Everyone knows that the holidays should be a time for gift giving, getting together with family, and holiday cheer, but for some it is a time of loneliness, depression, and anxiety. According to the Mayo Clinic, the holidays often bring on levels of stress that are unmanageable. Many recovering ketamine addicts find that high levels of stress lead to relapse. Fortunately, there are several ways to reduce stress, loneliness, and depression, during the holiday season and avoid relapsing into the use of this dangerous drug.

Avoid Situations that Make You Vulnerable to Relapse

Avoiding situations where ketamine is available is obvious. You should not put yourself in a situation where someone is going to offer you the drug, particularly when you are vulnerable. Not only do you need to avoid situations where ketamine is readily available, you also need to avoid situations that make you feel like using ketamine.

If a certain friend or family member always makes you feel bad about your appearance weight or any other aspect, it might not be a good idea to be around that person. This is especially true when you’ve used ketamine to make yourself feel better in the past. By avoiding negative people and people who negatively affect you, you can avoid the temptation to relapse into ketamine use.

Have a Support Structure in Place

Call a friend when you’re tempted to use ketamine.

It is important to have people you can call when you begin to crave ketamine. If you are in a situation, where you think that you might begin using again or if you are at a holiday party and others are using it call someone in your support network. Keep their phone number with you as you attend holiday parties or other events just in case.

By having a human support structure already in place you can stop temptation before it starts. Be sure to have a few people that understand your situation and that you can turn to in times of crisis.

Volunteer your Time

If you are alone throughout the holidays volunteer your time. With most volunteer organization, you will not have access to ketamine and you will be keeping busy and helping your community. Many volunteer organizations are happy for the help during the holidays. Some of these organizations are:

• homeless shelters,
• animal shelters,
• rescue organizations,
• halfway houses,
• Christmas meal and gift delivery organizations and
• food banks.

Many say that volunteering helps reduce their depression as well as their anxiety during the holiday season.

If you feel Relapse is Imminent Consider Inpatient or Outpatient Treatment

Both inpatient and outpatient clinics often have holiday hours or crisis services. In the case of inpatient treatment centers, most accept patients no matter what day it is. You can also schedule with both inpatient and outpatient addiction counselors during the holidays if you feel that you need to use ketamine. For more information about avoiding ketamine relapse due to holiday stress call us at 800-915-1270 (Who Answers?).