Why Do People Relapse During Addiction Treatment?
Learn why relapse happens during addiction treatment in Ontario. Discover how triggers and cravings drive relapse and how counselling helps build coping skills.
In this article
Recovering from addiction is often a lifelong process with successes and setbacks. Relapse while being treated for addiction is not uncommon, and it is important to remember that a setback means getting back up and continuing with your counselling, therapy, and rehabilitation treatment. Throughout this journey, encountering various triggers and cravings is a normal part of the process. Relapse happens when these triggers and cravings temporarily overwhelm the coping mechanisms currently in place. Understanding why relapse occurs—and how triggers and cravings function—is essential for building a sustainable recovery. At Bayridge Counselling Centres in Ontario, our regulated health professionals help individuals navigate these challenges.
What Causes Addiction Triggers?
Triggers are caused by our memories of prior behaviours that resulted in our addiction. Triggers can arise due to any of the following:
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Emotions
- Feelings
- Events
- Locations
- Specific Days of the Week
- Specific Dates or Times of the Year
- People
- Sounds
- Tastes
- Smells
During addiction counselling and therapy, part of the recovery process involves learning and discovering what your triggers are and how to develop effective coping mechanisms and skills. Understanding the difference between a slip and a full relapse is also helpful. Read our post on Slips, Lapses, and Relapses in Addictions for more clarity.
How Are Triggers Related to Cravings?
Cravings is a general term used to describe the desire to engage in the addictive behaviour that led to your addiction. Triggers are the initial occurrences that can lead to cravings or the desire to give in to the addiction. For instance, if you are dealing with alcohol use, the smell of your favourite alcoholic beverage could be a trigger. This could then result in a craving to drink.
Why Do Cravings Occur During Recovery?
With addiction, the chemistry of the brain and the areas that signify pleasure, happiness, and other responses are changed and altered during the period of active addiction. This results in the addictive behaviour being preferred over other things that we used to enjoy prior to the addiction. This neurological shift is why cravings can feel so powerful and difficult to resist alone. This applies across various types of addiction, including behavioural addictions like pornography. See our post on 5 Signs You Might Have a Pornography Addiction.
Do Cravings Go Away on Their Own?
Cravings will not easily go away on their own. This is why you need to develop the appropriate coping mechanisms and skills. Cravings tend to start out with the occasional thought about engaging in your addictive behaviour. If you do not deal with it at this stage, it can continue to become stronger and stronger. Relapse is often a gradual process, not a single event.
As the craving starts to strengthen, you can find your mind wandering and returning to thoughts about the craving. Eventually, you start to think about the pros and cons of engaging in the behaviour. You might also start to bargain with yourself, like telling yourself it is okay to give in just this once.
You may even start to tell yourself a minor relapse is okay since many people in recovery have them. Finally, you will get to the point emotionally, physically, and mentally where you can no longer resist the temptation of the craving, so you give in.
For individuals struggling with addiction, giving into a craving is not as simple as engaging in the behaviour once. Depending on how strong the craving was and your prior addiction, you could find that you start to slip up more and more frequently. Stopping again could be even harder than the first time.
How Can Addiction Counselling in Ontario Help Prevent Relapse?
However, if you have a strong support system in place and have developed coping mechanisms, it is possible to deal with cravings so they do not result in a relapse. Creating an environment of recovery versus an environment of addiction is a crucial part of this process. If you are struggling with cravings, need help identifying triggers, and want to learn how to develop coping mechanisms, Bayridge Counselling Centres are here to help. Our team includes Registered Psychotherapists (RP), Registered Social Workers (RSW), and Psychologists (C.Psych) across Ontario. Call us at 905-319-1488 now!
