Returning to Rehab After a Relapse: What You Should Know

Like with other chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, relapsing is a common characteristic of addiction. If you’ve returned to drug or alcohol use after a period of sustained sobriety, it does not mean you’ve failed, or that you won’t be able to learn the skills and habits necessary to manage an addiction over the long term. Instead, it indicates that you didn’t fully address the root causes of your disease in treatment, and that you might need to return for a second stint in rehab.

Should You Re-Enter Treatment?

There is no cure for addiction. However, a treatment program can teach you how to take an active role in managing your illness and avoid pitfalls that could trigger a relapse. If you do fall back into your old patterns of addictive behavior for several days or weeks, you might find it increasingly challenging to get your recovery on the right track. Each day you continue using, the goal of long-term sobriety slips further away from you.

As reluctant as you might be to admit you need to go back to rehab, if you relapse, you must seek help as soon as possible. Returning to a controlled environment that removes triggers and provides you with no access to addictive substances will put you back in the driver’s seat.

Round Two of Rehabilitation

Another reason for relapse is that the rehab center you initially chose did not fully meet your needs. For example, perhaps their treatment philosophy didn’t align with your values, or you felt they did not provide you with an adequate amount of structure. Relapse centers vary widely in the approaches they take to putting their clients on a healing path, and what clicks with one person might not necessarily connect the dots for you. Finding a center that takes a different approach than the last one you went to may produce better results.

Cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavioral therapy, for example, can be extremely effective at treating addictions by changing how you think about and respond to various situations. Over time, these treatment modalities can help you unlearn the habits associated with your addiction as you develop healthy new coping mechanisms.

Combining these evidence-based approaches with holistic therapies such as yoga, massage and meditation will give you a robust foundation for managing any stress and negativity that may enter your life. Knowing that you have a strategy for relaxing and rewarding yourself other than drug and alcohol abuse can be the difference between experiencing a self-destructive relapse and responding with equanimity.

Speak With a Recovery Advisor

If you are exploring your options for addiction rehabilitation, whether for the first time or for follow-up treatment, consider the reasons to add Complete Harmony to your list. Our holistic, non-12-step approach has helped hundreds of men and women from all walks of life break the cycle of addiction and achieve lifelong freedom from drug and alcohol use. If you have not found 12-step treatment successful in the past, or you have struggled with frequent relapse, we invite you to reach out to us today.