I have provided a large list of potential relapse triggers.
The object of this exercise is to narrow the list down to the five potentially most troublesome for you. Start with quickly scanning the list, and marking any triggers that you think may apply to you. Now go back over the triggers you have marked and select the top five that you believe could be most troublesome.
Take those five and arrange them in order from the most worrisome on down.
Here we go:
1. Complacency
2. Isolation
3. Dishonesty
4. Depression
5. Argumentativeness
6. Self pity
7. Cockiness
8. Expecting too much from others
9. Letting up on daily disciplines
10. Forgetting gratitude
11. Omnipotence
12. Selfishness
13. Not attending 12 meetings
14. Obsessive and compulsive thinking
15. Boredom
16. Maintaining resentments
17. Old “people, places and things”
18. Keeping drugs and/or alcohol in the house
19. Grandiosity
20. Major or sudden “life” changes
21. Exhaustion
22. Anger
23. Anxiety
24. Boredom
25. Stopping medications against your doctor’s advice
26. Shame
27. Self pity, dwelling on unresolved conflicts or past hurts
28. Loneliness and isolation
29. Fear
30. Frustration
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
thanks for the post.
What a list! It is great, and what a wonderful way to put the triggers out there. I do like how you suggested to make a top 5 and then put those in order too.
What a great exercise! I think it can be made even more effective by those in recovery performing this exercise along with the help and guidance of their counselor while in recover. Planning ahead for your post-treatment life with such exercises will be helpful in assuring that you do not fall into relapse from lack of planning or action.
One of the things that many addicts seldom do during recover is plan ahead. Everyone is so concerned with the “now” that they don’t think as much as they should about the future. Knowing your relapse triggers in advance (either by performing the exercise yourself or with the help of a counselor) can help you prepare for potential road blocks in the future so that you can avoid or if possible, prevent them.
Looking forward to sharing this exercise with others that I know who are currently recovering! Thanks!
- Dennis Hansen