PCN-100: Foundations of Addiction and Substance Use Disorders is a unit that allows students to learn about different disorders that are caused due to substance use and addiction. Under Nursingessayhelp.org PCN-100: Foundations of Addiction and Substance Use Disorders assignment help students can explore different topics under this challenging unit such as prevention, aftercare, HIPAA, counseling, effects of addiction, etc. If you need any PCN-100: Foundations of Addiction and Substance Use Disorders assignment help, you can place your order to get expert assistance from our professionals.
Table of Contents
What is a relapse?
According to Yourdictionary, relapse is to return to a prior condition or to have an illness or addiction reoccur. In short, a relapse is falling back on the substance regularly. Fortunately, you can get back on the sobriety path by following a well-designed relapse prevention plan. The key to relapse prevention is to understand that relapse occurs gradually. Gorki has broken relapse into 11 phases. This level of detail is helpful to clinicians. On the other hand, it is overwhelming for clients to understand. Thus, this relapse model has been broken down into three stages namely:
- Emotional relapse.
- Mental relapse.
- Physical relapse.
Emotional relapse.
During an emotional relapse, the individual is not thinking about using. They are remembering their last relapse and they don’t want to repeat it. However, their emotions and behaviors are likely to cause a relapse in the end. Denial is a big part of emotional relapse. This is because the individual is not thinking about using during this phase. Therefore, the common cause of emotional relapse is poor self-care. Poor self-care means neglecting emotional, psychological, and physical care.
Mental relapse.
During a mental relapse, a person’s mind is in a war whether to use or not to. As the individual goes deeper into the mental relapse, their cognitive resistance to relapse diminishes, and their need for escape increases. Therefore, a clinician is able to distinguish between mental relapse and occasional thoughts of using by monitoring a client’s behavior longitudinally. Warning signs are when thoughts of using a change increase in frequency.
Physical relapse.
Physical relapse is when the individual starts using the substance again. During this phase, if the individual strongly thinks about how much he used to drink, he is likely to get into uncontrolled use if he gets one drink.
What are the common triggers of relapse?
These are some of the common triggers of relapse:
- Boredom
- Stress
- Money problems.
- Relationship issues.
- Certain sights and smells.
- Certain people and places.
- Falling into old habits.
What are some of the relapse prevention techniques?
1. Self-care.
The first relapse prevention technique you can use is self-care. Some of the side effects of quitting substance use is insomnia and fatigue. By implementing physical exercise and a balanced diet, you can improve your quality of sleep. This can be done by preparing and following a structured sleep, exercise, and eating schedule. Most importantly, this practice retrains the body to sleep better and will also help reduce the risk of relapse.
2. Joining a support group.
Support groups offer support, accountability, education, and the ability to meet peers who comprehend what you are going through.
3. Knowing your triggers.
Triggers can be internal or external. You can make a list of your triggers which reduces the risk of relapse.
4. Grounding techniques.
5. Deep breathing.
6. Make an emergency contact list.
Make a list of contacts of friends or family members that you can call for support.
7. Get help.
The fear of relapse can be devastating. However, it does not have to be when you are fully ready with an arsenal of healthy coping strategies. Applying these relapse prevention practices into your daily schedule can greatly help reduce the risk of relapse. You can contact a devoted treatment provider to learn more about inpatient or outpatient treatment programs to learn more relapse prevention skills and get help today.
8. Play the tape through.
To play the tape through, you must play out what will happen in your mind until the very end. Think of the consequences that would occur if you used them vs. if you did not use them. This can help with your decision making and reduce the risk of relapse.
9. Mindfulness meditation.
This teaches individuals to become more self-aware. This is because we have a higher chance of coping with potential triggers of relapse if we are self-aware.
