Relapse Prevention/Addiction
What is addiction?
A chronic condition characterized by compulsive substance use or behaviors despite negative consequences, with difficulty controlling use.
Name three life skills that support recovery.
Time management, budgeting, employment skills, cooking, hygiene, organization, transportation planning, communication, or appointment management.
What is Step One?
Admitting powerlessness over the substance and recognizing that life has become unmanageable.
What does emotional regulation mean?
The ability to recognize, manage, and respond to emotions in healthy and effective ways.
What is a boundary?
A limit that communicates what a person will and will not accept and how they will take responsibility for their own behavior.
What is tolerance?
When the body adapts to a substance and requires more of it to produce the same effect.
Why can financial instability increase relapse risk?
Financial stress can increase anxiety, desperation, conflict, and exposure to high-risk environments or people.
What is Step Four?
Taking a searching and fearless moral inventory of oneself.
Name three healthy ways to regulate a strong emotion.
Examples include breathing, grounding, walking away, mindfulness, talking to someone, exercising, journaling, or using a coping skill.
What is codependency?
A pattern of unhealthy relationship dynamics involving excessive focus on another person's needs, difficulty setting boundaries, or relying heavily on another person's behavior for one's own emotional stability.
What is withdrawal?
Physical, emotional, and/or psychological symptoms that can occur when a person reduces or stops using a substance their body has become dependent on.
Why are routines important in recovery?
They provide structure, predictability, accountability, and help reduce unplanned time that may increase vulnerability to substance use.
What is the purpose of making amends?
To take responsibility for harm caused and make appropriate efforts to repair that harm when doing so does not cause additional harm.
What is the difference between suppressing an emotion and regulating an emotion?
Suppression involves pushing an emotion away or pretending it isn't there. Regulation means recognizing the emotion and choosing how to respond appropriately.
What is enabling?
Behavior that protects another person from the natural consequences of their actions and can unintentionally allow unhealthy behavior to continue.
Why can overconfidence be dangerous in recovery?
A person may stop using recovery supports, ignore warning signs, return to high-risk environments, or believe they are no longer vulnerable to relapse.
A person gets paid and immediately spends most of his money on unnecessary items, then has no money for food or transportation. What recovery/life skills need attention?
Budgeting, impulse control, delayed gratification, planning, and financial responsibility.
What is the difference between an apology and an amends?
An apology expresses regret; an amends involves taking responsibility and changing behavior or making appropriate restitution when possible.
Why can anger become dangerous in recovery?
Unmanaged anger can lead to impulsive decisions, conflict, isolation, risky behavior, relationship problems, and increased relapse vulnerability.
Give an example of a healthy boundary in recovery.
“I care about you, but I will not stay around while you are using.”
Name three common relapse warning signs.
Examples include isolation, skipping meetings, stopping medication, reconnecting with using peers, romanticizing past use, anger, poor sleep, neglecting responsibilities, or thinking “I can handle it.”
How can employment support recovery?
Employment can provide structure, purpose, financial stability, responsibility, and opportunities to build self-esteem.
A person says, “I can't control other people, but I can control how I respond.” Which recovery principle does this demonstrate?
Acceptance, personal responsibility, and letting go of control over things outside one's control.
Someone becomes angry during an argument, notices his heart racing, stops talking, leaves the situation, uses breathing techniques, and returns when calm. What recovery skills did he use?
Self-awareness, emotional regulation, taking a time-out, distress tolerance, and healthy communication.
A friend repeatedly asks someone in recovery for money and promises it will not be used for drugs. The person gives him money every time because he feels guilty saying no. What recovery concepts should be considered?
Boundaries, enabling, guilt, people-pleasing, and protecting one's own recovery.