If you are struggling with addiction and you have entered into the recovery phase, a big part of your program will be to teach you how to avoid triggers in addiction and how to replace maladaptive behaviors like drugs and alcohol with healthier coping mechanisms.
How to Avoid Triggers in Addiction
Avoiding triggers in the early stages of recovery is essential to preventing relapse. It can take several months or years before you reach a point where avoidance is not your primary tactic but until that time it’s essential that you have healthy coping mechanisms that you can put into place if triggered and where possible, utilize things like self care and boundaries, support groups, sober activities and socialization.
Self-Care and Boundaries
One way to avoid triggers in addiction recovery is to set boundaries and utilize self-care. There may be times when you have to learn how to politely say no and decline activities because you are not in a good position to risk being triggered. In addition to that, you’ll need to set aside time for self-care, particularly if you find yourself triggered or lamenting having to set those boundaries.
Support Groups
During your treatment plan you will participate in several types of group therapy but you can also find ongoing support to avoid triggers with things like support groups. NA and AA offer the most prolific support groups meaning that you are likely able to find a group in your city no matter where you live. This makes it very accessible and a viable resource you can turn to if, at any point, you feel triggered and need some extra support.
There are other support groups as well for tangential issues like depression or anxiety. If you struggle with a co-occurring mental health disorder, you can find support groups for those conditions that offer ongoing support for avoiding mental health triggers.
Sober Activities and Socialization
Sober activities are a great way to avoid triggers in addiction. When you participate in group therapy and support groups, you introduce yourself to a wide range of individuals who are also trying to maintain their sobriety and learn how to cope with things like co-occurring mental health disorders.
With these individuals you can learn to participate in sober activities that are much less likely to trigger you compared to traditional activities like going to parties, going out to restaurants, or meeting at a bar.
Socialization is very important in recovery but the right type of socialization is a key element to this success. You can learn how to avoid triggers and addiction by building sober friends who support your decisions rather than reverting to old friends who may not be supportive of your sobriety and may instead trigger you on a regular basis.
Long Term Recovery
One important thing to recognize is that learning how to avoid triggers in addiction is a short-term skill. Initially, it is imperative that you learn how to avoid triggers in addiction because these triggers can be substantial enough that they cause relapse.
However, as you grow through the course of your recovery, you will reach a stage when avoiding triggers may not be necessary because you have other coping mechanisms to use in place of a relapse.
Learning How to Avoid Triggers in Addiction with Sequoia Recovery
With things like our intensive outpatient program, clients are able to participate in programs spanning several weeks on a part-time basis and during that time get the support they need to learn what their individual triggers are and how they can most successfully avoid them. A part of this success is being able to practice those techniques and those coping skills outside of scheduled therapy programs.
Our center specializes in offering several levels of care so that clients, as they transition, can learn new coping skills and avoid personal triggers with ongoing support to whatever degree they require.
Avoiding triggers, especially in the early phases of addiction recovery, is essential to your success and sobriety. Part of learning to avoid triggers is recognizing what they are, which might be something achieved through individual cognitive behavioral therapy or other psychotherapy where you recognize certain emotions and the root cause of those emotions and then learn how to avoid the triggers of those emotions. With the right type of program and ongoing support, you can avoid triggers and, where you can’t, learn how to cope with them successfully.
Contact our team to learn more about our flexible programs and the therapies we offer.