The treatment of addiction often requires a multi-step approach. Detoxification comes first, and depending upon all the specifics-the substance or substances, the amount used, your specific history of using drugs and/or alcohol-can be a medically supervised, hospital-based and potentially life threatening procedure. Getting “clean”-removing the substances from your body safely-is only step one. For many people, step two involves rehabilitation, which has everything to do with moving from clean to sober. Rehab is where you learn to be sober, and love it. Rehab is where you learn the skills to move from surviving to thriving. But step three is often something you need to address in an on-going way for the rest of your sober life: how to prevent relapse.

Read more about Avoiding Relapse: Dealing with Cravings

Relapse is a persistent and contentious problem for drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs. Going through treatment and then turning back to the substance is seen as a failure, either of the individual who relapses or of the treatment itself. It’s hard to determine whether these assumptions are true, particularly because of the various competing explanations and the fact that it is quite widespread. Finding out about how common it is and the various explanations for it can give you a better understanding of relapse and the various factors which may play a part.

Read more about Why is Relapse so Common?

To be an introvert means to be misunderstood. Most people are extroverted and don’t understand why some people are quiet, take time to think before they speak, and often prefer a good read to a conversation. To extroverts, these people seem shy, reserved, and maybe even snobbish. If you are an introvert who also happens to be struggling with addiction, you may be misunderstood to the extreme. While there is nothing wrong with being introverted, it is simply how you are wired, there are some real benefits to breaking away from your typical behaviors and adding more social components to your life in order to overcome an addiction.

Read more about The Benefits of Being Social for the Introverted Addict

Individuals who have an addiction to a substance like drugs or alcohol sometimes enter treatment and struggle through detoxification, only to relapse in the months following. For some, multiple attempts are made at treatment programs, resulting in a pattern of treatment and relapse cycles.

Read more about Including Housing in Substance Abuse Treatment Program Reduces Relapse Rates

It feels like the most awful thing that’s ever happened to you. Once you find yourself with that sickening gnawing at the pit of your stomach and the blackness starts to descend upon you once again, you know that you’re in danger of falling into relapse. Panic sets in and you flail about, uncertain which way to turn.

Read more about Slip Sliding Away: What to Do First If You’re Falling into Relapse