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3 Steps of Relapse Prevention
SEARCH
DRINK
DISCOVER
DISCOVER
STEP ONE
List and practice the ways and methods that I use to stay healthy. For example, I make sure I take care of the basics: eat right, sleep right, exercise right, use my support system.
STEP TWO
List and look for the signs and signals that I am getting unhealthy. For example, I use the HALT formula to get myself to return to healthy behaviors. The HALT formula is "Don't let yourself get too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired."
STEP THREE
I write and out and verify an emergency backup plan in case I am on the verge of relapse. For example, I have permission from some people who I know how to get in touch with to call them for support at any time if it is a real emergency.
STAY HEALTHY
Look into all four domains: spiritual, mental, social, biological.
Am I meeting my spiritual needs through prayer, meditation, worship, and reading?
Am I meeting my mental needs through reading, writing, learning, and exploring meaningful ideas?
Am I meeting my social needs by having family and friends who support, encourage, and exhort me on a regular basis?
Am I meeting my biological needs by eating live foods, sleeping soundly, exercising regularly, etc.?
SAD
The AA program can be summed up in two words: surrender and acceptance. The Al-Anon program can be summed up in one word: detachment. When you combine all three words you get the acronym SAD. Sadness is a healthy emotion unlike depression. Remember to regularly practice SAD: surrender all problems to God, accept life and things as they are, detach your self from everything but your self.
Both the addict and the codependent are attached to the problem of the addict. Without attachment to the problem, both can live without the problem.
Here is a longer version of the steps for relapse prevention. It was taken from 35 Stages of Switching.
24. make relapse prevention plan
25. work at maintenance plan
26. discouraged about working
27. stop working: change is short-circuited
28. relapse: lose change
29. motivated to recover change
30. apply relapse plan
31. recover change
32. motivated to maintain change
33. revise maintenance plan (e.g., include more motivation)
34. revise relapse plan if needed (e.g., add new resources)
35. work at revised maintenance plan
3 Stages of Switching
QUOTATIONS VARIOUS SOURCES
"Guilt is really the reverse side of the coin of pride. Guilt aims at self-destruction, and pride aims at the destruction of others."--Bill W., As Bill Sees It, page 140
"The AA program can be summed up in two words: acceptance and surrender."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
"Even though a number of people have tried, no one has yet found a way to drink for a living."--Jean Kerr
"Suffering isn't ennobling, recovery is."--Christian Barnard
"Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace."--Buddha
"Recovery is the process of recovering who you were as a child."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
"God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me."--Anonymous
"Resolve to be thyself; and know that he who finds himself, loses his misery."--Matthew Arnold
"The attitude of unconditional self-acceptance is probably the most important variable in their long-term recovery."--Albert Ellis, Rational-Emotive Therapy with Alcoholics and Substance Abusers, page 71
"Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing."--Chuang-Tzu
"Correct it or accept it."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
"The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer somebody else up."--Mark Twain
"Recovery does not take care of itself no matter how old it is."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"--Matthew 6:25
"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."--Matthew 6:34
"And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on."--Luke 12:22
"You have to accept whatever comes, and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give."--Eleanor Roosevelt
"Recovery requires conquering the seven-headed dragon: physical, mental, emotional, social, motivational, renewal, spiritual."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
"I've developed a new philosophy--I only dread one day at a time."--Charlie Brown
"Detach with love."--Al-Anon
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RELATED PAGES |
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Alcoholics Anonymous (AA): The 12 Traditions of
Addictions: 7 Pillars of Recovery
PDF Mail-Order Form for Books & Tea
RELATED LINKS
For alcoholism and other addiction support groups, with a psychological focus, visit:
For Alcoholics Anonymous, visit: