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Mistaken Belief #1

Mistaken Belief #2

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Mistaken Belief #17

 By: Terry Gorski with additions by: Lee Jamison

A MISTAKEN BELIEF IS SOMETHING THAT YOU BELIEVE TO BE TRUE AND ACT AS IF IT WERE TRUE WHEN, IN FACT, IT IS FALSE.

If you are recovering from addictive disease, "relapse" may be a frightening word. You may have "relapsed." Undoubtedly you have been warned about the very real possibility that it can occur. And/or you may have watched - helplessly - as others who you care about have returned to using, perhaps never to regain sobriety or a stable life.

It is right to be concerned about the possibility of "relapse," but the more that you know and understand about it the less threatening it will be to you. There are many mistaken beliefs about what a "relapse" is. People believe these mistaken beliefs, and, consequently, they act as if they were true. As a result, "relapse" prone persons are often subject to misunderstanding and unintentional abuse from others.

Many "relapse" prone people come to believe things about themselves that are simply not true. They punish themselves with those incorrect beliefs and make their situations worse by self-blame. These persons make choices based on those beliefs and sometimes the choices are destructive.

Recently, a story in the news told of a young man who killed himself because of a positive result on an AIDS test. After his death it was discovered that the positive test result was a mistake and he did not, after all, have the disease. His mistaken belief caused him to make a destructive choice.

We all have mistaken notions and dangerous attitudes about many things. Mistaken beliefs about "relapse" can have destructive consequences. The first step in preventing "relapse" is to understand what it is and what it is not. The second step is to challenge your own beliefs about it. If you are "relapse" prone these mistaken beliefs can kill you by preventing you from getting the help that you need.  If you are a counselor or an AA/NA member attempting to help a "relapse" prone person stay sober, your mistaken beliefs can feed the "relapse process " and push people closer to the next drink or drug, not because you intend to but because of your misinformation.

Mistaken beliefs about "relapse" create self-fulfilling prophecies. When mistaken beliefs become "truth" to you, you act as if those beliefs are true. These inappropriate behaviors lead you into a "relapse cycle " so that the mistaken belief you have becomes real. This is what we mean by a "setup." You develop a mistaken belief; act as if it were true; the action causes pain and problems; you start addictive use to cope with the pain and problems.

In the chemical dependency treatment field we say that alcoholism and drug addiction are a disease. But we do not always act as if it is. At times we become frustrated or feel helpless when dealing with people who cannot maintain sobriety. Feeling frightened and threatened, we often label those people "unmotivated," "hopeless," or "not ready to recover." What is even more frightening is that when we fail in our own recovery programs, we often call ourselves by those very same names. In time we come to accept these punitive and inaccurate beliefs and act as if they were true.

Mistaken Beliefs  > Misdirected Actions  > Pain & Problems   > Addictive Use

We would like to dispel some of the myths and mistaken notions about "relapse" and replace them with factual knowledge that will help you to deal more realistically with the "relapse" potential of addictive illness.

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