Amber HollingsworthRecovery Conversation Simulator, Amber's Recovery Practice Lab · Interactive learning tool trained on Amber methodoloy

Why You Keep Relapsing

23 Jul 2023 · 1 min

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Amber Hollingsworth explains why people relapse despite sincere decisions to stop: saying you 'mean it' isn't enough because addiction behaviors become hardwired and require active, strategic changes (help, new routines, concrete steps) to prevent automatic relapse. The speaker stresses that without changing environment and habits, people often relapse unconsciously (e.g., ordering a drink without thinking).

Chapters

A huge mistake I see people make is they make a decision and they mean it in the moment, in the day, but they don't change anything else. And they don't take any of these action steps and they think, okay, I'm just going to be done doing the substance, but I don't need to get help. I don't need to do any of these things. I don't need to change anything. That's ridiculous. It's not going to work that way. I know you mean it when you're thinking it and you're saying it. It sounds good on the surface, but if you have an addiction, it's been going on long enough that it's pretty hardwired in you and you're going to have to take some very active, strategic steps. Otherwise you're just going fall back into the old habits and not mean to. I mean, literally, a lot of people will relapse without even thinking, walk into the restaurant, they've just ordered a drink before they've even thought about it.