Relapse Prevention: From Use to Abuse

Relapse Prevention - What is the difference between Use and Abuse?

Tom Wilson Counseling Center

 

Use: Drugs may be used in a socially accepted or medically sanctioned manner to modify or control mood or state of mind. Examples include having a drink with a friend or taking an anti-anxiety agent for an acute anxiety state in accordance with a physician's prescription.

Substance Misuse: An isolated episode of alcohol or other drug misuse that caused a problem in health, legal, job, social, emotional or other areas of your life. Examples include drinking too much at a New Year's Eve party but have not experienced any other problems in the last year.

Substance Abuse: Defined as having more than one problem from use in the last 12 months, i.e. legal, financial, marital, work, health, or psychological problems as a result of use.

Addiction: Characterized by the repeated, compulsive seeking or use of a substance despite adverse social, psychological and/or physical consequences. A wide range of substances, both legal and illegal, can be addictive. Addiction is often (but not always) accompanied by physical dependence, a withdrawal syndrome and tolerance. Physical dependence is defined as a physiologic state of adaptation to a substance, the absence of which produces symptoms and signs of withdrawal.

Withdrawal: Withdrawal syndrome consists of a predictable group of signs and symptoms resulting from abrupt removal of, or a rapid decrease in the regular dosage of, a psychoactive substance.

Tolerance: A state in which a drug produces a diminishing biologic or behavioral response; in other words, higher doses are needed to produce the same effect that the user experienced initially. Factors contributing to the development of addiction include the reinforcing properties and availability of the drug, family and peer influences, sociocultural environment, personality and existing psychiatric disorders. Genetic heritage appears to influence susceptibility to alcohol addiction, and possibly addiction to tobacco and other drugs as well .

Detoxification: The process by which an individual who is physically dependent on a substance is withdrawn from it. The primary objective of detoxification is to relieve withdrawal symptoms while the patient adjusts to a drug-free state. It is not, in itself, a treatment for addiction, because it does not affect the long-term course of addiction.

Relapse is a return to drug use after a significant period of abstinence. Relapses may occur over a period of years, because continued recovery requires a series of profound behavioral, social, psychological and physical changes.

Online Relapse Prevention Classes for legal requirements, education requirements, employment requirements or a healthy lifestyle:

8 Hour Online Relapse Prevention Class : $150.00

16 Hour Online Relapse Prevention Class : $300.00

Relapse Prevention Disease Model of Addiction

Relapse Prevention

Copyright Tom Wilson Counseling Center Online Classes

8 Hour Online Relapse Prevention Class

16 hour Online Relapse Prevention Class

The Disease Model of Addiction

It is important to know what beliefs a person has about abuse or addiction in order to understand how a person will approach a change or recovery plan. The "disease model of addiction" was made popular by AA and the American Medical Association and is still a popular model used by many people. This older model has been criticized and new models of addiction and recovery have been proposed.

Today, the main beliefs of disease-model thinking are:

• Most addicts don't know they have a problem and must be forced to recognize they are addicts.
• Addicts cannot control themselves when they drink or take drugs.
• The only solution to drug addiction and/or alcoholism is treatment.
• Addiction is an all-or-nothing disease: A person cannot be a temporary drug addict with a mild drinking or drug problem.
• The most important step in overcoming an addiction is to acknowledge that you are powerless and can't control it.
• Physiology, not psychology, determines whether one drinker will become addicted to alcohol and another will not.
• The fact that alcoholism runs in families means that it is a genetic disease.
• People who are drug addicted can never outgrow addiction and are always in danger of relapsing.

Relapse Prevention

What is Relapse?

Relapse is the return to heavy alcohol or drug use after a period of abstinence or moderate use. Relapse can also refer to a return to other risky behaviors after a period of maintaining healthy behaviors such as smoking, overeating or losing control over angry feelings. 

What is a Lapse? A lapse is an isolated re-occurrence of the problem behavior. If a problem drinker takes a drink after abstaining for several months, this is by definition a lapse, but it becomes a full relapse only when the original pattern of substance abuse or risky behavior returns. If a smoker has a cigarette after several weeks of not smoking, but does not return to his or her daily pack-a-day habit, a lapse has occurred.

What is Relapse Prevention?
Relapse Prevention Therapy (RPT) is a research-based self-control program designed to help maintain positive changes in behavior. This on line program draws heavily from the work of the developer of RPT, Dr. Alan Marlatt of the University of Washington in Seattle. His focus is on habit change rather than on the ideas of will power or inherited disease processes. These techniques focus on how to anticipate and cope with the problem of returning to old habits after a period of success. 

Why Do You Need It?
Studies by Dr. Marlatt show that there are three (3) high-risk situations associated with almost 75% of relapses. They are:

1. Strong emotional states, both positive and negative feelings
2. Interpersonal conflict
3. Social pressure or social influence to use

Cravings Cravings are also associated with risk for relapse. Cravings are strong physical desires to use again, usually seen in persons who have experienced past alcohol, tobacco or other drug dependence. 

Effective Coping Responses Reduce Risk
If an individual has an effective coping response to deal with a high-risk situation, the probability of relapse decreases significantly. When a person copes effectively with a high-risk situation, he or she is likely to experience an increase in confidence about coping successfully. An increase in confidence is an excellent predictor of future success. 

Risk for Relapse
However, what happens if a person has not learned or cannot use a coping response when confronted with a high-risk situation?

Failure to master a high-risk situation is likely to create a sense of powerlessness. This is followed by a person's tendency to recall only the "good" effects of alcohol or drugs as a way to cope with the high risk situation. At this point, a lapse is likely.

ALL classes developed and monitored by Tom Wilson, a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor who is also a Certified Alcohol and Substance Prevention Specialist. Tom is the author of "Taming Anger and Aggression", an anger management program which has been taught to hundreds of people at the counseling center over the last twelve years. He specializes in adapting evidence-based substance abuse prevention programs for delivery through the web and other electronic media.