Maintaining Sobriety During The Holidays

Dear Dr. LeCrone:

For many individuals, the gift of sobriety is the greatest gift of the season. Can you suggest ways to avoid relapse during the holidays?

-A reader in Texas


Dear Reader:

Positive emotions, such as joy, warm feelings for others and festive moods, can be exciting and wonderful, but they can also be intense and unbalancing. Negative emotions such as anxiety, stress, disappointment and melancholy, can also occur during the holiday season. Both emotional highs and lows can trigger off the urge to use drugs, including nicotine and alcohol.

Other problematic situations that need to be considered by the person in recovery during the holiday season include.

• Deviation from normal routines in sleep, exercise and diet that can create imbalance.

• Exposure to alcohol and other drugs at holiday social activities, including parties and family events.

• Pressures produced by increased spending, crowded malls and expectations of being in the “holiday spirit.”

• Interruption or interference with support functions, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous or aftercare programs.

These and other factors can lead to both physical and psychological stress, which precipitates the desire to use alcohol or drugs to soothe frayed nerves, hurt feelings and unhappy memories from past holiday seasons.

In addition to dealing with those potential problems, recovering individuals are also faced with the prospect of unknowing or uncaring individuals who encourage them to have just one cup of spiked eggnog, one flute of champagne to toast on New Year’s Eve or one goblet of a special wine to be served with Christmas dinner. Having to learn to make a toast with a non-alcoholic beverage or turn down the joint or snort of cocaine being passed around at the party can be a big challenge to the person attempting to avoid relapse.

Family members and friends need to be aware and considerate of the needs of people struggling to remain clean and sober. Unfortunately, chemical dependency and drug abuse don’t take holidays.

Holidays can be memorable and fun while still having healthy boundaries that maintain recovery. Learning to say “no, thank you”, avoiding situations where exposure to substance use is high, striving for balance in lifestyle, and hanging out with a clean and sober crowd all make waking up on Christmas and New Year’s mornings with a clear head the greatest present of all.