After a period of admission to a rehab center, or any other remedy for the cessation of addiction, the patient returns home. In anticipation of this moment, experts work in various ways with family members so as to facilitate as much as possible patient’s reintegration with family and in the social setting. These steps are necessary since the risk of relapse is always looming. Thus, experts give a relapse prevention plan after discharging the patient from the rehab center. However, you also need to keep an eye on the signs of relapse and take necessary measures to avoid it. The signs of relapse are as follows:
- The rehabilitated person has carried out cognitive work and behavioral modeling, supported by the adoption of new life patterns. These guidelines are usually straightforward. Their success consists, above all, in their complete and strict compliance.
- A relapse symptom is a failure to adhere to the guidelines, but the opposite can also happen. The addict doesn’t violate the instructions but rather obsessively and inflexibly forces them to ridiculous extremes that exceed common sense. The instructions must always be followed; the problem is that obsessiveness mutates and destabilizes the addict from a new front. Inflexibility is a misleading symptom, and it seems that everything is going well, but it is actually pushing too hard to make everything explode.
- A person on the verge of relapse is someone with a strong tendency to isolate themselves from others. During all these months of stay at rehab, communication and social skills have worked in therapy, but before they relapse, they begin to isolate themselves.
- The patient feels that participating in the recovery program is no longer necessary, and he physically feels much better. The improvement in appearance is evident to the family and the much more pleasant character in the first days. Moreover, he knows the basics of treatment and is familiar with the therapeutic terms. He even believes that he’s no longer going to learn anything new in therapy. Also, at home, he plays being a psychologist, uncovering self-delusions or giving everyone lessons in self-esteem and honesty. He believes he recovered and differs from the therapeutic criteria.
- The abandonment of patterns generates a deep discomfort in the rehabilitated addict that, in turn, increases anxiety and the desire to consume. Emotional instability returns, and the patient gets on and wants to ride you all again on his particular roller-coaster.
- If the addict is well and doesn’t use drugs, he may feel miserable. And that’s why his mind needs to generate discomfort in any way and at any cost. That discomfort justifies his desire to consume. Once he does make himself comfortable, he believes that he has a reason to use drugs.
- Before relapse, the patient often has difficulty making decisions. His judgment deteriorates, and he makes irrational decisions that he’s unable to interrupt or modify. He’s stubborn and inflexible and shows other signs of emotional numbness. He may lose control over his own behavior.
- A badly rehabilitated or relapsing addict may experience compulsive thoughts on a recurring basis. Some are related to the personal image, so that they are obsessed with the gym and weight, and they overexpose themselves on social networks with abundant selfies where they almost always appear alone.
