Addiction and Underlying Causes Leading to Relapse

Many individuals with addictions are also facing, or not facing, the underlying issues that prevent them from fully recovering from their addictions.  Issues stemming from childhood or other periods of their life that remain unresolved.  Ego and personality problems that get in the way of accepting ones addictions and moving through the process of recovery to stabilization often threaten recovery and lead to relapse.  

It is my belief as it is the belief and that of other professionals, that until one effectively works through the root causes that contributed to ones addiction in the first place there will always be some struggle and the individual will remain at high risk of relapse.  So it is of great benefit to the individual to seek out additional help wherever possible to work through these pre-existing conditions so that they no longer function as "triggers" to relapse.  

Working through pre-existing conditions is certainly not easy and the steps of the AA program are a good outline to help individuals begin to identify them.  This is especially true of "Step 4: where the individual takes a personal inventory of their character defects, or short comings."   This is where one can identify underlying issues that may or may not need additional attention. It is only a start however where the individual can begin to appreciate that s/he has more issues than just alcohol or drugs to deal with.    

It is important to address pre-existing conditions early in the recovery process because that is when one is also most vulnerable to relapse.  Although relapse can happen at any point, one has to look toward the unresolved issues, and not the drug as the cause.  The drug is the salve for the pain one is experiencing in the midst of their abstinence, nothing more. It is a merely a Band-Aid. Once the individual appreciates this fact that they used drugs or alcohol as a means to cover up and to avoid the feelings, of reality associated with their life situation.    

So if you are beginning to feel a bit shaky in your recovery, look at your 4th Step, call a professional and get to work on resolving your underlying issues before you relapse.  In other words, take charge of your life. It is the only one you have.  Be responsible for the quality of your your recovery process, and in turn how you feel about yourself.  

As always, I hope you found this helpful and informative

Dr Kevin O'Brien