When it comes to relapsing, it’s important for you to look back on what you did to get to sobriety.
Dr. Tim Walsh from Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge helps us understand what questions we can ask to prevent a relapse.
What for you is risky thinking?
What for you is risky behavior?
What for you is risky relationships and risky situations?
As Dr. Walsh explains, it’s a slippery slope to relapse when we fail to address those questions.
“We start engaging in a pattern of thoughts that have led, in the past, to using again. We start to hang around with people who we’ve used with before, or who trigger an emotional state for us that leads to using.”
“The slippery slope leads to being in situations that bombard us and overwhelm us and that lead to using, or being in those relationships that we know have been toxic for us in the past and pull us back into our pattern.”
So, we know the questions to ask to keep us from relapsing, and we know the situations and environments that can lead to relapse, but is there a common denominator for addicts when it comes to relapse?
“So, here’s the word that I talk to folks about all the time: more. A lot of people can use, they can have a few drinks and then they get to the point of mild euphoria and then they stop, and what distinguishes people who move on to addiction is they want more and more.”
As George puts it:
“I always like to say my off button is broken…because if a little is good than more is great.”
Dr. Tim Walsh is the Vice President of Programs at Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge.
The slippery slope of relapse
