grateful4me

I heard that relapse is part of recovery? If so, how is it part of recovery!

Taking5

Many people including myself have relapsed, however it does not have to work this way. I think people who embrace this slogan are actually planning their next relapse after they have "behaved" for a while.

grateful4me

That is what I was thinking! I sure hope that is not the case for my boyfriend but that choice is his I guess! Thank you!


"I love this site. You all rock!" Holly

tommyk

Some people need to find a lower 'bottom'... so relapse is 'necessary' for them..?

grateful4me

Oh no. . . there is possibly a "lower bottom." yikes, that is scary!

Tazman53

Relapse is not a needed part of recovery, but for some people it is a part of thier eventual recovery!

I spent 5 years relapsing over and over again until I crossed an invisible line and did not draw a sober breath for the next 5 years.

I have not had a single relapse since I got into AA, that is not to say that people in AA do not relapse, they do, some of them after many years of sobriety.

For some reason I do not understand it seems as though the longer one is sober without a relapse, that if they do relapse thier chances of finding sobriety again are really low.

In my experience I have to agree with dgillz on the above statement.

shelly009

Ya, its the lower bottom thing I am afraid of... every relapse means you sink lower and lower because everytime I relapased (trying to quit on my own with no support) the next time I would drink I would just drink more and more often. I am certain that if I was to relapse, it wouldnt be pretty.

I think its best to assume that there will never be another drink... to dangerous, you never know where it will take you.

ex D-Boy

It was for me. As long as the person learns from their relapse by identifying the behaviors and actions that ultimately led to that relapse, then fixing them, its a step foward.

Rad44

Relapse is to Recovery like Crashing your Car is part of the Driving Experience. It happens, but should be avoided at all costs. Nobody ever ended a Relapse and said "Boy, that worked out nicely".

Thentram

To me that statement is really broad. In my efforts to quit I've had a few relapses.

The useful ones have shown me places in which my recovery needs work. I drink, pick myself up + dust off the next day, and then identify what part of my recovery strategy allowed this to happen. The important part in this type of relapse is to not dwell on it and put all the focus back on recovery. I don't mean to say relapse is a useful tool in recovery, just that if I maintain the above attitude any damage done is minimized.

The useless relapse tends to involve a longer stretch of drinking with no real plan or effort to put the focus back on to recovery. For me, these tend to start with the same phrase uttered the morning after heavy drinking: "Wow, I feel awful, I'm never going to drink again!"

So to answer your question, the statement "relapse is part of recovery" entirely depends on attitude and the amount of focus placed on recovery. If the focus is placed elsewhere then it just sounds like an attempt to justify the drinking.

smacked

I think relapse is more part of addiction than it is recovery. It is NEVER necessary to relapse to recover. Some people don't survive relapse.

CarolD

Absolutely not a fact....drinking again is not
either sobriety or recovery....

If I were to return to drinking
I would not be sober or recovered.

I'd be a drinker again.

ex D-Boy

seems a lot of people on here have different views on what a relapse actually is. Just take this scenario for example

A person who only stops the drinking and drugging and then goes about their life the same way as when drinking or drugging (just removing the substance) and then "relapses" after putting together some clean time.

To me, I wouldnt consider that a relapse. That is just a person who decided to be abstinent from drugs for a while and then shortly after began using drugs again. No real recovery took place in this persons life. I look at relapse as something that can only happen when somebody has actually put in work and improved their life on all levels(worked a program), not just somebody who puts the substance down and thinks they are whole again.

When I say put in work, I mean a program of recovery that may or may not be 12 step based. So for me, relapse was a part of my recovery story.... good topic

justanothrdrunk

Relapse is a part of ADDICTION. It is NOT a part of RECOVERY.

eddie73

Maybe it is that if u relapse u havent been trying hard enough, or made a proper decision to quit. therefore its part of addiction rather than relapse.

I have never quit properly, until now. How I can trick myself into getting pisssed over and over again having quit is anybodys guess. If I drink again (which I dont plan to) I will not have done my preperation properly before quitting.

This is where I get off the bus, before I trick myself again into drinking with faultering wisdom!

1_day@_a_time

no

Thentram

Reading the above responses (and mine again as well) made me realize that I got a bit more rambly then I meant to No, I do not believe relapse is part of recovery. I do believe there are good and bad ways to deal with relapse if it happens.

lunarise

I have only quit drinking once. If I were to drink again I would consider that a relapse and NOT part of my recovery. Im not sure who would have said such a thing, its seems to be overly vague in a situation where being vague can be very dangerous.

Taking5

This is a good point. I have relapsed twice in a casino. I was just going to play a few hands of blackjack and literally had no plans to drink. Now you cannot drag me into a casino no matter what.

I think you need to put this into the context of the person that said it. If you have a new person and they have already embraced this slogan as opposed to the hundreds of slogans we have in AA, that person is heading for trouble.

So did your BF say this, or hear someone say it? And what was the reaction?

grateful4me

I like that!!!!