While Spencer is away, enjoy this “best of” episode from a year ago.

Has your loved one relapsed? Did you expect it? How did you react? Today, Spencer and Jessyca talk about Relapse.

We structured our discussion around these points and questions:

• The disease of alcoholism and addiction is chronic, progressive, and eventually fatal.
• Relapse does not have to be part of the disease, but it is frequently part of the process.
• As friends and family members, many of us have experienced the relapse of a loved one from a period of sobriety, sometimes short, sometimes long and full of recovery.
• How did and how do we respond and react when a loved one relapses?
• What is our understanding of relapse? It is often a process in which picking up the drink or drug is the last stage.
• How can we support ourselves and our loved ones in relapse?
• And, sometimes, we relapse back to our old behavior. What is an “Al-Anon relapse”?
• Have you had one? What was it like, and how did you get out of it?

See the “extras” for the original episode.