Many people are faced with addiction around the world, and a good number of these people go for recovery. Unfortunately, not everyone who attempts recovery succeeds. Many people relapse after a couple of days or maybe weeks into the recovery process. What causes people in recovery to relapse? Let’s find out together.

Stress

Stress has been noted as one of the main reasons why people who try to quit their addiction, relapse. It is difficult to completely avoid stress, but individuals can make an effort to limit it as much as possible. Stress can be caused by lifestyle and relationship difficulties, or other difficulties of life. If addicts can find a way to deal with their stress, they will very likely not relapse when they go for recovery for their addiction.

Being around tempting people and/or places

Some people find it difficult succeeding in their attempts to recover because they keep going to the people and places that triggered their addiction in the first place. Most alcohol addicts for example, got initiated into addiction in bars and nightclubs. When you try to quit alcohol addiction, you should avoid the bars and clubs where drinking is rampant. You will be tempted if you go to these places and there is a great possibility of you falling prey to the temptation.

Negative and challenging emotions

Some addicts say they relapse because of some challenging situations they face in life. Sometimes, it could be frustration, anger, anxiety and/or loneliness. These feelings are normal in everyday life. For an addict however, it could be a quick means to fall back from a recovery attempt. Dealing with these negative feelings especially with the use of therapy is vital in helping addicts stay on course when they are in the recovery process.    

Being exposed to your trigger

Addiction is a delicate problem and dealing with it could be complex. When undergoing recovery, it is important to not be exposed to the things you got addicted to. Seeing your trigger on TV or having any form of remembrance of it has the tendency to make you want to go back to your addiction. Learning to deal with it will greatly help to prevent you from relapsing.