Why Post-Treatment Support is Crucial for Relapse Prevention
Recovering from addiction can be a harrowing ordeal when going through detox and finally emerging into your first few weeks of true sobriety. It is tragic, but 70-80% of people relapse within the first 90 days after their inpatient treatment experience. It is for this reason that we offer Recovery Care Monitoring. One of the many reasons why people relapse is the sudden shift in their emotional landscape.
The Dam Has Burst
Addiction is like building a dam, if you’ve been constantly medicating yourself as part of a set of maladaptive behaviors, then it can be easy to forget just how much lies beneath the surface. Emotions are like water, they flow in and out if you let them be expressed normally. When you’ve been using, however, it’s like the hole has been plugged up.
Many people who have entered recovery find that their entire emotional landscape has been upheaved. Suddenly, many of the emotions that were plugged up have started to come out. Here are some common feelings that many people who enter recovery report:
Feeling Anger After Getting Sober
Anger is a feeling that is often misunderstood. To feel anger is not a bad thing, not something to be ashamed of. Nevertheless, anger can be directed in many ways. It can be directed at others, at situations, at yourself. Those who have gotten sober may find themselves feeling incredibly angry from time to time. It may even be unclear where the anger is coming from.
The important thing to remember is that you do not need to rationally identify with the emotions you experience. The reason this is important because it is highly likely that you will feel overwhelming emotion in response to trivial things. This is the hallmark of feelings that have been bottled up and have yet to run their course, much like the stereotype of the driver being cut off and experiencing road rage.
Experiencing Anxiety After Getting Sober
Anxiety is another emotion that people commonly feel acutely in the beginning stages of recovery. Anxiety can be very crippling and is one of the primary emotions that can lead to relapse if left unattended. This is why coaching and therapy are so important, not because they can make the feelings magically go away, but they truly teach the person in recovery what to expect and how to react.
The Sense of Being Overwhelmed
A tragic error in perception would be that someone just entering recovery is dealing with all of these difficult emotions and feel overwhelmed. They then think that it’s going to be like this forever, that sobriety and reality will be this difficult to contend with.
Once you’ve had a few months of sobriety under your belt, you start to gain a better perspective, of course. But in the moment, the thought can trigger a relapse.
Recovery Care Monitoring in Virginia
Recovery Care Partner knows that treatment doesn’t stop after in-patient care has been completed, rather, it’s only just begun. Prolonged recovery depends on consistency in going to meetings, developing good habits. When you’re suddenly experiencing a lot of emotions that have been released due to sobriety, it can be a very frightening experience. Receiving therapy/care from those who have experience in this arena can assure you that what you’re going through is par the course.
Our Recovery Care Monitoring is an example of our understanding and dedication to our patients who seek care with us. We are your partner in recovery, if you require a sober transport, companion, or recovery care monitoring services, contact us here today.
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