People who struggle with addiction often wrestle with certain ‘triggers’ which make it more likely they will engage in using substances. These triggers may be understood as points of vulnerability in the war against relapse. Triggers are anything that make a person want to use again, including emotions, feelings, thoughts, places, and even people. Recognizing these triggers may save a person from relapse, and it may even save their life.
Common Triggers
To help people better understand and make sense of their own triggers, there are five common relapse triggers to know and how to manage them:
- How to manage stress: when asked, the majority of people with addiction feel as though they are under lots of stress. The world we live in and the stress people have is universal, but there is a certain amount people in recovery experience in their bodies, minds, and spirits after dealing with addiction and recovery. To cope with pressure in a new way is challenging in the sense of staying sober and present. The key is learning to focus on what is under a person’s control and what is beyond control. Understanding stress can calm a person’s anxiety so they can focus
- People or places associated with addiction: social contact with people who use substances is a challenge. They could be old drinking buddies, friends with whom a person did substances, or those who used to go out on weekends socializing. It is hard to hang around people in early recovery who remind them of what they used to do. Sometimes these people show up unexpectedly or on the street just walking to work or an event. It helps to think ahead, plan, and have a response. Even at the risk of offending people they are with, it helps to avoid embarrassment if it means avoiding relapse.
- Difficult emotions: people with addictive behaviors have a pattern of using substances to disconnect from everything. Though it may help to cope, they drift further from real self-awareness when they don’t allow their feelings to be felt. Learning to encounter the feelings without numbing can be liberating. Feelings are important parts of being human but learning to cope with those that are hardest is one of the more difficult parts of feeling everything without it being clouded by substances.
- Happy times: there were good times with friends, even family, when under the influence. It may be hard to go to special events like parties or holiday events without being triggered to want to use. Perhaps others are also using. It is easy to become overconfident and think it is manageable. A good safeguard against relapse is to have someone to keep a person accountable handy or right there in the room. It is possible to have a good time and stay sober, with some preplanning and extra work.
Moving forward away from addiction into recovery requires lots of time, energy, and positive steps. It is difficult because there are relapses, setbacks, and other issues that come up. The main thing is to be aware of what triggers the desire to use and step back for a moment, think about what is going on, and have a plan when out and about so that triggers are less likely to lead to the path of relapse. It is possible to stay healthy and clean in recovery but relapse also happens to many people. If it happens, know there is a safe space to return and work on strengthening your recovery so you feel bolder and more able to handle it next time. There is no shame in asking for help, just letting go of any fear or personal blame and seeking the help you need to recover.
A Step in the Right Direction provides quality care for clients seeking support for addiction recovery. We teach people how to live a sober life through programs, therapeutic support, and evidence-based therapies. Our recovery program is staffed by people who understand the power of addiction. For more information sober living programs for men and women as well as recovery programs, call (877) 377-3702.
