Coping with Holiday Stress and Triggers: Relapse Prevention Counseling

This podcast episode, hosted by Dr. Donnelly Snipes, delves into the multifaceted impact of holiday stress and triggers on an individual's holistic well-being, with a strong emphasis on relapse prevention. It begins by explaining how holiday stress activates the HPA axis, leading to fight-or-flight responses, which can manifest as anger, anxiety, or depression. This activation also suppresses the immune system, increases systemic inflammation, impairs sleep, and heightens pain, all of which can trigger reactive behaviors like addiction, risky actions, or social withdrawal. The core argument is that "relapse" extends beyond addiction to include the recurrence of symptoms for mental health issues, autoimmune disorders, or any return to an unhealthy prior state.

The presentation meticulously identifies various relapse signs and exacerbating factors, categorizing them into physiological, affective, cognitive, environmental, and interpersonal domains. Physiologically, poor sleep, changes in appetite, increased pain, and substance use (even non-addictive) are highlighted as HPA-axis activators. Affectively, dysphoria encompasses a range of unpleasant feelings like depression, anxiety, grief, anger, and resentment. Cognitively, stress leads to pessimism, cognitive inflexibility, mindlessness, and unwanted thoughts or cravings. Environmentally, withdrawal from social supports, disruption of circadian rhythms, and exposure to old, triggering places are discussed. Interpersonally, regression to old interaction patterns, over-commitment due to guilt or fear, and exhaustion from social demands are significant.

Dr. Snipes offers a wealth of practical insights and recommendations for navigating these challenges. Key strategies include prioritizing sleep, addressing pain proactively, practicing mindfulness to identify early warning signs, cultivating an attitude of gratitude and cognitive flexibility, and developing distress tolerance skills. For environmental and interpersonal triggers, she advises planning for triggering people (Plan A, B, C), rehearsing coping and refusal skills (especially for addiction or eating disorders), politely declining unsafe invitations, and actively seeking healthy social connections through alternative gatherings or support groups. The importance of maintaining circadian rhythms, managing nutrition, and communing with a higher power are also emphasized.

Broader implications underscore the necessity of a holistic and proactive approach to self-care during the holidays. The episode highlights the societal pressure of idealized holiday portrayals (movies, social media) versus the reality of grief, loss, and financial stressors. It advocates for developing a sense of hardiness, hope, and empowerment by focusing on what one has, setting small achievable goals, and taking control over manageable aspects of one's situation. Ultimately, the message is about empowering individuals to safeguard their well-being, maintain their personal power, and define a realistic and beneficial holiday experience for themselves, rather than succumbing to external pressures or internal vulnerabilities.

"relapse is about returning to a prior state of being that was unpleasant or unhealthy not where you wanted to be"

"it's important in seven habits of highly effective people um he talks about how it's important to quote sharpen the saw"

"knowing what your early warning signs of an impending relapse or Resurgence are is really important"

"the more stressed people get the or if they're in pain or they're not sleeping well a lot of times they become more cognitively inflexible"

"most of the time when we are acting in our Mindless Self we typically are very reactive we don't stop to consider the long-term consequences of what we're doing"

"we are wired to want to be connected to people we're wired to want to have interactions with other people so complete withdrawal can eliminate those social supports"

"by feeding in by letting people get under your skin and upset you it you're giving them your power"

"those who uh those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind"

"people look at that and they think well this is what I'm supposed to be experiencing this is what the holidays should be like and it's important to help people get a more um realistic conceptualization of what the holidays are really like for most people"

"making small achievable measurable realistic goals to encourage to help them start moving out of the quicksand of Despair and toward a feeling of empowerment"