The greatest battle is not on any battlefield but rather in mind. Addiction is a serious affliction on any person, and battling it is no easy feat. Thanks to modern medicine, treating chemical imbalances in the brain caused by drug abuse is not a big issue. Nevertheless, drugs can induce euphoria that is difficult to find naturally. Flushing out drugs may decrease the chances of bodily harm from substance use, but it doesn’t take away the urge to use again.
While many have trodden the path to recovery, it’s certainly a difficult one. A person may feel well in control of their urges but are still very vulnerable. This battle cannot be won alone, and rehab programs are the best way to cope in such scenarios.
There are certain behavioral patterns that new users exhibit that are sure signs of relapse. If you find habits and behavior fitting these descriptions, then rehab is the way forward to prevent a usage relapse.
Relapses are classified into three types: emotional, mental, and physical.
- Emotional Relapse
Perhaps this is the first step on the road to relapse. On the journey towards sobriety, no usage certainly does have its side effects. It makes a person irritable on the littlest of things. They remain annoyed most of the time. This irritability can be a great stimulus to turn back to old habits. Drug use stimulates euphoria in its users, and in this challenging phase comes the urge to start using drugs again. It’s a powerful urge, one not many can withstand.
If identified at the right time, it’s imperative to seek professional help. Organizations like the Delphi Health Group can assist during this turbulent time and manage your urges into something productive.
- Mental Relapse
If the emotional relapse goes ahead, the motivation to come clean and stay away from drugs wanes slowly. A person is always at war in his head on this recovery journey, a tug-of-war of two personalities, one urging drug use while the other holding you away from it. With an emotional relapse, the voices in mind urging drug use intensify and start justifying a slow start back to drugs.
It’s a thought that runs across almost every patient’s mind: a little won’t hurt; it’ll only be to get rid of your irritability and anxiety. They don’t realize that even a small amount of starting can lead to a spiral back into old habits.
- Change in Behavior
With both pieces in play, we start observing some behavioral change. As discussed before, patients show signs of irritability and stress on the pettiest issues. Rehab is done in a very controlled environment and coming back to real life becomes very stressful for most patients.
It’s common to observe patients who regularly attend recovery programs suddenly feeling unwell. They become distant and withdrawn. When confronted with changing habits, they become angry or stressed and refuse to accept any assistance. Most of the time, such patients report feeling uncomfortable in social situations, again attributing it to stress most of the time.
Drug recovery patients exhibit poor judgment, making erratic choices with stress over. Slowly, they also start to lose control over their structured life. It becomes difficult for them to follow a routine and start cutting off the people that support them or help them stay on this journey.
It is in these situations where their mental health starts taking a toll, and everything becomes unbearable to them. While hiding all of this, they start using it again in small amounts to find relief.
How does a Relapse occur?
Initially, patients feel a little better, but eventually, the improvement is not enough. They fall back into their old cycles and find themselves in the same rut as before. Once they achieve that high, they increase their usage quantity to achieve the same effect. As the quantity and frequency of use increase, they relapse back into their old habits.
Why a Rehab Center?
Now that we’ve seen some sure signs of relapse, it’s wise to keep an eye out if you or a loved one experiences any of these changes. Rehab is there to help through all these behavioral changes and manage that stressful time into something productive. It keeps you away from things that are sure to stimulate your urge to use drugs.
Conclusion
Drug use is a widespread problem that plagues societies around the world. It certainly affects the productivity of a large workforce while also affecting personal and family lives. It’s important to help loved ones through this rough face to help them reintegrate back into society. Observing behavioral patterns and daily habits can help identify relapsing symptoms early on and can timely get patients the help they need. It’ll help them progress at a steady back to normal life, rather than going back to drug use.