Addiction to Drugs or Alcohol is a progressive and dangerous mental health disorder for which very few people receive appropriate professional treatment. Dueto lack of awareness, resources, accessibility, resistance to treatment or other cultural and social pressures, many addicts struggle with their illness for years without treatment and respite from the issues caused by the illness.
For those who do make it into treatment, relapse rates are high and aftercare (post treatment care) or social support is often neglected. For an illness that has been around for centuries, we as a culture still are not aware of the issues that an addict faces while in recovery. There are a lot of things to consider in different areas of life, in order to prevent relapse.
What Early Recovery looks like?
It is important to understand that an addict in recovery is in a very challenging phase of their lives. Everyday may seem like a struggle for them. The person is not just fighting to manage cravings and stay away from their substance, but is also dealing with the psychological aftermath of substance abuse. Many of them have emotional or behavioral issues ranging from anxiety, depression, low self esteem, anger issues or adjustment issues to life in sobriety. Getting back to work, dealing with conflict in relationships, returning to family life or even socializing may be a challenge. Recovery becomes a lifelong or a long term process that extends way beyond the treatment time.
What are Triggers in Recovery?
Triggers are anything that can lead to a craving for substance for the person in recovery. Triggers can be obvious or hidden and for an addict to prevent relapse it is crucial to understand what their triggers are and how to manage them. A trigger may lead to a relapse either immediately or may begin certain thought processes that can lead to a relapse in due time. In the beginning of recovery, it is advised to avoid the triggers. But as we identify more and more triggers we realise that it may not be possible to avoid many of them. An addict, then has to be aware of their triggers at all time, and be on the lookout. Just like a guard watching from a tower, one has to be alert and vigilant so as to not fall into any of the traps of these triggers.
Types of Triggers
We can classify triggers as external and internal triggers. In reality both of them overlap and are interconnected, but for the sake of our understanding, let’s classify these two kinds of triggers.
External Triggers
As the name suggests, these are triggers that are present in the external environment of the addict. These are more obvious and easy to identify.
People: These are people who may trigger the addict by their association to substance or may be people with whom the addict tends to experience emotional ups and downs. Drinking buddies, old friends, partners with whom one likes to party, family members with whom one has conflict, or even colleagues who may annoy the addict, all fall under this category. One has to be on high alert or if possible keep some distance from them in early recovery.
Places: These are places which can trigger the addict into craving, such as, familiar pubs or bars, wine shops, friend’s places where one used to drink or use, or many times even spots in their own house such as their bedroom, rooftop, or car where they would drink or use. Such places should be avoided if possible and if not one should be aware that being there may bring back some memories.
Situations: There may be situations that are emotionally charged, positively or negatively, that may be triggering for an individual. Fights with close ones, issues at workplace, financial loss, heartbreak, trust issues from the family, separation or distance from a loved one, witnessing family or marital problems, physical or health issues, stressful interactions, are situations that can emotionally impact an individual and can lead them into a relapse. Happy events such as birthdays, celebrations, getting promoted or achieving something, New Year’s Eve, dinner parties, date nights, festivals or holidays, going on a vacation, or even having an amazing day or week, any of this can also excite a person and ignite a craving for substance. These situations may be many and may differ from person to person.
Internal triggers:
Internal triggers are mental phenomena that can trigger craving for substance. These may be harder to catch, many may be very subtle as well.
Emotional highs and lows: This is one of the biggest triggers for many people. Anger, loneliness, sadness, irritation, boredom, feeling resentful, anxiety, may push one towards their substance. Even pleasant emotions such as excitement, Joy, happiness, pride, may also lead to craving. It is mainly the unmanageability of these feelings that can lead to one to want to use or drink out of feeling too much positively or negatively. Emotions have the power to control our impulses, we may want to enhance our happy feelings or avoid our negative feelings by going back for alcohol or drugs.
Memories: Sometimes there may not be anything happening externally, but we may go on a trip down Memory Lane, remembering the times when we got high, enjoyed a drink at a beach or had an amazing party. We filter out the negatives and look at the high, the feeling of euphoria and the memories we made while indulging in substance. It is important to not let ourselves get carried away by nostalgia.
Thoughts: We may have many unhelpful thoughts and beliefs about our substance or about sobriety that may lead us into craving. These may usually follow an external triggers. We may end up romanticizing the high, comparing ourselves to social drinkers, think that life in recovery isn’t worth it, or have many other thoughts that may lead to craving.
At ZorbaCare Rehabilitation Center for Addiction and other Mental Health issues, we aim to help the client identify these and many other triggers that may lead them towards their substance. Trigger idenfication and management is a vital part of treatment for addiction. Each person has a different and unique set of triggers based on their personality and past experiences. For them to balance their life in recovery and handle cravings, these therapeutic interventions are reinforced. Our clients are taught tools at the behavior, emotion and thought levels to handle these triggers instead of simply avoiding them. Through this handling, they learn to handle their other emotional issues or personality problems that led them to addiction on the first place. Holistic treatment is the best and most sustainable approach to treatment for alcohol and drug addiction.