Coping with Holiday Stress and Triggers | Relapse Prevention

#holidaystress #coping #Holidaytriggers
Coping with Holiday Stress and Triggers
Presented by: Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes
Executive Director, AllCEUs
Objectives
- Define Relapse
- Identify exacerbating and mitigating factors for relapse
- Explore unique relapse triggers and traps during the holidays

Holiday Stress
- Stress triggers the HPA-Axis
- HPA-Axis triggers
- Fight (anger) or flee (anxiety) or f*** it (depression)
- Immune system suppression
- Inflammation from ongoing stress
- Dysphoria
- Low energy
- Pain
- Reactive behaviors to avoid or numb distress (addiction, risky behaviors, withdrawal)

What is Relapse
- Relapse is the recurrence of symptoms for health, mental health or addictive issues
- Physical/Behavioral (sleep, appetite, pain, substance use, failing to relax)
- Affective (dysphoria)
- Cognitive (pessimism, inflexibility, mindlessness, cravings/longings)
- Environmental (staying in darkness, old places)
- Relational (old people or ways of interacting, overcommitting from guilt or fear, withdrawal from positive supports)
- Relapse warning signs are the recurrence of these symptoms
- Relapse warning signs indicate a vulnerability for relapse

Handling Holiday Triggers
- Loneliness
- People are shopping for everyone else
- Shop for the less fortunate / adopt a family or a shelter pet
- People are going to family gatherings
- Find other people without a place to go and invite them over
- Go hiking
- Commune with your higher power
- Video conference
Unique Triggers Around Holidays
- Abundant Food and Drink
- Don’t go famished
- Stay as far away from the buffet table as you can
- Eat mindfully if you have to eat
- Avoid eating out of stress
- Choose lower calorie and less processed options
- Get very small helpings
- Bring a healthier dish to potlucks
- Actively sip on water
- Have a battle buddy
- Play the tape through
- Cook at your own house (and send the leftovers away)

Summary
- Media tells people that this “should be” the happiest time of the year
- Holidays highlight losses, loneliness, financial stresses
- Relapse prevention involves
- People knowing what their first signs of relapse are
- Preventing getting rundown and vulnerable
- Setting healthy boundaries
- Addressing issues of rejection, isolation and failure
- Setting positive, proactive goals
- Emotional
- Cognitive
- Behavioral

Video by Dr. Dawn Elise Snipes on integrative behavioral health approaches including counseling techniques and skills for improving mental health and reducing mental illness.

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