Relapse is a symptom of the disease, not a failure of the treatment. This is a terrible addiction that is very difficult to recover from. In early recovery, sobriety is sometimes counted in minutes rather than days. I know of some A's who have never been able to get sober, others who sober up and then slip time and time again, and then many others who have remained sober ever since day one. What is the difference between them? God only knows. This is simply the reality of this disease. When our spouses finally find sobriety, we don't live "happily ever after"... we live hopefully ever after.