In September, a commenter asked a great question about addiction relapse risk after reading this post about addiction and family dysfunction.  Drug rehabilitation includes many strides and setbacks, including relapse at times.  Everyone has certain challenges to face with relapse including possible affects from birth order.  Karen, I hope this gives you some good follow-up to your question. 

Question About Birth Order and Addiction Relapse

To bring everyone up to speed, Karen asked a question about addiction relapse risk for her as an oldest child.  She wondered if I found any studies relating to birth order that she could read.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find a whole lot.  I saw a few compelling titles but couldn’t access full articles.  Anything I’ve been able to skim is a mixed bag and not terribly current. 

One addiction article suggests a relationship between only children and heroin addiction (from 1986!)  Other article abstracts didn’t consider birth order or it wasn’t shown as a factor.  If someone has a more comprehensive resource about addiction relapse and birth order, I’m all ears and eyes - please send a link or make a comment.

Birth Order Is A Hot Topic But Not Always Relevant

I have written about birth order before and it’s a topic many people are curious about.  However, the “hotness” of a topic doesn’t necessarily mean it has a lot of substance.  Birth order effects are broad generalizations of personality traits and characteristics. 

Addiction relapse prevention takes a great personal investment of time, energy, and focus.  More than any label or category you put yourself in, you need to know yourself.  It is far more important to understand your own personality, habits, tendencies, etc than something as arbitrary as birth order.  Birth order is somewhat of a factor in shaping who you are. 

One Size Doesn’t Fit All With Birth Order Or Addiction Recovery

Certainly a person who never grew up with an older sibling would have a somewhat different life experience than someone with two or three older siblings.   Perhaps as the oldest you were put in charge of the younger kids when your mom got too drunk in the evenings.  As the baby, maybe you were protected from the truth of an addiction in the family.  But one size does not fit all when it comes to birth order personalities.  All I have to do is look at myself and my sister to know that. 

Maintaining your sobriety comes down to the choices you make from day to day and moment to moment over just about anything else.  Human beings are resilient, so it’s a matter of working with what you have and building on that.  Identify your strengths and resources to help you through those difficult relapse temptations.  And if you need to get alcohol or drug rehab to deal with your relapse, you don’t have to be ashamed.  Drug rehabilitation is an opportunity for self understanding and personal growth.  That will help whether you are a first born or the baby of the family.

Send Questions About Addiction and Women

I don’t promise to have all the answers (who really does?), but I’ll be happy to give you what I know and find out more where I can.  Please feel free to pose questions about women and drug rehab that you’d like addressed as a post here.  I’m at your disposal for support and discussion.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure - this phrase applies strongly to addiction relapse prevention.  Women will certainly benefit from many standard practices of relapse prevention.  But they gain additional insight and support when they are in a drug rehab program designed specifically for women.  As one Orchid testimonial indicated, recurring relapse was a problem until she encountered the unique rehab experience tailored for women.

Here’s the Truth Relapse Happens

Relapse is certainly a common thing in addiction treatment.  And The Orchid Recovery Center does not perform magic or read minds to make their programs work.  They do incorporate their understanding of women into their treatment, probably more completely than other treatment centers do. 

Addiction relapse is nothing to take lightly.  A common “addiction attitude” is that you can do all this stuff by yourself, you don’t need anyone’s help.  While you can occassionally find a success story of someone who did it on their own, the risk is quite great.  The research and statistics strongly back drug detox and rehab as the best shot for addiction recovery. 

Drug Treatment With Relapse Prevention In Mind

Relapse occurs when the mind, body, and spirit are weakened and vulnerable.  In fact, it may only take one of these areas to be faltering to allow the long fingers of addiction to sneak in and get a good grip.  Keeping up healthy regimens and being proactive about overall well being will keep relapse at bay. 

The Orchid’s unique treatment approach is what sets them apart from other drug rehab facilities places you might choose.  They give close attention to the things that make women “tick”.  This can make the difference between frequent relapse and only occassional or rare relapse.  Relapse happens and can’t ever be completely prevented.  But the deeper and more personal your experience in rehab, the more you are going to take with you by the time you walk out the door. 

Here’s the key thing that makes a big difference at The Orchid.  The staff has planned the drug rehab programs to focus on the connection of the mind, body, and spirit.  And of course, the ways these elements connect for women are somewhat different for men.  Meaning and self-understanding are formed along emotional pathways for women. 

As the mind, body, and spirit are connected in these ways, women have powerful experiences in drug rehab.  The drug rehab aftercare available with The Orchid also provides an extended net of support as a woman progresses with her recovery.

Relapse Prevention Includes Nutrition and Acupuncture

Relapse prevention is a critical piece of the puzzle in the everyday schedule.  It is incorporated into everyone’s daily plan along with exercise, nutritional planning, individual therapy, and other treatments.  It’s not left to the end like a parting gift.  A woman with addiction must learn to be aware of relapse prevention every day of her life. 

Nutritional therapy helps to stabilize blood sugars and promote high levels of nutritious eating.  This puts the body in its best position to heal itself and adjust to a healthier lifestyle.  Acupuncture has also been researched and documented in relapse prevention programs.  It has shown to be an effective tool for prevention, and is offered as a treatment for all women at The Orchid.

Relapse Prevention and Drug Rehab for Women

If you are a woman with addiction, don’t take a chance with relapse.  The Orchid will equip you with nderstanding, healthy habits, and other personal tools to take a stand against relapse.