With millions of people dealing with addiction, this problem isn’t going away without a fight.

The fact that you’ve gotten help for your addiction is great, but if you’re worried that you’re going to relapse, we are going to help you. One of the best things you can do is be honest with yourself and look out for the signs of relapse.

Continue reading this article to learn what the signs of relapse are and how to avoid relapsing at all costs.

What Is Relapse?

A relapse is when you return to the negative activity that you used to do. This negative activity might be drinking, or it might be drinking drugs.

If you only do the activity once, this is known as a lapse vs. a relapse.

Lapses and relapses aren’t uncommon when dealing with a serious addiction, and if you experience one, that doesn’t mean that you failed at recovery. You just have to be aware of lapses and relapses so you can help yourself as soon as possible.

1. Not Going to Meetings

Part of most addiction treatment is going to meetings. If you aren’t going to your meetings, you’re likely not making some of the best decisions and don’t want people to know.

Even if you are going to meetings, if you aren’t sharing what you’re going through, you may be going through a lapse or a relapse.

Getting out and going to the meetings even if you don’t feel like it is important to keep moving you toward success.

2. Feelings of Loneliness or Depression

Do you have feelings of loneliness and depression? You might notice that you are experiencing these feelings even when you’re around other people.

You may also experience feelings of boredom that can lead you to want to grab a drink or resort to using your drug of choice.

When you start feeling very strong emotions, you need to take a minute to look at yourself and your behavior. Are you getting close to the edge and considering drinking or doing drugs to make the feelings of loneliness, boredom, or depression go away?

3. Not Maintaining Healthy Habits

Keeping up with your health is one of the most important things you can do when you’re going through recovery from addiction. If you don’t take care of yourself, it is much easier to fall back into old habits.

Keep yourself busy with healthy habits, and it is easier for you to stop paying attention to the call of alcohol or drugs.

Look at your day and see how you are eating, sleeping, and taking care of your hygiene.

Do you notice that you need to brush your hair and teeth? Maybe you notice that you keep eating junk food for every meal? What about staying up late watching TV and not listening to your body when it is telling you that it needs rest?

If you aren’t sleeping, eating, or taking care of yourself, this is a sure sign that you’re coming up against a lapse or a relapse.

4. Beginning to Bargain With Yourself

No matter how long it has been since you’ve been drinking or taken drugs, it is still likely that you’re going to experience cravings from time to time. If you’re doing well, you might not have to worry about fighting against them, but if you’re close to a relapse, you’ll start to bargain with yourself.

You might tell yourself that you can drink but only socially. You might tell yourself that drinking socially isn’t part of being an alcoholic, but that’s not the case.

Don’t listen to these voices that are trying to get you to go back to drinking, and if you do take a drink or do drugs, forgive yourself and get back on track.

5. Lying to Your Therapist

If you’re lying to your therapist or counselor, you know that you’re doing something they aren’t going to approve of. Even if you lie about something small, this is still a neon sign telling you that you’re heading toward a lapse or relapse.

Even if you feel like your thoughts and feelings are ugly, you should still talk about them. Everyone else that is going through what you are going through has had similar thoughts and feelings, and you shouldn’t let them stop you from being honest.

6. Convincing Yourself Its Okay to Have One Drink

Just having one drink is never one drink. One drink turns into two and two into three, and it just keeps going.

When you have a few drinks, you might start to tell yourself that you’ve learned how to control your cravings. It is easy for you to tell yourself that you can control yourself until it isn’t because it sneaks up on you.

No matter how much control you think you have now and how much motivation you have not to get too drunk or too high, it is important that you put down the alcohol and drugs and stay sober.

Understanding the Signs of Relapse

Now you know which signs of relapse to look out for you can keep yourself on the right track. There are many resources available to help you avoid falling back into the rut of addiction.

Do you need more help and want to learn how to deal with other life issues? Our website is full of articles that can help you with addiction and other important life issues.

Browse our site, find articles that are going to help you, drop a bookmark, and come back again soon to read more.