Chronic Relapse in Teens

If your teen struggles with substance abuse and has had trouble achieving sobriety on their own, you may get discouraged when you realize there’s no cure for addiction – even at the nation’s most renowned rehab programs. However, with the right tools and therapeutic approaches, your child can learn to manage the symptoms of a substance use disorder and lay the groundwork for lifelong recovery. To protect the progress they’ve made, they must recognize the warning signs of a relapse and take steps to prevent chronic relapse from occurring.

Why Do Relapses Occur?

Addiction is a chronic disease with relapse rates similar to other long-term illnesses such as hypertension and asthma, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. While relapse is a fundamental characteristic of the disease of addiction, don’t lose hope.

First, it’s essential for you and your teen to understand that a relapse does not equal a failure. It’s possible to get back on the right track and make a full recovery after a return to substance abuse. Here are some things you and your young adult child can try.

1. Address Unique Vulnerabilities

Some factors may make a teenager more susceptible to a relapse, including inadequately developed coping skills and a co-occurring mental health condition like depression. While a therapist can teach your teen healthy life skills and suggest drug-free ways to manage mental health challenges, your child needs your unconditional love and support as well.

2. Identify Stressors

Teenagers might also start experimenting with drugs or alcohol because it gives them a sense of control in stressful circumstances. Adolescence can come with uniquely anxiety-inducing factors such as transitioning to a new school, navigating various social cliques and breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Since stress represents a significant relapse trigger, making a list of environmental, situational and social stressors and teaching your teen more productive ways to respond can change negative behavioral patterns.

3. Re-Enroll in a Treatment Program

Sometimes, a relapse is a sign that the initial treatment approach wasn’t 100% successful. Maybe therapy didn’t identify and address the reason your teen started drinking or using in the first place, or perhaps your child struggled to find value or meaning in the program’s structure. In cases like these, re-entering a program tailored to young adults with substance abuse disorders can help.

4. Adopt New Hobbies

Someone who has used intoxicating substances to manage complex emotions like low self-worth may feel purposeless in sobriety. To some extent, routine can bring meaning to early recovery, but your teen will also need sober pastimes that keep them focused on positive progress. Volunteering is one answer to this, but there are many more, depending on your child’s passions and personality.

Learn More About California Young Adult Addiction Treatment

It can be heartbreaking to witness a young person squander their potential on substance abuse, but accredited treatment programs are available to help a chronically relapsing teen get their life back. To learn more about how Hope Academy can break the cycle of substance abuse, contact us today.

How to Hold an Intervention for a Young Adult

As a parent of a teenager with substance misuse problems, you might feel desperate or hopeless. The bright, vibrant daughter or son you raised has become unresponsive, withdrawn and secretive. Their grades may be slipping as they continue down the path to a worsening addiction. You know you should do something to help, but you aren’t sure how to start the conversation that could save your child’s life.

A structured intervention can often be transformative – both for the person with the addiction and the team who has agreed to participate in the meeting. But for many people, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Here are some tips for intervening in the life of a teenager who needs help.

1. Identify a Treatment Center

Ideally, you should have a rehab facility already picked out and ready to admit your teen if your intervention succeeds in its goal of persuading them to enter treatment. Researching various options to determine the best fit for your son or daughter can take time, and it’s not a decision you want to rush into. With that in mind, make sure you have done your due diligence and found a qualified rehab specializing in the unique needs of young adults.

2. Plan the Details

TV depictions of interventions are almost always of dramatic, spur-of-the-moment events where one person has reached the end of their rope and begs the addict to seek help. In real life, the most successful interventions are carefully orchestrated meetings. You’ll need to decide on the details in advance, including who will attend, what time of day to get together and even where everyone will sit.

3. Write Your Remarks

An integral part of your intervention planning process includes writing what you will say and rehearsing it extensively. While you may feel as if your teen will respond better to off-the-cuff comments, an intervention is no time to speak extemporaneously. Tensions can run high during this meeting, and if you don’t practice what you’re going to say, chances are good you’ll let your emotions run away from you.

