Relapse Prevention 1
The first relapse prevention action to take when you have cravings.
Reach out to your support system and share how you feel.
The difference between a “lapse” and a “relapse.”
The "lapse" is the initial drink or drug use. The "relapse" is the return to uncontrolled using.
List the consequences of Negative thinking.
Cognitive Automatic Thoughts can lead to anxiety, resentments, stress, and depression, all of which can lead to relapse. Cognitive therapy and mind-body relaxation help break old habits and retrain neural circuits to create new, healthier ways of thinking
True or False. Post-Acute Withdrawal symptoms have a prolonged duration, which can last up to 2 years.
True. Post-acute withdrawal symptoms can last up to 2 years and the danger is that the symptoms tend to come and go. It is not unusual to have no symptoms for 1 to 2 weeks, only to get hit again.
2.
Uncomfortable emotions
The first goal of treatment for relapse prevention.
Learn triggers and the early warning signs (red-flags).
True or False. Cognitive therapy is very effective in relapse prevention.
Cognitive therapy is one of the main tools for changing people’s negative thinking and developing healthy coping skills. Its effectiveness in relapse prevention has been confirmed in numerous studies.
True or False. Redefining Fun is an important coping skill for Relapse Prevention.
True. Clinical experience has shown that when people in recovery are under stress, they tend to glamorize their past use and think about it longingly. They start to think that recovery is hard work and addiction was fun. They begin to disqualify the positives they have gained through recovery. The cognitive challenge is to acknowledge that recovery is sometimes hard work but addiction is even harder.
List four symptoms of PAWS.
1) mood swings; 2) anxiety; 3) irritability; 4) variable energy; 5) low enthusiasm; 6) variable concentration; and 7) disturbed sleep.
1
Triggering event
True or False. Relapse begins weeks and sometime months before an individual picks up a drink or drug.
True. Relapse encompasses three stages: emotional, mental, and physical.
True or False. Relapse prevention involves saying no just before you are about to use.
False. Saying "no" is the final and most difficult stage to stop, which is why people relapse. If an individual remains in mental relapse long enough without the necessary coping skills, clinical experience has shown they are more likely to turn to drugs or alcohol just to escape their turmoil.
In which stage of recovery Relapse has more risk to occur?
Post-acute withdrawal
True or False. In recovery from addiction, people have to develop a healthy fear of the people, places, and things that were part of using.
True. This requires significant mental retraining because those people, places, and things were previously associated with positive emotions.
6.
Shame and guilt
List two signs of emotional relapse.
Depression, anxiety, mood swings, anger, isolation, breaking routine, trouble sleeping, refusing help, poor eating habits, focusing on others, not going to neetings or not participating if going
The definition of negative thinking.
Negative thinking refers to a pattern of thinking negatively about yourself and your surroundings. Negative thinking that underlies addictive thinking is usually all-or-nothing thinking, disqualifying the positives, catastrophizing, and negatively self-labeling.
List the five rules of Recovery.
1) change your life; 2) be completely honest; 3) ask for help; 4) practice self-care; and 5) don’t bend the rules. REMEMBER: No one achieves recovery by just not using.
Why is abiding to rules important for recovery?
The purpose of abiding to rules is to remind individuals not to resist or sabotage change by insisting that they do recovery their way. A simple test of whether a person is bending the rules is if they look for loopholes in recovery. A warning sign is when clients ask for professional help and consistently ignore the advice.
5.
Negative consequences
What is one helpful acronym to identify lack of self-care.
HALT: hungry, angry, lonely, and tired. For some individuals, self-care is as basic as physical self-care, such as sleep, hygiene, and a healthy diet. For most individuals, self-care is about emotional self-care.
List three signs of mental relapse.
Increased cravings for substance, more thoughts about the people, places, and things, minimizing consequences, glamorizing addiction, bargaining, lying, sneaky behavior, schemes to control use, looking for opportunity, planning when to use
The difference between Post-acute withdrawal and acute withdrawal phase.
In the acute withdrawal occur physical symptoms. The Post-acute withdrawal has mostly psychological and emotional symptoms.
The three fundamental changes that need to happen to recover from addiction.
Change negative thinking patterns
Avoid people, places, and things associated with using (Change the 3 Ws - Who, Where, What.)
Incorporate the five rules of recovery
3.
Need to Escape