Chronic Relapse and Secondary Gain
By secondary gain, I’m referring to a psychological or emotional advantage or benefit that occurs from an illness or behavioral disorder.
Tag: relapse
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Tossing the Playbook
We’ve come a long way in treating addictions, but we’re still not very successful at convincing a patient to stick to a treatment regimen.
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Relapse is Not Failure
I felt detached from life and the people around me. I felt like a failure, but I had no other choice but to get back on my feet and try again.
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Is it Recovery Yet?
It may seem to the individual as if it happens by itself– the result of an autopilot, set to return home.
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The Medicine They Don’t Take…
But given the experience in other fields of healthcare, a return to the old lifestyle, however destructive, may be little more than human nature.
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In Again, Out Again
I’ve come to view it more as a tool for harm reduction than a path to long term recovery, with some notable exceptions.
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War Within
That’s the mystery: Not why some people become addicted to certain substances, but why others do not.
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Three Challenges
Like a stroke patient who suddenly finds himself needing to relearn basic skills that were once automatic, it may require a level of personal commitment unseen for many years.
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Miracle Max
Clinicians… feel as if they’re always missing at least one extremely important tool that would make all the difference.
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Fault and Blame
Rehab isn’t intended to effect a cure for someone’s addiction. We don’t have a cure for anybody’s addiction.
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Recovery Maintenance Tip: Avoid Casinos
Many arrive in addiction treatment with clear symptoms of pathological gambling that often go unrecognized.
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Changing the Tipping Point
Try thinking of recovery as a learning process based in experience rather than the acquisition of information.
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Working the Program
Maybe for some individuals, whose goal is simply to get off drugs and meet like-minded people, a 12 Step fellowship fits the bill better than, say, the local church or civic group.
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