Phrasing is critical here. You and all the other members of the intervention team must avoid negativity or comments that blame or shame your teen loved one. Instead, frame your comments as “I” statements, such as, “I know addiction is a disease, and I want to help you get better.” You can also provide concrete examples of how their substance misuse has affected you, such as, “It scared me to see you passed out from drinking too much. I worry about how you are jeopardizing your future.”

4. Consider Hiring Help

For your meeting to have the best chances of success, you may wish to hire a professional interventionist who can help you plan and execute it. An intervention can keep the conversation on a productive track if things seem to be getting out of control or devolving into an argument.

5. Keep Lines of Communication Open

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, the first attempt at an intervention will not succeed. Some teens may need time to process the information they received and the emotions you have revealed. They might have to get comfortable with the idea of going to rehab and learning to manage their addiction for the rest of their life. If your teen doesn’t immediately agree to enter the treatment facility you’ve picked out, don’t give up. Remind them daily that you love them, and that you only have their best interests at heart.

Contact Hope Academy to Start the Healing Process

Hope Academy is a place where young adults can find the treatment they need to get sober and begin the work of addiction recovery. If your son or daughter needs help for substance misuse, please reach out to us to learn more about our admissions and insurance acceptance.

Life After Treatment: Managing Addiction as a Chronic Illness

There’s a common fallacy in addiction medicine that going through rehab is a “cure” for substance misuse disorder. However, the day you get discharged from inpatient treatment is when the genuine work of recovery begins.

Like other chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma or Crohn’s disease, addiction is a lifelong disease. A significant part of your success in recovery is learning to manage your symptoms and maintain your physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.

A Critical Transition

Before you exit your treatment facility, you will need to work with your family and team of clinicians to create an aftercare plan that addresses your short- and long-term needs and helps you avoid relapsing. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all aftercare plan. Some people return home, while others choose to enter a sober living house or an inpatient treatment program to continue working on their recovery goals in a structured environment.

Factors to consider when deciding how you will manage your illness immediately after getting discharged from treatment include:

• Your history of drug and alcohol use
• Any co-occurring mental health disorders, such as depression or anxiety
• Your decision-making ability and impulse control
• Your family’s ability to provide support
• Your unique sobriety goals
• Your willingness to participate in individual and group therapy

What Is a Wellness Recovery Action Plan?

A wellness recovery action plan, or WRAP, for short, can be a tremendously helpful tool for people in early addiction recovery. Creating a WRAP is a largely self-directed process and can take whatever shape is most helpful to you. Since the WRAP concept initially emerged in 1997, researchers have identified its effectiveness, and it has been listed on the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices.

Though everyone’s WRAP will be different, here are some elements to include in yours.

• A sober support network: Loneliness can be one of the most dangerous relapse triggers. Before leaving treatment, plan to continue seeing a therapist and participating in regular group meetings. Have friends and family members who understand what you have been through and why it is essential for you to protect your sobriety above all else.
• A medical treatment plan: Before leaving treatment, have your health care plan lined up, including a general practitioner as well as a psychologist or other specialists, as appropriate. Make sure all your health care providers are aware of your unique needs and that you are managing addiction as a chronic illness.
• A list of known triggers: In recovery, you will need to avoid specific people, places and things that remind you of when you were in active addiction. Doing so will reduce the likelihood that you will backslide into your old habits.
• Relapse prevention planning: While you can take steps to control some of your triggers, others might pop up without warning. For example, perhaps you’re watching a movie, and one of the scenes takes place in a bar. Having a contingency plan in place can help you turn to healthy habits to cope with sudden cravings or powerful memories that might arise. You can also establish what you will do if a relapse occurs.

Moving Forward With Your Life

Admitting you have a chronic illness and that you need help to manage it is part of getting better, but you also need a robust short- and long-term set of strategies to support a lifetime of wellness and recovery.

At Hope Academy, we can help you learn to manage your addiction and establish new, healthy habits and coping skills. To learn more about our programming for young adults, contact us today.