What is Relapse Prevention?
Relapse Prevention (RP) is a plan of treatment created by a experienced, competent therapist for the purpose of helping individuals who are recovering from an addiction develop skills to help them control, and recognize signs, that lead to urges which play a role in driving those individuals back into a state of addiction.
The Focus Of Relapse Prevention
Counselors use a number of guidelines and methods to develop appropriate treatment plans for relapse-prone patients. These elements are applied to aid the recovering individual to accomplish two primary things:
- Avoid the return to a state of previous substance abuse.
- Steer the patient back to normal levels of bio, psycho and social functioning.
Within the processes of treatment, the therapist seeks to find indicators of the presence of conditions which promote a return to a previous state of bio, psyhco and social dysfunction. This approach is necessitated by the fact that relapse episodes are usually preceded by a series of observable warning signs. Some warning signs are:
- The presence of addictive thinking patterns.
- Mistaken beliefs which cause irrational behavior.
- Interacting with people who engage in substance abuse.
The ability to control one’s actions is the primary focus of the treating therapist. A successful recovery from substance abuse and the patient’s refusal to allow any condition that increases the chances of driving the patient back to the abusive state are the goals to be accomplished.
