The Important Difference Between Fall And Relapse

Fall and relapse are concepts especially used in the treatment of addictions. However, they can be extrapolated to any change in habits or behaviors that a person is carrying out. Knowing the difference between both constructs is essential to put in place the appropriate coping resources.

In this article we are going to try to precisely define fall and relapse and recognize the role they play in the change process. In this way we will avoid distorted thoughts that make the situation worse. Being clear about its meaning can help make the most appropriate decisions in risky situations.

The process of change

Any major change that a person wishes to make in their life will require a process. When we try to change our habits, we are addressing issues that have been in the making for a long time and are now firmly ingrained. It is not realistic to think that this reality can be transformed from one day to the next.

Whether we want to abandon an addiction, implement a healthier diet or improve our self-esteem, in all cases we will have to walk a path. Establishing new behaviors will be a matter of perseverance and, along the way, we will face adverse circumstances that will put our learning to the test.

These are the so-called high-risk situations. Internal or external events with a special potential to unbalance us and lead us back to the habit we are trying to eliminate. These are mainly constituted by interpersonal conflicts, social pressure or negative emotional states. Under these circumstances, we can see our strength waver and fall back into harmful behavior.

In short, change is a process in which failure is seen as one more possible part of the journey. For example, in the treatment of addictions it is a recurring fact. However, it is here when the difference between fall and relapse comes into play, marking two different realities.

Difference between fall and relapse

Fall is the occurrence of the problem behavior only once, in a specific and isolated way. That is, after a period of time implementing the new habits, the previous harmful behavior is incurred, but as a singular and unique event.

On the contrary, relapse is a process in which the person actively and voluntarily repeats the problem behavior. But how do you get to that point? The key is in the action we take in the face of the fall. It is our behavior at that moment that can prevent us from ending up relapsing.

Generally, before a fall, a series of distorted thoughts arise in the person who “has failed”, for the moment, once. The so-called withdrawal violation effect occurs after a fall. At that moment the person begins to feel guilt and experiences a serious decrease in their perception of self-efficacy and self-esteem.

He begins to consider that he has failed, that he will never be able to change and, instead of putting coping strategies in place, he lets himself be carried away by hopelessness. In this way, he continues to repeat the problem behavior over and over again, incurring, now, in a relapse.

How to act?

Neither the fall nor the relapse lead, irreversibly, to return to the starting point. If a person who tries to eat healthy one day eats a cake, there will have been a fall; if you keep doing it for two weeks we will be facing a relapse. But in no case does that mean that all the previous work has been in vain and that we meet again at the beginning.

In these situations, it is essential to know how to act. When a fall occurs we have to take it as a warning that there is something we must work on. Perhaps we have gone out with the previous group of friends, we have frequented a place that triggered our desire to act wrong again or we have experienced an emotion that we do not know how to manage.

In the face of a fall, let’s avoid guilt and defeatism: a false step does not destroy the path. Therefore, let’s get back to good habits as soon as possible and use the signal of the fall so as not to put ourselves in high-risk situations again. And, above all, if we see that we are not capable of doing it alone, let us not be afraid to ask for help.