After years of recovery, many people consider having just one drink, to test whether they have fully recovered.
Perhaps they have reached a point in their recovery where alcohol no longer dominates their thoughts.
Likewise, they might have rebuilt relationships, improved their health and progressed in work, creating a life that no longer revolves around alcohol and addiction. Many people might even feel that they have finally put their addiction behind them.
This is when one drink can seem harmless. One glass of wine at a wedding, one beer on holiday or one cocktail on a night out with friends might seem easy.
After years without drinking alcohol, many people wonder whether their relationship with drinking has changed.
However, for someone with a history of alcohol addiction, testing this theory can carry significant risks.
The issue is not simply whether you can physically stop drinking after one drink. Instead, the bigger question is why you would reopen a door that took years of hard work to close.
For many people in addiction recovery, choosing abstinence is not about missing out. Instead, it is about protecting the life they have worked so hard to build.
The longer you remain sober, the easier it can become to remember your experience with alcohol differently.
Many people who have fully recovered from an addiction might look back with rose tinted glasses, remembering the laughter, celebrations and social occasions they enjoyed so much [1].
However, looking back with rose tinted glasses means that you tend to forget the reasons why you stopped. This includes the arguments, the anxiety, the hangovers and lies that took over your life.
Addiction can create a dangerous form of selective memory. Alcohol might start to look like something you gave up unnecessarily, rather than something that was causing serious harm. This is one reason why the idea of having just one drink can become so appealing and tempting [1].
It is important to distinguish that you are not necessarily craving the chaos associated with your addiction issues. Instead, you might simply be wondering whether you could now enjoy alcohol in the same way as everyone else.
However, suffering from an addiction usually means that this can never be the case. Recovery changes the question. For someone who has spent years overcoming addiction, the reality might not be as easy as they think.
It is important to understand that there is no single recovery technique that works for everyone. However, when it comes to most circumstances and addiction issues, abstinence is generally recommended for most people with moderate or severe alcohol addiction.
As you can understand, someone who previously drank heavily is not necessarily in the same position as someone who occasionally drank more than they intended.
If alcohol has previously led to a long term addiction, repeated loss of control or significant harm to you and your loved ones, then returning to drinking again is going to be a struggle compared to someone who has suffered from a short term addiction
Addiction is not simply about drinking too much on a regular basis. It can involve cravings, changes in behaviour and continued drinking despite understanding the harmful consequences it is causing.
For some people with a severe or moderate addiction, recovery can take months or even years, which is why achieving sobriety should not necessarily be interpreted as proof that alcohol is now safe to consume.
The first drink can often change your recovery progress for months, or even years.
Whilst sober, you can think clearly about the consequences of drinking alcohol.
You can remember why you entered drug and alcohol rehab, why you completed detox and why you committed to recovery. However, after drinking, those thoughts can become less straightforward.
For someone vulnerable to addiction, the difficulty is that the decision to drink is not necessarily made once. It can become a series of increasingly easier decisions. This is why the first drink can matter so much.
It is important to acknowledge that despite years of sobriety, alcohol-related triggers do not disappear. This might include people, places, smells, music, celebrations and particular routines that can all become associated with drinking alcohol [2].
In fact, research has now found that alcohol related triggers can activate regions in the brain that are involved in motivation, and that stronger cue responses have been associated with subsequent relapses when it comes to recovered, abstinent individuals with a history of alcohol addiction.
This helps explain why someone can feel completely comfortable with their sobriety for years before suddenly experiencing an urge to drink when they are exposed to a certain trigger.
The safest response is often not to test whether you can resist your triggers after drinking. Instead, it is to avoid giving the trigger another opportunity to develop or create a relapse [2].
One of the biggest dangers of long-term sobriety is forgetting why you chose to recover in the first place. This is because the brain makes it easy to remember the positive moments.
For example, you might remember drinking with friends at Christmas, going on holidays where alcohol featured heavily or feeling more confident after a few drinks.
However, addiction rarely consists solely of those moments. Instead, it is important to remember the reasons why you chose to recover from your alcohol addiction.
Below are some questions to ask yourself to help you to remember:
These questions can help put things into perspective. The goal here is not to frighten yourself into staying sober. Instead, it is to remember why becoming sober became so important to you in the first place.
Anyone who suffers from an addiction will know that addiction can make control a particularly complicated concept.
This is because someone might believe they have proved they can control their drinking because they managed to stop for several years.
However, the ability to abstain from alcohol is not the same as the ability to drink it safely. In fact, sobriety might have removed the need to exercise control over alcohol altogether.
When someone chooses abstinence, there is no negotiation, counting drinks or internal debate.
For some people, this clarity is one of the great advantages of abstinence, but it does sometimes mean that you haven’t had to control yourself around alcohol for a while.
Returning to drinking again does not automatically mean that someone needs to attend inpatient drug and alcohol rehab again.
What happens next, and the type of treatment they need depends on the individual, their drinking pattern, their addiction history as well as their general health and circumstances.
However, if drinking has become frequent or difficult to control again, then seeking professional advice early can prevent the situation from escalating.
Remember, suddenly stopping alcohol when you are addicted can also be dangerous and requires a detox.
Alcohol withdrawal symptoms can range between relatively mild symptoms such as sweating, nausea and shaking to severe complications requiring urgent medical attention and treatment.
This is why people who have returned to heavy drinking again should not attempt to manage their recovery or treatment on their own.
If you have spent years sober after recovery from an alcohol addiction, then there is a good chance that you will remain sober in the future. However, drinking just one drink might just jeopardise the future that you have built for yourself.
For someone with a history of addiction, recovering can be an extraordinary achievement. It is important to understand that abstinence is not a punishment. Instead, it can be a form of protection.
If just one drink could potentially lead to a relapse and reopen a cycle of addiction, then it is worth asking whether that one drink is really worth the risk.
If you are struggling with an alcohol addiction or experiencing relapse or cravings after a period of sobriety, then professional support can help.
Professional drug and alcohol rehab and addiction treatment can provide the structure and guidance you need to regain control.
If you have developed physical addiction to alcohol, then it is important to seek medical advice before attempting to recover on your own.
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8858850/
[2] https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice-and-support/help-to-reduce-drinking/how-to-spot-alcohol-triggers
