- Hello, and welcome to the "Roadmap for Recovery,"
a family education video produced by the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration.
Stage three of recovery is called "the wall."
The person has kept recovery going past the early stages
and enters a very difficult period.
This period usually lasts 12 to 16 weeks.
It's called "the wall"
because suddenly recovery gets much harder.
Even though the person in recovery
is making positive strides every day,
stage 3 can be very challenging because of the healing processes
that the brain and the body are going through.
Many relapses happen during this period,
especially if the person is recovering from stimulant abuse.
It is critical to have support and remain in treatment
during this difficult time.
During this challenging time,
people may experience difficult symptoms like lack of energy,
difficulty concentrating,
memory problems,
sleeplessness at night, and fatigue during the day.
Boredom is a problem, and it may become difficult
to care about anyone or anything.
It may feel as if no one cares or understands.
The loneliness and hopelessness
seem as though they will never end.
But as time goes on, brain activity stabilizes
and the negative emotions and low energy
that can be part of this stage pass.
- Someone at Matrix told me that aerobic exercise
was excellent to help you get through the wall,
to ameliorate the symptoms,
the otherwise miserable symptoms.
And so I did that and that was very helpful.
In the beginning, I wasn't doing it,
and I was very jangly and unhappy.
And then when I started working out a little bit more regularly,
it was a big help, and that was something I got from Matrix.
So that's terrific.
It's that kind of very simple, very day-to-day,
real-life-oriented help that you can get from Matrix
that makes it very invaluable in early recovery, I think.
- Relapse is a serious risk during stage 3
because people feel so bad.
If these feelings take over, people might let go
and abandon the positive changes that they've made.
Here are some other relapse risks--
inability to feel pleasure--
conflicts with other people--
no motivation--
not taking care of yourself--
or trouble sleeping--
The wall is a very difficult stage to get through.
It is good for people in this stage to remember
that feeling this way is a sign that they are on track
and that the brain is healing.
Exercise helps relieve the wall symptoms.
An aerobic exercise for 20 to 30 minutes each day
can make this stage easier.
- "One day at a time,"
I developed that concept in my head.
That's what they kept preachin' to me,
just do it a day at a time.
You don't have to quit using drugs the rest of your life,
just do it today, and that was an easy--and it still is.
In my life today, I use that concept
every morning when I wake up.
I pray and ask, you know, to give me the day, and it works.
- Not being rested, or not having worked out.
I work out as part of my program today,
and when I don't work out,
the stress of my day-to-day life will sneak in.
And I'm not even recognizing it until I remember the fact that,
"Well, you haven't been to the gym in three or four days."
- Things I do for my relapse triggers is, yeah,
I do a lot of writing.
I talk with a lot of people. I'm a creative writer.
I write out my stories as a story form, you know.
And I look back on it.
I've got stories in my life.
They're humorous.
I try to look at it in a humorous light, too, you know.
I try to keep that humorous, instead of getting all angry
and everything, you know, about things, you know.
I don't want to hold any kind of resentment.
- During the wall stage, the addicted brain
can trick the person in recovery
into something called relapse justification.
This is when a person subconsciously thinks
of reasons to behave in ways that move him or her
closer to relapse.
For instance, the person may decide to return something
to a friend who uses drugs.
The Matrix model explains,
this is the addicted part of the brain
trying to hijack the rational brain
by putting the person in a situation
where it is easy to use again.
This can happen any time,
but it tends to happen more during the wall stage.
When people in recovery create a daily schedule
and stick to it, they can reduce the chance of falling prey
to a relapse justification.
- If I wasn't drinking, I-- looking back--
was winding up for the next drunk.
I was gathering justifications.
My children don't do what I tell them.
My husband doesn't appreciate me.
Whatever it was, I was building up
to justifying my next drunk.
I never drank socially.
When I drank at all,
or especially if I was taking medication with it,
I didn't know when I would stop
or what I would do and not remember.