, a lawyer, a chest expert, a dentist, a dermatologist, or a psychological counselor of some kind.<< MORE >>

Tip Number 22: Eliminating Self-Pity Instead, we need to pull out of our self-absorption, stand back, and take a good, honest look at ourselves. Once we recognize self-pity for what it is, we can start to do something about it other than drink.<< MORE >>

Tip Number 21: Avoiding Dangerous Drugs and Medications So most of us try to make sure any physician or dentist who serves us understands our personal history accurately, and is sufficiently knowledgeable about alcoholism to understand our risk with medications.<< MORE >>

Tip Number 20: Remembering Your Last Drunk. When the suggestion of "a drink" comes to us, we now try to remember the whole train of consequences of starting with just "a drink." We think the drink all the way through, down to our last miserable drunk and hangover. << MORE >>

Tip Number 19: Being Grateful our experience convinces us that feeling gratitude is far more wholesome, makes staying sober much easier. It will come as a pleasant surprise to discover that it is not difficult to develop the habit of gratitude if we just make some effort.<< MORE >>

Tip Number 18: Easy Does It! The slogan "Easy Does It" is one way we A.A.'s remind each other that many of us have tendencies at times to overdo things, to rush heedlessly along, impatient with anything that slows us down. << MORE >>

Tip Number 17: Looking Out For Overelation. Be especially cautious during moments of celebration or times of just feeling extraordinarily good. When things are going great, so well you feel almost on a nonalcoholic high—look out!<< MORE >>

Tip Number 16: Being Good To Yourself. Convalescence from the illness of active alcoholism takes some time, and anyone going through it deserves consideration and a measure of T.L.C. << MORE >>

Tip Number 15:Watching out for anger and resentments. Hostility, resentment, anger—whatever word you use to describe this feeling—seems to have a close tie-up with intoxication and maybe even a deeper one with alcoholism. << MORE >>

Tip Number 14: Fending off loneliness. Alcoholism has been described as "the lonely disease," and very few recovered alcoholics argue the point.<< MORE >>

Tip Number 13: 'First Things First' Here's an old saying that has special, strong meaning for us. Simply stated, it is this: Above all other concerns, we must remember that we cannot drink. << MORE >>

Tip Number 12: Getting plenty of rest. But it is very important to get plenty of rest when we stop drinking, because the notion of having a drink seems to arrive from nowhere with greater ease when we are tired.<< MORE >>

tip Number 11: Availing yourself of a sponsor. Not every A.A. member has had a sponsor. But thousands of us say we would not be alive were it not for the special friendship of one re¬covered alcoholic in the first months and years of our sobriety.<< MORE >>

Tip Number 10: Making use of 'telephone therapy'. When we stopped drinking, we were told repeatedly to get A.A. people's telephone numbers, and instead of drinking, to phone these people.<< MORE >>

Tip Number 9 Eating or drinking something—usually, sweet. Can you imagine drinking a bourbon and soda right after a chocolate malted? Or a beer on top of a piece of cake with icing?<< MORE >>

Tip Number 8 Changing old routines. Certain set times, familiar places, and regular activities associated with drinking have been woven closely into the fabric of our lives. Like fatigue, hunger, loneliness, anger, and overelation, these old routines can prove to be traps dangerous to our sobriety.<< MORE >>

Tip Number 7: Using the Serenity Prayer On the walls of thousands of A.A. meeting rooms, in any of a variety of languages, this invocation can be seen: God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, The courage to change the things we can, And the wisdom to know the difference.<< MORE >>

Tip Number 6: Getting active It is very hard just to sit still trying not to do a certain thing, or not even to think about it. It's much easier to get active and do something else, other than the act we're trying to avoid.<< MORE >>

Tip Number 5
 
'Live and Let Live'

The old saying "Live and Let Live" seems so commonplace, it is easy to overlook its value. Of course, one reason it has been said over and over for years is that it has proved beneficial in so many ways.

We A.A.'s make some special uses of it to help us not drink. It particularly helps us cope with people who get on our nerves.

Reviewing once more a little of our drinking histories, many of us can see how very, very often our drinking problem appeared to be related somehow to other people. Experimenting with beer ...

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Tip Number 4: Remembering that alcoholism is an incurable, progressive, fatal disease.<< MORE >>

Recovery Tip Number 3: Using the 24 Hour Plan.<< MORE >>

Tip Number Two: Staying away from the first drink.<< MORE >>

Relapse Symptoms List

A checklist of warning signs, in order of increasing severity. Remember, relapse is a process which leads to the use of a chemical, not the final event. Experiencing any one of these symptoms could indicate a person is in relapse.
 
1. I start doubting my ability to stay clean/sober.
2. I deny my fears.
3. I adamantly convince myself that "I'll never drink/use again."
4. I decide being abstinent is all I need.
5. I try to force sobriety upon others.
6. I become overconfident about my recovery.
7. I avoid talking about my problems and my recovery.
8. I avoid my sponsor, or internally do ...<< MORE >>

The principal obstacles to recovery from any addiction are ignorance, shame, dishonesty, and personal exceptionalism.

Unfortunately for the addict these roadblocks to recovery are almost always cleverly situated and sited like military forts to provide mutual support in fending off all attempts at recovery.

Simple ignorance of addiction and recovery, for example, is in theory easily remediable by exposure to accurate medical information on the topics – but the adjoining and interlinked "forts" of shame and dishonesty serve to limit the amount of understanding the addicted individual can acquire about his real condition. Similarly, the rectification of the dishonesty and ...

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