A New Addiction

• For some addicts, the relationship becomes new drug. You become addicted to the feelings of euphoria produced when around someone to whom you are attracted.
  
  

Emptiness

• Orchid Recovery Center, a women's addiction recovery facility, describes an "emptiness" that addicts feel after giving up their addictions. The new relationship, no matter how brief, fills this emptiness. A true recovery is supposed to involve filling this emptiness with positive things like hobbies or even restructuring one's life in a new direction.
  
  

Distraction

• Dating can also distract you from the rebuilding processes of recovery. New relationships take a lot of time and effort, the things that a recovering addict needs in order to work on family, career and health.
  
  

Unfinished

• Rebuilding life after addiction can also mean finding out the cause of the addiction. Dating puts a halt to this process, because of the distraction and because you are going out and presenting an unfinished person to your date. This may lead to lying, guilt and other behaviors and emotions that originally drove you to the addiction.
  
  

support

• In those first days of sobriety, a support system is needed in order live sober. A new person may not know about your sobriety and is thus unable to support you properly.