How To Avoid The Yo-Yo Effect When Trying To Break An Addiction

When addicts go to a traditional addiction clinic, they are asked to become abstinent immediately, meaning zero of their drugs. Also at home people with addiction problems normally try the radical approach, i.e. trying to break the addiction from one day to another. The reason why relapse rate is so high with these approaches (sometimes up to 90%) and why many participants do not achieve their healing is rooted in something called the Yo-Yo Effect.
The Yo-Yo effect is known from diets. When somebody tries to lose weight and then completely renounces from beer, bread, noodles and candies, it will only have short-term positive effects. However, in the midterm the problem will become bigger. The person overwhelms the body. The subconscious thinks that something vital is being taken away from the body (and more importantly, from the soul!).
In the short run, the soul will play along with it, but eventually it will fight back. The body has a program of preparing for the next situation of shortage, i.e. the body learns that there might come up situations in which it will not get fats anymore. The body then switches to fat storage and sets up reserves to be prepared for the next diet. This is the yo-yo effect. This phenomenon is why so many radical diets fail and usually end up putting on weight instead of losing it. This is similar to the traditional between 50% and 70%. Modern programs against addiction such as the Lavario method pursue a completely different approach. Addicts must learn how to deal with their addiction and reduce it gradually instead of suppressing it to zero within 24 hours. When overcoming an addiction gradually, craving and relapses will be much smaller and happen less frequently. The secret is to gradually let the brain get used to less and less addiction in a gentle way – step by step. Lavario, one of the world’s largest provider of self-help programs against addictions, points out that the brain needs to adjust to the way to freedom. During the process it needs to get used to only getting 90%, then to 80%, then to 70%, and so forth... Otherwise, steps on the learning curve are lost and relapses can be dramatic. Most people who try to overcome an addiction without professional help commit mistakes here and try to break the addiction too quickly. It takes patience and more generosity towards yourself to follow through an approach that allows you to still “practice” your addiction for a while. For more information on addictions visit http://lavario.com.