Addiction can be challenging to manage – and with anything that’s difficult to do, sometimes there are setbacks. While addiction may not be entirely curable, it is certainly a treatable disorder. Having a plan and receiving regular, ongoing treatment can make the condition much more manageable to the point where affected individuals can once again live a normal and active life. As much as staying sober is important to the healing process, relapse is very much a natural part of recovery. Relapse prevention is all about introspection into one’s relationship with their substance of choice, understanding personal triggers, and identifying behaviors that precede instances of using.

There’s actually some disagreement amongst the addiction treatment community as to what is considered a relapse. Because recovery journeys are so intensely personal and unique, what one person considers a relapse might be considered a “slip” to others. 

In some of the more stringent definitions, relapse is defined as the use of a substance from a past addiction after a period of abstinence. In other definitions, a relapse is determined by repeat or prolonged drug use after a period of abstinence. For some, it is as much a return to a drug as it is the person’s intent, and it is not until someone has shown complete abandonment of the treatment program that a relapse is believed to have occurred.

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of relapse is as follows:

1) The act or an instance of backsliding, worsening, or subsiding.  2) Recurrence of symptoms of a disease after a period of improvement.  

One of the key words to keep in mind in this technical definition is the word “improvement”. A very well-known saying to keep in mind during moments of weakness is that things often get worse before they get better. Relapse is not is a sign of failure and does not mean that an individual is doomed to struggle with addiction their entire life.

Using drugs for a prolonged period of time takes a significant toll on the neurochemical makeup of the brain. Once a physical dependency has been established (and addiction follows shortly after) it’s no longer a matter of your willpower or discipline versus a drug. Instead, it is an ongoing journey of modifying deeply rooted behaviors that closely wired to our psychological triggers.

As such, relapse is a fairly common occurrence during the recovery process. It is estimated that 40-60% of individuals with a substance disorder relapse at some point – that’s nearly 1 out of every 2 people! The types all treatment used for substance abuse can also play a role in the likelihood of relapse occurring. Typically, addiction treatment first involves some sort of medical intervention and is then followed by ongoing behavioral therapy or counseling. however, someone who only undergoes through detox, medically aided detoxification, is not likely to experience the same type of long-term success in achieving abstinence.