- Most people completing addiction treatment are fragilely balanced between sustained recovery and resumption of alcohol or other drugs in the year following discharge from treatment.
- The window of greatest vulnerability for relapse after treatment is the first 30-90 days.
- Between 25-35% of people who complete addiction treatment will be readmitted within five years.
- Recovery is not fully stabilized(point at which future risk lifetime relapse drops below 15%) until four to five years of sustained recovery.
- Sustained addiction can be lethal: relapses following addiction treatment produce high death rates from accidental poisoning/overdose, liver disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, AIDS, suicide and homicide.
Source: William, HBO/Addiction
