Stress has served as the root cause of a number of different issues within people’s lives, ranging from poor physical health caused by bad diets and lack of exercise to troublesome mental health caused by lack of self-care. Stress is powerful enough to cause even the most put-together individuals to begin doing things such as abusing alcohol and/or drugs to cope. Regardless of an individual experiences one stressful event or many stressful events back-to-back, it can be difficult and potentially even impossible for him or her to properly cope with that stress if he or she does not have any healthy coping skills to rely on. Thankfully, when someone who is addicted to drugs and/or alcohol reaches out for treatment, they are often provided with a number of different coping mechanisms designed to manage stress. Today, relapse rates in the United States range between 40 percent and 60 percent, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). And while it takes a significant amount of work to help prevent relapse, it is important to place focus on managing stress by applying proper coping skills to help maintain sobriety so relapse does not occur. 5 Tools to Deal with Stress Stress will occur in your life, no matter how long you have been sober for. Ultimately, there is no way to avoid experiencing stress, even if you are in recovery. It is no secret that stress is often viewed as the enemy of sobriety, as many people in recovery have a detailed history of abusing drugs and/or alcohol in order to cope with stress. In fact, most people have abused substances...
The disease of addiction is extremely complex and cyclical. This means that there are often a number of different layers of one’s addiction and the patterns associated with this disease often repeat themselves over and over. In many cases, individuals cannot find their way out of addiction and continuously struggle with using and stopping and using again. When this is occurring, an individual is at significant risk for causing irreversible damage to his or her physical or psychological well-being, as well as potentially suffering a fatal overdose. And, when futile attempts at stopping use are constantly backfiring, it is likely that professional treatment is needed to achieve that goal and then some. Thankfully, professional treatment does exist for a number of different addictions, ranging from addictions to substances to behavioral addictions. What is Relapse? Relapse occurs when an individual has stopped his or her substance abuse with the intent of staying sober but goes back to using instead. Relapse is very common amongst individuals who grapple with the ups and downs of addiction, and even the most successful people in recovery can experience a relapse at any point. According to American Addiction Centers, relapse rates range between 40%-60%. That means that roughly half of those who establish sobriety and who live in recovery will relapse at some point. There are three different stages of relapse: emotional relapse, mental relapse, and physical relapse. They are described below: Emotional Relapse When emotional relapse is occurring, an individual is likely not actively thinking about using again but is starting to experience emotions that could serve as a trigger to use in the future....
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