What to Do If You’re in Recovery & Your Significant Other Relapses
If you’re in recovery and have a significant other in recovery, there is always a chance that one of you will experience a relapse. If your significant other relapses, knowing what to do and how to protect yourself does not come easy.
But in the end, protecting yourself from a relapse must be your priority. All of the time, effort, and care you’ve put into your recovery could come crashing down if you do not.
In this guide, we help you navigate this difficult situation. We hope it provides some clear answers.
Table of Contents
The Reality of Recovery: Relapses Happen
Unfortunately, the risk of relapse is just the reality that comes with loving anyone with a drug and alcohol problem; however, the choices you make for your recovery and how you handle the situation from the beginning can make a difference in how things turn out.
If your significant other, whether spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend, has relapsed, you have some serious decisions; you must draw upon all of your inner strength to ensure that you don’t relapse with them.
Adopting a realistic attitude towards the situation is essential. It can mean the difference between life and death, which isn’t said to be dramatic.
Suspecting a Relapse and Confirming it
The first thing that you have to do is determine if there has been an actual relapse. Ideally, your significant other will come out and be honest with you about what has happened; if so, this honesty is a good start. However, fear often takes hold, and your significant other will attempt to keep their secret.
Relapses cannot be hidden for long, though, and all of the signs and symptoms of their alcohol or drug use, as well as the consequences of it, can show up rather quickly.
If your significant other is dishonest and won’t admit they relapsed, you may feel like you’re going crazy. All the signs are there, but you don’t have any solid proof yet.
As someone in recovery, know and trust your intuition and instincts. You know exactly what drug and alcohol use looks like. There are telltale signs that you even you couldn’t hide when you were using or drinking.
Taking the next step and approaching your loved one using assertive communication skills is important. Understandably, it will be difficult to muster a calm demeanor in a deeply complex situation like this. Don’t go in mentally and emotionally unprepared. Give yourself time to assess the situation.
When you do ask the questions, be direct but not aggressive.
A few examples of ways you can ask your significant other if they’ve relapsed are:
- I’ve noticed a change in your behavior, and I’m worried about you. Did you slip up and start using?
- Over the last few weeks, you just haven’t been yourself. To protect my recovery, I have to ask are you using?
- Would you be willing to take a drug test to help me feel better about what I’m noticing?
How your significant other reacts to these questions, or especially when asked to take a drug test, can speak volumes. At times, it can even almost confirm it for you.
Once you have confirmed that there truly has been a relapse, you can start setting boundaries and plan how you will deal with the situation.
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Once You Have Confirmation, This is What You Need to Do
Once you have confirmed that your loved one has relapsed, you have to promise to make no compromises with your recovery. You must continue to do the same things that you always do to upkeep and maintain your sobriety.
Talk to Someone You Trust About The Situation
It’s important that you not give in to the temptation to isolate yourself from others, no matter how difficult this situation may be or how reluctant you feel to talk about it. You’ll want to reach out and talk to it someone you trust about the situation without feeling judged. Find someone to talk to who embodies love and non-judgment but will still give you the straightforward truth. For the sake of your recovery, this is not something you should be keeping a secret under any circumstances.
The person you reach out to could be a close friend, a family, or you’re involved in a 12-step program, or a sponsor. Finding immediate support (in the right places) will be an important component of handling this situation in the healthiest way possible. Usually, your recovery support system will have good tips to help you through.
Don’t Try to Exert Control Over Your Partner.
Go into the situation from the beginning with the understanding that you cannot control the choice that your significant other makes. The recovery choices they make, or if they choose to begin the recovery process again, are up to them.
Make Peace With the Fact that You May Have to Leave
There is a real possibility that you will have to remove yourself from the situation if it continues to decline.
Yes, you must be willing to come to terms with the fact that you may have to leave your significant other. Their choice about their recovery from here on out is totally in their hands.
Suppose you are in a position where you can’t immediately leave. In that case, it’s probably best to develop a strategy to ensure that you stay on top of your sobriety while living under the same roof as your significant other.
In a perfect world, your partner would make the right decision and begin the process of recovery immediately. But as we know all too well, this isn’t always the case, and you must be prepared that this relapse could be a permanent one.
Should I Leave or Kick Them Out if I Know They are Using?
Removing yourself or your significant other from your current living situation will be ideal because it protects you from potentially relapsing. Of course, there are situations where this isn’t possible.
Still, if you’re in a position where you can remove yourself—especially after your significant other has shown through their actions that they are not ready to get clean and sober, it’s the best step you can take.
Realizing each day you live under the same roof as a person in active addiction can completely risk your sobriety and all of the healthy changes you have made to your life. Just because you leave doesn’t mean the relationship is permanently over. It also doesn’t mean that you don’t love your partner.
If anything, it will show your significant other that you’re serious about your recovery and will not hang around to watch them fall back into that damaging lifestyle.
It may even help to let your significant other know that once they do what they need to get help, you will consider giving the relationship another chance, but only after you see action to get better.
In the end, the decision to leave is up to you. Do not risk your recovery for anyone.
What if they Don’t Want to Get Help?
There is always the real possibility that your loved one will not accept the help and may not be ready in any way to stop using. If you choose to stay—knowing that they’re using and not motivated to seek help, you are risking your life. You must be realistic and ask yourself what you can do to ensure you don’t relapse.
Suppose you’re in early recovery, with only a little time being sober. In that case, you run an extremely high likelihood of relapse, especially if you and your significant other share the same drug of choice.
Knowing your loved one is using may bring up triggers and cravings that threaten your recovery. It may be difficult to resist the urge to use, knowing that your significant other has a direct connection.
All in all, choosing to stay with your significant other after they have relapsed may be signing you up for one as well—it’s not the best choice you can make for yourself.
We can review options even if you’re not sure they’ll accept the help. We’ll help give you the information you need to move forward.
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