Have you noticed certain triggers (events, specific times of year/holidays) that can worsen or exacerbate your loved one's addiction?

mental-health

#1

In my experience, my parents’ alcohol use would become exacerbated around major holidays we’d celebrate, like Christmas.


#2

Yes! Through counseling, my husband had been able to identify his own triggers - typically during high stress times and during times of loss. For example, he started using again after 8 years of being clean during a really stressful time in our lives. He was just starting a new job, we were adjusting to life as two new full-time working parents of a newborn, and it was the beginning of the school year (he’s a teacher) and that sense of summer being over is often a trigger for him. The stress and the loss of our old life played a huge part in his turning back to drugs. Now we are both able to identify our triggers (because yes I have triggers too - often old behaviors that put me on high alert for possible active drug use), communicate them to each other and take extra care of ourselves and each other during these times.