The physical aspects of prescription drug addiction addiction improve after detox. But psychological addiction, temptation, and craving can last for years, even a lifetime. The truth is, most people will relapse on their way to full recovery from prescription drug addiction.
Staying on the path to health takes patience, loving relationships, and emotional resilience. People in drug abuse recovery need all the help they can get. Fortunately, tools and resources are available to help someone stay straight and to pick them up if they stumble.
Stress and Prescription Drug Addiction
Understanding the deep connections between stress and drug addiction is essential to drug abuse recovery. People who experienced stress, such as child abuse, early in life are more likely to become addicted to drugs. Stressful mental health conditions like depression and anxiety also increase the risk for opioid addiction. People with a prescription drug addiction often say stress was a reason they began abusing pain pills.
Making the situation worse, opioid addiction itself causes lasting changes in the parts of the brain that deal with stress. People with opioid addiction have a persistent overactive response to stress, even years after completing detox.
Stress is a major stimulus for drug craving, according to people with opioid addiction. Not surprisingly, life stress is one of the main reasons people give for relapsing into prescription drug abuse. For all these reasons, learning methods to better cope with stress are an essential part of drug abuse recovery.
Family, Friends, and Prescription Drug Addiction Recovery
One of the primary causes of relapse in pain pill addiction is an inability to develop intimate relationships. No one recovers from prescription drug addiction alone.
Rebuilding close connections with family and friends is essential to successful drug abuse recovery. This often requires the addicted person to recognize and make amends for the damage caused by past behavior.
At the same time, the addicted person’s family will be going through its own recovery process. Re-establishing trust and mutual respect can take months or even years. Nothing can replace the healing properties of time spent together with loved ones.
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