Reasons for a Revolving Relapse

After spending some time in sobriety, your loved one relapses and starts the recovery process all over again. He or she goes through treatment and is adjusting to their new sober lifestyle, but relapse another time. The cycle seems to never end. This is known as revolving door syndrome and happens for several reasons.

Relapse occurs if the person with the addiction is not in treatment to save his or herself. They may go to recovery to win back the trust of family and friends, but not to get better. The individual can feel ashamed and guilty of their relapse, which leads them into entering rehab again.

Sometimes a person is court-ordered to get treatment. He or she will enter rehab to avoid penalties, and relapse shortly after treatment ends. For treatment to be successful, a person must want to get better on his or her own will. Nobody can force sobriety on a person with an addiction to drugs or alcohol. Friends and family can gently encourage their loved one to get treatment and offer love and support, but cannot shame a person into going.

A person going through treatment can have a lot of fear and anxiety about life without drugs or alcohol. Their entire lifestyle must change including friends, acquaintances, things, or anything that has an attachment to the person’s lifestyle of substance abuse. The individual must take a lot of time to discover his or herself and explore other interests to fill in the time that was used for drugs and alcohol. These feelings can be overwhelming for a person in treatment and lead to a relapse.

The person in recovery can have unrealistic expectations. A full recovery is more than just quitting drugs or alcohol. Recovery is a lifestyle change and is a lot of hard work. The person needs to develop a new life with healthy habits and coping skills. This will help him or her to be productive with establishing new routines.

If a person in recovery goes back into the world without a plan, he or she is at high risk of a relapse. Without new habits and routines, an individual can go back to using drugs and alcohol to cope. The relapse cycle will continue if the person in recovery does not want help and if he or she does not work toward a goal for living in sobriety.

Recovery is possible and healing will take place in mind, body, and spirit. Enlightened Recovery Solutions offers a holistic based, 12-step inspired, clinically proven program for alcoholism and co-occurring disorders. Call (844) 234-LIVE today for information on our partial care programs.