Understanding Drug and Alcohol Relapse

What happens when someone relapses, and what does this setback mean for their continued recovery?

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What Is a Relapse?

When used in a healthcare context, the term “relapse” typically refers to the return of symptoms associated with a chronic disease after a remission (when symptoms had subsided or been suppressed by medications or other interventions). 

Relapse can involve medical conditions such as multiple sclerosis, mental health disorders such as depression, and behavioral health concerns such as addictions. For someone with a substance use disorder (addiction), relapsing means that they are once again using the drug that they had become dependent on after a period of abstinence. 

There are no time limits on what is or isn’t considered a relapse. Someone who starts drinking again after being sober during a brief stay in rehab could accurately be described as having a relapse, as could someone who starts using substances after being drug-free for decades. 

Are Relapses Common?

Relapses are an unfortunately common experience – but that doesn’t mean that trying to overcome the compulsion to drink or use other drugs is a futile effort. Though studies have shown that most people who struggle with addiction will relapse, they have also revealed that most eventually do recover:

• According to an October 2011 article in the journal Current Psychiatry Reports, research suggests that 65%-85% of people who receive professional care for an addiction will relapse within a year of completing treatment. 
• The 2024 edition of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NS-DUH) found that 74.3% of adults who told researchers that they had previously had a substance abuse problem now consider themselves to be in recovery.

The relapse rate in the first bullet point above underscores the difficulty of maintaining a substance-free lifestyle after developing an addiction. However, the statistic in the second bullet point demonstrates that having a relapse doesn’t mean that a person is incapable of achieving long-term recovery.

Relapse Causes and Risk Factors

When someone has a relapse, especially if they’d been sober for an extended period, it’s perhaps understandable to wonder what went wrong. Unfortunately, relapses don’t always have just one easily identifiable cause. There range of factors that can increase a person’s risk, such as:

• Untreated mental illness or recurrence of symptoms
• Major life events, such as starting a new job, being promoted, or entering into a romantic relationship
• Significant stressors or setbacks, such as being fired, financial problems, death of a loved one, or end of a relationship
• Being in environments where you used to drink or use drugs
• Associating with people that you used to drink or use drugs with
• Boredom or social isolation
• Overconfidence, which can lead to a sense of complacency or the mistaken belief that you can safely engage in moderate substance use

A February 2024 observational study in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment  found a “major significant increase” in relapse risk among people who were involved in family disputes or who had either friends or close family members who also struggled with addiction.

External influences and poor decisions aren’t the only risk factors for relapse. The October 2011 Current Psychiatry Reports article mentioned in the previous section noted that a person’s vulnerability to relapse can also be predicted by certain biological factors, such as:

• Elevated cortisol levels
• High levels of serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)
• Brain atrophy in the medial frontal brain region
• Hyperreactivity of the anterior cingulate cortex

What Happens After a Relapse?

Your ability to quickly regain your sobriety can depend on how you respond to relapse. Here are a few tips for minimizing the damage:

• Talk to someone – Relapses are often accompanied by shame, guilt, and other negative emotions. Though these feelings may make you want to isolate yourself, that may only make things work. Reaching out to a sponsor, close friend, or trusted family member can help you put the problem into proper perspective so you can decide on the best course of action.

• Identify the underlying causes – Did a specific event trigger your relapse? Had several challenges put you into a vulnerable position so that you weren’t able to respond to the trigger in a healthier manner? Once you have an idea of what led to the relapse, you can plan for how to address these concerns moving forward.

• Assess the damage – Did you have a one-time slip-up, or have you fallen back into full-blown active addiction? Has your relapse caused problems at home, in school, or at work? If so, how serious are those problems? Relapse doesn’t occur in a vacuum, so you need to also be prepared to address any repercussions.

• Get professional help – You may be able to handle one-time slip-up by talking with a member of your personal support network and refocusing on your recovery. But if you fear that your behaviors are starting to spiral out of control, don’t hesitate to get professional help. Returning to treatment isn’t a sign of failure. Instead, it is evidence that you care enough to take whatever steps are necessary to protect your health.

There’s no single, perfect response to every relapse. What’s most important is that you acknowledge the problem, assess its causes and repercussions, and choose the option or options that will put you back on the right path.

Find Addiction Treatment in Northern California

Bright Future Recovery offers a full continuum of customized programming for adults who have become addicted to alcohol and other drugs. In addition to helping people who have never been in treatment before, we also serve individuals who are working to resume their recovery in the aftermath of a relapse.

Treatment options at our rehab in Northern California include detox, residential care, a partial hospitalization program (PHP), an intensive outpatient program (IOP), and a virtual outpatient care. Regardless of which program you choose, you can expect to receive personalized care and compassionate support from a team of highly skilled professionals.

To learn more about how we can help you or a loved one, or to schedule a free assessment, please visit our Contact page or call us today.