Relapse after rehab: stats and strategies

Sobriety is as much a process as it is a state of being. A person who’s overcome their addiction and built a sober life, even one that’s lasted for years, is never wholly free from the risk of relapse. But that doesn’t mean their life needs to be defined by that struggle.

If you’re anxious about relapsing after rehab, or worried about a loved one, we’re going to help you ease that anxiety. Let’s talk about rehab relapse rates, warning signs and relapse prevention methods.

‍If you or a loved one has relapsed, our Melbourne detox and withdrawal program may provide the support neded to get back on track. We can facilitate immediate emergency admissions if necessary. 

What is relapsing? It’s more complicated than you think.

Many people define relapsing as when a sober person begins using drugs or alcohol again. This isn’t quite correct. According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine^*, the return to abuse is known as a ‘lapse’. A lapse can be a brief mistake that the individual may be able to recover from quickly. 

A relapse is the ongoing use of illicit or addictive substances after a period of sobriety. Relapsing after rehab isn’t a sudden occurrence; there will be warning signs, and these signs are part of the relapse.

Whether you’re struggling with sobriety yourself, or have a loved one who is, identifying the signs of a relapse will help you maintain sobriety in the long term.

‍^*Ries RK, Miller, SC, Fiellin, DA, Saitz, R (Eds.) Principles of Addiction Medicine, Fourth Edition. American Society of Addiction Medicine. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2009.

Warning signs of a relapse after drug or alcohol rehab

During the early stages of sobriety, you will likely struggle with your mental health as you adapt to day-to-day life without your drug of choice. These struggles can trigger a relapse. 

Common signs of a coming relapse during the early recovery period include:

• Constant thoughts about drugs and alcohol
• Feelings of depression, anxiety, shame and stress
• Inability to sleep
• Poor diet
• Isolation, real or imagined
• Refusal or inability to express emotions to family, friends and counsellors

If you don’t identify and address these early symptoms, they can develop into dangerous behaviours immediately preceding a relapse. These behaviours can include:

• Refusal to attend counselling sessions
• Attending counselling but refusing to participate fully
• Insisting that you can control your substance use (e.g. restricting it to special occasions or weekends)
• Using ‘less addictive’ drugs (e.g. smoking marijuana rather than using ecstasy)
• Engaging with things that remind you of substance abuse (people, places, objects, activities)

These are not the only signs of an impending relapse. If you’re worried about relapsing, either because you’ve identified these signs or others in your behaviour, speak to your counsellor. Everyone who has ever battled a drug and alcohol use disorder has felt what you’re feeling — the sooner you let us help you, the better you’ll feel and the safer you’ll be.

Why do people relapse?

People relapse back into their alcohol or drug addiction for a variety of reasons. There’s rarely just one trigger for it. We think it’s important to keep in mind that alcohol and drug abuse change the structure of the brain and alter how it functions. 

Addiction recovery isn’t about returning to the person you were before your addiction but about building a new and healthier lifestyle. People relapse when their ability to maintain that lifestyle is compromised. 

One reason why people relapse after rehab is because their post-rehab support plan isn’t personalised enough to address their needs. For example, your relapse prevention plan needs to address more than just your substance abuse disorders; it needs to address other chronic medical illnesses you might have, medications you need to take, medical and psychological comorbidities, and the lifestyle you would like to live. These are complicated plans to create.

Rethinking and revising your relapse prevention strategies is a standard part of recovery. At The Hader Clinic, we will design a tailored and flexible post-rehab sobriety plan to help you avoid a relapse. We can always adapt your plan to suit your changing needs and make it more effective.

Drugs or alcohol addiction relapse rates

The American Centre for Substance Abuse Treatment carried out a review of evidence from international sources to determine post-rehab relapse statistics. Here’s what they found.

• On average, 58% of people with substance abuse disorders achieve long-term sobriety.
• Globally, relapse prevention success rates vary between 30% and 72%.
• Long-term recovery is not defined by absolute sobriety but by developing a meaningful life with fulfilling relationships between family, friends and society.

As for the Hader Clinic, we can tell you that an internal audit found that we have a long-term sobriety success rate of 74%.

If you’re looking up ‘rehab relapse rates’, then, based on our experience, we’re going to assume that what you really want to know is how likely you are to relapse. Or, how likely is it that someone you love will relapse? The only meaningful answer we can give you is that your chances of relapsing are not 0%, but they’re not 100% either. 

Part of our treatment is helping you understand that relapse is always a possibility. But there are ways to avoid it.

3 ways to avoid relapsing after you leave rehab

1. Complete your treatment

Rehab isn’t just a place to learn new skills to overcome your substance use disorders — it’s a place to practice those skills. Completing your full treatment plan gives you the time and support you need to overcome withdrawals, understand the root causes of your addiction (e.g. trauma, chronic disease) and discover the therapies that work best for you.

Rehab isn’t always easy. There will be times when you feel your therapies aren’t helping and when self-doubt gets the better of you. Your counsellors at The Hader Clinic will do their very best to help you work through those feelings. But, ultimately, you have to choose to stay in rehab. Of course, if you decide to leave, our doors will always remain open to you should you choose to return.

2. Continue your relapse prevention treatment after rehab

Completing rehab is not the end of your sober journey — it’s just another important step. By continuing to attend counselling sessions, you can voice your struggles and receive support to overcome them. Group counselling sessions will also help you to realise how common your struggles are and remind you that you don’t have to face them alone.

Once you leave The Hader Clinic, you can enter our outpatient relapse prevention programs. You can continue the therapies and counselling sessions you benefited from during your inpatient stay with us. These include our 12-step program, support groups, art and physical therapies, and individual and group counselling sessions.

3. Set realistic goals for your post-rehab addiction treatment

If you leave drug and alcohol rehab with the idea that you are now cured of your substance abuse disorder, you are setting yourself up to relapse. Any time you struggle with your commitment to stay sober, you will feel overwhelmed with guilt, shame and fear, which could cause you to spiral back into addiction.

To give yourself the best chance at avoiding a relapse after rehab, accept that you will struggle. Even though you’re aiming for long-term sobriety, take every day as it comes.

What to do after a substance abuse relapse occurs

You’ve relapsed. That’s okay; it happens. The best thing to do now is to book yourself back into rehab. Give us a call as soon as you can, and book into our detox and withdrawal program. There, we’ll help you get clean under medical supervision. 

We can also offer you a place in our inpatient rehabilitation program, where our counsellors can revise your treatment program.