Relapse Prevention

It is common for people in an addiction treatment facility to have cravings for whatever drug they’ve become addicted to. This is helpful in that, a treatment setting is an ideal place to work through those cravings. However, it’s also common for cravings to be triggered after the individual has left treatment and is back home. In fact, months later a person in recovery can experience a serious craving and succumb to it. This is typically how relapse happens. Triggers can happen at any time and in many ways – seeing someone you used to use with, passing by the corner where you used to get drugs, or any form of stress can trigger cravings. Especially since people newly in recovery are going to have emotional ups and downs, and experience cravings, it is imperative that clients leaving Lanna do so with as many tools as they can acquire in order to maintain the sobriety and trajectory they attained here.

We focus a lot of time and attention on relapse prevention. Many of the therapies we use help with this effort, such as Mindfulness training. This is a perfect tool for identifying the signals your body is sending you and working through them, especially in a relapse episode. Simply put, what happens when someone experiences a craving is arousal. Typically the heart rate goes up, temperature increases, brain activity increases and the individual is in an anxiety/stress spiral, headed toward a state of panic. For someone who has attained several weeks or months in recovery there will undoubtedly be an internal struggle as well, further exacerbating the situation.

By using therapeutic techniques learned here at Lanna you can identify the signals your body is sending you as arousal occurs to catch it early, and then act to quiet the arousal. There are many techniques for doing this and achieving a relaxed state, from Somatic methodologies, breathing techniques, the use of imagery, meditation, etc. The goal is to relax the mind and body as quickly as possible. With the wide range of techniques and methodologies we have we can find the ones that best suit you and your situation, to identify the arousal and combat it, just as we customize your treatment plan around you and your needs. It is important that we find the right ones for you and that these techniques are learned and regularly practiced while still in a treatment setting, so you are as prepared as possible when encountering a relapse trigger back at home.