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Relapse Prevention Program
Here at the Manor house, we
provide a relapse prevention program that will
provide new strategies and techniques for the
newly sobered individual to live by after
leaving out facility. These strategies and
techniques allow the drug addict or alcoholic to
deal with the addictions, disorders, behaviors
and thoughts that in the past have created
feelings of shame, depression, hopelessness and
helplessness. These feelings and emotions (which
are common in most everyone but may be extreme
in nature in the alcoholic or drug addict) have
usually, in the past, resulted in a return to
drug addiction, substance abuse or alcoholism.
A
Relapse Prevention program can best be described
as a program used to teach the newly sobered
alcoholic or addict how to effectively deal with
the stressors or triggers. These stressors and
triggers can appear without notice and if
unprepared, may be cause for serious alarm if
the newly sobered individual isn’t ready for
them.
Drug
addiction and alcoholism are diseases of the
brain that, when not treated effectively, are
followed by chronic relapse. Relapse prevention
is an integral part of any effective addiction
treatment program, whether it is drug rehab or
alcohol rehab. Unfortunately, far too many drug
and alcohol rehabs teach relapse prevention by
just telling their clients to go to self help
groups once discharged from their facility. This
just will not do. An individual’s success
outside any treatment facility depends on their
ability to recognize when they are in a
“slippery” situation, how to deal with it
appropriately, who to talk to for help and where
to go for support. If an individual is without
these basic fundamentals, their chances of
staying sober drastically decrease.
To
understand the basics behind relapse prevention,
an understanding of relapse itself is required.
For instance, in healthcare, relapse is
described as deterioration in an individual’s
medical or psychiatric condition after a period
of recovery from a particular illness. In the
world of drug addiction or alcoholism treatment,
relapse is described as returning to a specific
behavior after a period of abstinence from that
behavior. In the case of the alcoholic and drug
addict, that would include alcohol or drug use.
In the case of the person with an eating
disorder, sex addiction or gambling addiction,
it would include other behaviors.
Research has shown time and time again that a
relapse (or slip) doesn’t just happen by itself.
There are many outside influences and
contributing factors. After proper education and
training, like those taught here at the Manor
House, every individual who has completed our
program will be able to identify significant
warning signs. These warning signs can be
anything that may result in the individual
returning to the self-destructive patterns of
substance abuse, alcoholism or other disorders
and addictions.
There
is one fact that stands out above all others and
that is that relapse does not come on suddenly
or without warning. Relapse is a process that
takes place gradually and over time. Talk
briefly with any drug addict or alcoholic that
has experienced a relapse or slip. Most every
one of them will say it began with a thought
process which then was followed by behaviors to
support that thought and then resulted in the
discontinuation of recovery related activities.
Afterwards, they ended up in another bout of
drug or alcohol abuse.
As
mentioned earlier, drug addiction and alcoholism
are a chronic disease of the brain. As with any
chronic disease, the possibility of relapse
exists. Alcoholism and drug addiction are
influenced by social, environmental,
psychological and medical factors.
Unfortunately, this disease does not just” go
away” because we or anyone else wants it to.
There is no exact method for preventing relapse,
but there are certain guidelines, that when
followed, greatly increase the odds of achieving
and maintaining long term recovery.
To
date, there has never been an addiction
treatment program, drug rehab or alcoholism
treatment program that is able to claim beyond
doubt that all of their patients have recovered.
There are some who boast of cures but research
shows these are false claims.
Our
program incorporates relapse prevention as a
significant part of our treatment plan. This
greatly improves a person’s chance of achieving
quality and long term recovery.
By: Patrick McLemore
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