Relapse — What It Is and What It Is Not

Relapse is a return to substance use or addictive behaviour after a period of abstinence. It is one of the most misunderstood events in recovery — typically interpreted as failure, as weakness, as evidence that the person did not want recovery badly enough. None of these interpretations is accurate.

Relapse as a clinical event

Addiction is a chronic condition. Like other chronic conditions, it has periods of remission and periods of return. A diabetic who fails to manage their blood sugar is not described as having a moral failure. They are described as needing better management of a chronic illness.

The same framework applies to addiction.

“Relapse is not a moral failure. It is a characteristic of the illness. Understanding that clearly — without the shame, without the self-punishment — is one of the most important things a person in recovery can do.” — Philippe Jacquet

Relapse begins before the drink

The clinical literature is consistent on this point: relapse does not begin with the substance. It begins with a pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving that precedes the return to use — sometimes by days, sometimes by weeks.

This is why relapse prevention is not primarily about resisting the drink or the drug in the moment. It is about identifying and intervening in the pattern that leads there.

After a relapse

A relapse does not cancel what came before. The period of sobriety was real. The work done in recovery was real. What the relapse requires is not self-punishment but honest examination: what happened, when it began, what was missed, and what needs to change.

Book a consultation with Philippe Jacquet — addiction specialist and psychotherapist, London.