For example, negative thoughts and feelings might trigger a relapse of drug or alcohol use. Such feelings can include celebratory feelings, passion, and excitement. Granted these feelings are positive, they can easily trigger relapses.
Yoga and outdoor activities are also great ways to step away from the stresses of life and focus inward. Practicing mindfulness in recovery helps you develop the ability to stop, reflect, and choose how you want to react by shifting your focus inward. It’s important to recognize that the body-mind connection can be rewarding or harmful, given the circumstances.
Relapse Triggers
“An example might be a person with a substance use disorder who finds walking by a bar or smelling alcohol prompts cravings and thoughts of drinking,” he explains. A trigger is social, psychological, and emotional situations and events that compel an addicted person to seek their substance of choice, eventually leading them to relapse. When an addicted person uses drugs or alcohol for a prolonged period of time, it changes the brain—eventually associating certain stimuli with the desire to drink or do drugs. Building resilience is another critical aspect of relapse prevention.
Failure to address and maintain these triggers during the recovery process only serves to increase the risk of relapse. Every individual in recovery from a drug or alcohol addiction needs to work each day to keep their sobriety. During recovery, each person will encounter triggers that could result in relapse. Knowing and understanding how triggers work and being aware of your personal internal and external triggers triggers are critical aspects of safeguarding your recovery. People may be one of the more easily-avoided external triggers, mainly if they are people that used to be involved in substance use with the individual. By eliminating these people from the post-addiction life of recovery, many people are able to minimize the chance of relapsing due to associating with those who still use.
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External triggers, on the other hand, stem from environmental factors. Recognizing and understanding both types of triggers can significantly enhance an individual’s recovery progress and help prevent https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-to-overcome-alcoholism/ relapses. Although coping with triggers can be challenging and uncomfortable in early alcohol addiction recovery, the more you practice new behaviors, the easier they will become over time.