Warning signs of alcohol-use disorder relapse - Harvard Gazette

"There were four domains we looked at - biological, psychological, social, and changes in treatment/recovery support services. Biological factors are things like sleep, appetite, or pain. The psychological are things like anxiety, depression, boredom, or stress. Social factors are loneliness, isolation, or engagement with high-risk others and environments where alcohol or other drugs may be present."

"From a biological standpoint, the things that were most notable were pain and recreational drug use. They occurred more rarely, but when they did occur, they were very strong predictors of recurrence of the disorder."

"What can happen is that imperceptibly, under the radar and insidiously, people don't realize that they're moving toward a relapse."

Research led by Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor John Kelly examines relapse warning signs in individuals with extended sobriety histories. The study identifies four key domains affecting relapse risk: biological factors including sleep, appetite, and pain; psychological factors such as anxiety, depression, and stress; social factors like isolation and exposure to high-risk environments; and changes in treatment or recovery support services including medication adjustments and counseling frequency. Among these markers, pain and recreational drug use emerged as particularly strong predictors of relapse, despite occurring less frequently. The research addresses a significant gap in understanding long-term relapse patterns, as most existing data focuses on short-term recovery outcomes.

Read at Harvard Gazette