From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, the holiday season marks a time of family get-togethers, parties, gifts, and winter cheer. However, not everyone equates the holidays with happiness. Anxiety, depression, and stress-related disorders can transform what should be a joyous occasion into a time of dread – and the high pressure of the season doesn’t help. Whether it’s the many parties or self-medication from family stress, it’s also a time when people in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction relapse.
For those in recovery from substance abuse, the holidays can trigger setbacks, leaving people in recovery without the regular support systems they need to manage triggers. Multiple reasons make the holidays traumatic for recovering addicts, including more available alcohol (and more pressure to drink it), stressful environments, and family issues that could date back decades.
1. Family Triggers
For some people, being with their families is difficult. Not all families provide safe, welcoming environments for recovering individuals. Though it’s not intentional on the part of loved ones, managing complex family interactions can be nerve-wracking, and that’s even worse when our culture tells us we should be excited to see them.
For people in recovery, family dynamics tend to be complicated. Many of their journeys to recovery begin with pressure of a family member to seek help. Family members may be a piece of the addiction story due to abuse, neglect, or a history of addiction within the family. If a recovering person’s triggering issue is a relationship with a family member, encountering that family member again may put the person in a difficult mental place.
Adding to this pressure is that those in recovery may have to leave the safety of their homes. The holidays often mean traveling to family get-togethers, parties, and dinners. When families live far away, they may have to stay for multiple nights in a family home. Leaving their own safe places can be traumatic – especially in the early days of recovery.
When family triggers arise, they can put recovering addicts in bad mental states, and the risk of relapse increases. People in recovery may think about why they began using in the first place and feel the urge to drink or use drugs. Unless they have safe spaces or recovery strategies, the temptation to use again may be overwhelming.
2. Alcohol Pressure
Many holiday gatherings revolve around drinking alcohol. Even if a person’s addiction isn’t to alcohol, drinking can cause poor decisions. With impaired judgment from alcohol, recovering addicts may not have the ability to cope. Families might serve wine or beer with Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Spiked eggnog, mulled wine, and holiday punch are among popular festive drinks that might appear at a party or on the dining table. In addition, one of the most alcohol-fueled holidays of the year marks the end of this season – New Year’s Eve.
For people in recovery, environments with lots of alcohol and few nonalcoholic beverage options can be difficult and stressful. Friends or family members who are unaware of their sobriety journeys may pressure them to drink. They may feel left out when everyone around them has a drink. When it’s easier to drink than not drink – and the alcohol is a pressure-reliever – it becomes self-medication during the stress of the season.
3. High-Stress Environments
Family get-togethers and dinners can be incredibly challenging, especially if those in recovery have strained relationship with family members. However, family situations aren’t the only stressful environments during the holidays
The season also places a good deal of financial stress upon the average person. The pressure of buying gifts, purchasing plane tickets and accommodations, and planning elaborate holiday dinners and parties can place a strain on anyone’s bank account. Most people in the U.S. overspend during the holidays, and the pressure to please others during this time can be enormous.
In addition, holiday shopping itself can be a stressor. Packed grocery stores and malls full of crowds trying to snag the last turkey or latest flat-screen TV can make shopping challenge. In general, shopping during the holiday season can stress anyone out, but for recovering individuals, stress is dangerous.
4. Lack of Regular Support Systems
Traveling during the holiday season pulls people out of their daily routines and away from their homes. For a person in recovery, this means leaving their rehabilitation programs or Alcoholics/Narcotics Anonymous groups. They lose access to the ability to make their own meals or engage in normal exercise routines – both of which help during recovery. They push self-care to the back burner, and traditional support systems will be irregular at best and nonexistent at worse.
Without these support systems, recovering people have few options when confronted with stress and mental health problems. They may not able to turn to practice daily norms, engage in self-care, or have access to others in their support groups. As a result, they might not be able to handle the pressure of relapse when they experience the need to use drugs or alcohol.
How to Help
If you have a loved one in recovery from substance abuse staying with you over the holidays, be mindful of their recovery journey. You can help them navigate the season’s unique pressures in a few crucial ways.
· Create a safe space in your home. This could be a quiet room away from the noise of others and the stress of the season. Even if your home isn’t the place where he or she will sleep, knowing a sanctuary exists may put a recovering addict more at ease.
· Offer nonalcoholic beverage options at gatherings and parties. Sparkling cider, nonalcoholic punch, soda, and virgin eggnog and hot chocolate are popular options.
· Include friends who may be supportive during this time.
· Ask your loved one what self-care activities he or she likes to engage in and create space for him or her to take part in those activities.
· Collect phone numbers of local substance abuse support groups and hotlines.
· Encourage your recovering loved one to eat healthy foods and engage in regular exercise.
· Help your loved one seek treatment in the event of a relapse.
If your loved one relapses during the holiday season, it’s important to let them know it’s okay. Recovery is not a simple journey – it has its ups and downs, and it’s important not to let setbacks throw a recovering person off the path to healing. Windmill Wellness Ranch provides comprehensive substance abuse treatment to clients in the Canyon Lake, Texas, area. Contact us today to learn about our programs and find out how to enroll.
Created specifically for those who have loved ones that struggle with addiction.