Relapse is an unfortunate reality for those attempting recovery from substance abuse, and some of us struggle more than others to get through early sobriety and stabilize in recovery. If you are a person who has repeatedly relapsed shortly after exiting residential treatment, you may want to consider attending a substance abuse treatment center which offers a suboxone maintenance program as part of their IOP or aftercare. Suboxone maintenance may be the answer to your relapse issue, providing a safety net against relapse so you can get through the difficult stage of early recovery and achieve lasting sobriety.
Suboxone is a medication designed to prevent cravings in opiate addicts as well as those struggling with alcohol abuse. It contains both a moderately powerful opiate (buprenorphine) as well as a “blocker” (naloxone) which prevents opiates from binding to receptors in the brain, thereby rendering commonly abused opiates ineffective. By combining these two drugs suboxone has shown to be highly effective at eliminating cravings for addicts, dramatically improving the chances of success in recovery compared to those chronic relapsers who attempt sobriety without medication assistance.
There was once a stigma surrounding suboxone and those in early recovery who chose to utilize this substance in order to prevent their relapsing. Luckily this has dissipated for the most part, but there may still be some “old school AAers” who look down upon those who choose to enroll in a MAT program which utilizes suboxone. This is a reflection of their own character defects and should have no bearing on your decision regarding a MAT program as part of your recovery. You need to do what is best for your own sobriety, and if you have a history of relapse in early recovery a suboxone maintenance program could be the key to your getting over that initial hump and achieving lasting sobriety.
Suboxone was originally developed as a safer alternative to morphine for the treatment of chronic pain. In the early 2000s it was approved for the treatment of opioid dependence, and since then has proven to be highly effective at both mitigating withdrawal symptoms in opioid addicts as well as preventing cravings and relapse for those in early recovery. If you have attempted sobriety several times before but can’t seem to get past a few months of continuous sobriety, you should strongly consider enrolling in a MAT program which utilizes suboxone. In conjunction with continued therapy and rigorous work on your 12 step recovery program, suboxone could be the key to your success in long term recovery!