The country star has been sober for nearly a decade, but it was a hard-fought road getting there. His addiction to alcohol and pain pills began soon after graduating from high school and didn’t abate when his career began to take off. Things began innocently enough when I began drinking socially in high school, but quickly escalated when I realized how much more confident I felt when intoxicated.

Additional strategies for those at-risk

Remember that there’s no time limit on reaching out for help. Recovery is lifelong, and a relapse can happen at any time, even after years of not drinking. If you’ve been in a program, immediately connect with your counselor, therapist, support group, or mentor.

Q: What is late-stage alcoholism and what are the effects?

The good news is that you don’t necessarily have to be one of them. The even better news is that even if, like me, you’ve already had a relapse, it doesn’t mean you have to go through one again. Facing up to the rigorous honesty of a recovery program takes courage and it is easy to see how the recovering alcoholic may prefer to escape back into the familiar, safe cocoon of drink.

How to Build Emotional Resilience in Recovery

Alcoholism is a chronic disease that takes months or years of treatment and support to recover from. It takes years to conduct studies on people recovering from alcoholism. That’s why 2017 and 2018 alcohol relapse statistics aren’t available yet. However, studies published in recent years provide a picture of current relapse rates.

• Remember that others in your community have relapsed and yet, they still achieved their long-term goal of abstinence.
• Basically, alcohol use floods the brain with the feel-good neurotransmitter, dopamine, causing feelings of euphoria.
• The person can avoid these triggers to prevent themselves from using alcohol again.
• Check out our complete guide to finding an addiction treatment program for an easy-to-use breakdown of programs, costs, and how to choose the right fit for your needs.

Differences between a lapse and a full relapse

With CBT, you learn that recovery is based on practicing coping skills, not willpower. You can discuss trigger situations with your therapist and rehearse strategies to deal with them. Think about things that led to or worsened this relapse and how to remove them from your life. If a trigger is unavoidable, consider what you can do differently next time you face it. “It was easier for me to say that I’m doing it for her because, at that time, I didn’t feel like I was sort of worth much,” he recalled of the early days of their relationship.

For people who have established a sustained period of sobriety, relapse doesn’t occur overnight. In a 2015 article published in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, Dr. Steven Melemis described three stages that occur during relapse. A single episode of drinking isn’t always considered a relapse. To avoid relapse after a slip, many people attend support group meetings or therapy sessions. Preventing a relapse starts with having a strong recovery plan.

The following strategies have been effective for people who are dependent on alcohol or another drug in helping to reduce the risks of relapse on the road to recovery. When comparing an opioid relapse with other drug relapses and overdoses, it’s important to understand a few things. First is the rate at which opioid tolerance builds, which increases very rapidly when compared with other drugs. So a person is quickly forced to take more and more of the drug to achieve the same effects. Then, when that person becomes sober and experiences withdrawal, their body and their tolerance levels react accordingly, pushing their tolerance closer to normal. When a person then relapses on opioids, they take the same increased amount of opioids as they had before and the body isn’t ready to process that amount of drugs.

Personalized Plan of Care

“I am coming out that I’m an addict,” Jax shared during the March 4 episode of Bravo’s Hot Mic podcast. “I have substance issues, primarily with cocaine. It’s hard to say out loud.” The Valley star shared his decades-long battle with drugs in March 2025 after going to rehab. That’s been the case for Brooke as she recalled going through a bottle of pills in just a day and a half during another “slip” following her 2023 relapse.

We’ll give you skills to discover your self-worth and show you the tools for a life of hope and promise. Recognizing that relapse can happen even when life seems stable reinforces the importance of maintaining vigilance. It emphasizes the reality that recovery is a lifelong journey, often requiring multiple attempts.

When her sister visited her in the summer of 1998 and brought along prescribed painkillers for a rib injury, Curtis said she hit her rock bottom. “I knew she had them in her suitcase in our guest room closet,” she told the publication, crying at the memory. “I had a 10-year run, stealing, conniving,” she told People. The Princess Diaries alum shared in April 2024 that she is more than five years sober. As she told the New York Times, “That feels like a milestone to me.” And after quitting the drug, he soon turned to alcohol—only to also quit that dependency.

Warning Signs of Alcoholic Relapse

Recommit to your self-care plan, especially activities that eased stress and other emotional triggers. Having occasional cravings or thoughts of drinking is normal during recovery. But when you keep thinking about it, and start planning to do it, it’s time to get help. If you start to think of yourself as a failure, you’re more likely to move into the next stage of relapse. After an incident in Newport Beach where the Olympic swimmer tried to kick in his own hotel room door, Lochte made the decision to seek treatment in 2018. “Ryan has been battling from alcohol addiction for many years and unfortunately it has become a destructive pattern for him,” his rep told E!

Some research has found that 40% to 60% of people dealing with substance abuse disorders relapse within a year. In fact, experts consider relapses part of the recovery process. If you’re concerned about your relationship with alcohol, reaching out for professional guidance is a great first step.

It’s not about blaming or shaming, but should be handled in a supportive and non-confrontational manner. It can be led by close friends and family or guided by a professional, such as a therapist specialising in addiction. You may want to involve a professional in this process to maximise its effectiveness. If they’ve undergone relapsing on alcohol a 28-day inpatient treatment, they will likely already have one you can refer to if a relapse occurs. Once your relapse is behind you, see if there’s anything you can learn from the experience. You might be able to identify emotions or situations that acted as triggers, and work to avoid them in the future.

Relapse Is Not a Failure

All alcohol relapses are linked to these vulnerabilities in the brain. Relapse can be averted if friends or family members intervene and convince the person to go to recovery meetings or alcohol counseling. The person may also recognize the risk for relapse and reach out for help. Write out both your recovery plan and your relapse prevention plan. Next to each, add the techniques you and your therapist or support team have come up with to manage it. And you’re at greater risk when you try to quit drinking on your own.

Studies indicate that individuals may require an average of 5.35 serious recovery attempts before achieving lasting sobriety. Recognizing these stages aids in taking proactive measures to avert a full relapse, emphasizing the need for support and coping strategies. A 2006 study published in the journal Addiction found that 62 percent of people treated for alcoholism through alcohol rehab or Alcoholics Anonymous maintained recovery after three years. About 43 percent of people who did not receive any form of treatment maintained sobriety. In a separate 2014 study published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, researchers reported relapse rates of 506 people who had maintained recovery from alcohol use disorder for one year.

And no matter how much time passes, the 47-year-old—who shares 16-year-old twins Bob and Max with the Two and a Half Men actor—found that the road to recovery doesn’t get any easier. Check out our complete guide to finding an addiction treatment program for an easy-to-use breakdown of programs, costs, and how to choose the right fit for your needs. Making time for yourself can help you to decompress and stop your emotions from boiling over. It might feel like the last thing you want to do with a loved one in crisis but it is really important, for you and for your ability to help them.

A lot of people experience depression and anxiety when they quit drinking. Once you start to feel like you’re losing control and on the verge of slipping, it’s time to reach out. It’s diving back into the lifestyle you spent so much hard work escaping. This is a small list, but any of the points on it would be good signs that you may need outside intervention.

Relapse also offers an opportunity to revise your relapse prevention plan. It’s not that your plan failed — it just may need some tweaks to set you up for greater success down the road. Research shows that those with strong social networks can increase their likelihood of sustained recovery by up to 50%. Turning to your friends, family, or local support groups for help can help you provide the non-judgmental emotional support that you need to remain committed. Sustainable recovery is possible and the best version of youself awaits at our Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia addiction recovery center. We’ll help you learn that the opposite of addiction is connection.