The 3 risk situations of relapse into alcoholism

One of the most difficult situations that a person undergoing treatment for their addiction to alcohol (or any other drug or psychoactive substance) is the support of the abstinence. A few days after stopping using, the addict experiences a set of very unpleasant signs and symptoms, such as irritability, anxiety, sweating, involuntary movements, etc.; which are caused by the alteration in brain chemistry when giving up alcohol.

Having difficulty sustaining this state of non-consumption even in the presence of such discomfort is understandable, since in every addiction the will and inhibition of behavior have been altered. However, it is possible to devise a series of strategies to avoid situations at risk of relapse into alcoholism. In this article we will explain what are the most common risk situations for someone who is maintaining abstinence, with the aim of anticipating them.

What do we mean by relapse?

We say that a subject has relapsed into alcohol consumption when he or she is exposed to a risky situation but does not manages to respond with appropriate coping strategies to ensure the maintenance of abstinence. This leads to the person drinking again, without having control of their behavior. Returning to drinking could offer relief from the anxiety and irritability that characterizes the abstinence, but this relief has two peculiarities: it is temporary and has consequences negative.

In the long term, after a relapse, the person will experience negative emotional states in relation to their own behavior and how it affects themselves and those around them., which could be even more painful than the discomfort of withdrawal.

Given how difficult it is for a subject to sustain abstinence, the possibility of relapse is high. The literature on the subject reports that around 80% of the people who have accessed a treatment to recover from alcoholism suffered, during or after treatment, a relapse. This does not mean that alcoholism treatments are ineffective, but rather it is proof of how deeply rooted What behaviors remain in the behavioral repertoire of a person who has consumed alcohol throughout the year? time.

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It is not a question of will: the reason why people relapse into consumption

Can say No to a drink or a drink goes beyond a mere question of will. The person who relapses does not do so because he or she ignores the harmful effects that consumption brings to his or her life. Someone can be very committed to treatment but still relapse. Relapse must be approached taking into consideration the brain activation that occurs in any addiction.. Broadly speaking, when we consume alcohol, our body promotes the generation of pleasurable sensations through the action of a neurotransmitter, dopamine. It is the same mechanism that is activated when we carry out actions that have the objective of ensuring our survival, such as eating, drinking water or having sexual relations. Therefore, the behavior that led us to that gratification is reinforced and tends to be repeated. However, alcohol and other substances also cause the activation of this network—the reward circuit—even when they are not necessary for survival.

When you give up alcohol, other activities develop in the brain that encourage the search for situations in which to consume again (because, to the addicted brain, consumption seems necessary to preserve the life). This is how the segregation of another neurotransmitter begins, glutamate, which, to understand it easily, we could say that it operates as if it were a USB memory or pendrive: When someone stops consuming a substance to which they had become dependent, glutamate is “connected” to our neuronal synapses.. This neurotransmitter is responsible for leaving a trace of what we learn and memorizing the behavior by which consumption was initiated. Its production causes the person to become physiologically active. Consequently, she feels restless, anxious, and experiences all the symptoms of withdrawal. Ultimately, activation is intended to encourage the person to resume the memorized behaviors that led them to the substance.

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Risk situations to sustain abstinence

A situation at risk of relapse into alcoholism is any circumstance that causes, in one way or another, the person who is maintaining abstinence to consume again. In most cases, they are social situations in which alcoholic beverages are involved, but this is not always the case. At first, the person trying to preserve such an abstemious state should, ideally, avoid these types of risky situations. In the future, more advanced treatment, You will be able to gradually participate in situations in which there is the presence of alcohol or mention of it without getting involved in consumption.; but this task may be too challenging when you are just beginning to recover. It will be appropriate that in this process the person who suffers from an alcohol addiction receives support of a support network, made up of family, friends and an interdisciplinary team of professionals.

The most common risk situations for relapse into alcoholism are the following:

1. Social gatherings with friends who drink

People with alcohol addiction rarely drink alone.. Drinking is often the centerpiece of many social gatherings, especially those that take place at night. In many cases, treatment is accompanied by a process of reevaluation of the links social networks that the person has built, since many of these revolve exclusively around drinking and nothing else.

2. After a painful moment (emotional regulation)

Painful events in life are unavoidable. However, these represent a risk factor for relapse. Specifically, the risk lies in the way of coping practiced by the person recovering from addiction. People, when we experience negative and very intense emotional states, such as high levels of anxiety or a depressed mood, we tend to counteract this discomfort through strategies that seek to alleviate the pain. Drinking alcohol is one of them.

The problem is that in the long term these strategies are not effective, since, although they regulate the emotion at first, the relief they generate is temporary. Later, the person will become more dependent on the substance, require larger amounts or dosage to obtain the same pleasure, and will cause more significant negative effects on your physical and mental.

3. Alcohol Accessibility

On a cultural level, alcohol consumption is not only normalized but also very accessible. We are exposed to advertisements for beer, wine and other drinks (which usually include people having fun or having a good time). In many countries, although the sale of alcohol to minors is prohibited by law, adolescents have almost unrestricted access to this substance.

One of the risk situations for people who are recovering from alcoholism is when going grocery shopping. Crossing the shelves where bottles of alcoholic beverages are displayed can be a very striking stimulus for those who consume alcohol excessively and for a long time. An alternative could be to make the purchase accompanied by someone who is aware of the situation or avoid the aisles where the drink is.

Another risk situation related to the accessibility of alcohol is the presence of bottles, cans, glasses and other objects that allude to consumption at home. At first, it may seem to the person in recovery that replacing these objects with others is an absurd strategy.

However, it is surprising how proximity to the substance or other stimuli that refer to it could trigger the attempt to consume. Whether through cognitive coping strategies—such as remembering the positive consequences of abstinence or reviewing long-term negative effects of consumption—or strategies of this type, the goal is to minimize the possibility of consume.