What is relapse prevention therapy

Addiction recovery takes time and rarely follows a simple, straight path. Rather, many people face obstacles, including relapse, along this journey. A core component of a successful addiction treatment program is to reduce the risk of relapse occurring. Relapse prevention therapy is one of the most effective ways to prevent a relapse. At Rockland Recovery, we offer comprehensive support to prevent and treat relapse in recovery, including sober living homes.

Relapse prevention therapy is the process of creating strategies to minimize the risk of relapsing. The recurrence of addictive behavior after treatment is somewhat common, and while it does not mean a failure of treatment, it does require more attention and comprehensive care.

Relapse prevention therapy, also known as RPT, is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Its goal is to prevent relapse from occurring by teaching a person to anticipate and prepare for situations where they could be at a higher risk. The key here is to help people have a strategy to follow to get help if they are faced with a risk of use to avoid negative outcomes. This is just a simplistic breakdown of what occurs in relapse prevention therapy at Rockland Recovery.

Yet, it is designed to create real, actionable steps a person can take when faced with high-risk situations. Negative factors like stress and pressure from other people can happen during recovery to anyone. Yet, with this type of plan available, a person may be able to avoid the worst outcome, enabling them to stick with addiction recovery even through the hardest times of their life. In addiction recovery, there is no way to limit risk exposure. If relapse after addiction treatment happens, it does not signal a failure or a reason to give up.

Rather, it is an opportunity to invest more heavily in therapy through addiction therapies or steps. The goal at Rockland Recovery is always to provide the best level of support available to minimize the risk of relapse. Some of the programs and therapies we offer that enable this include:. Any time a person enters into treatment with us, they are given the tools and resources available to enable full addiction recovery. With ample support and outstanding resources, it becomes possible to create a plan for healing.

Relapse does not have to be a component of your path towards full recovery. Rockland Recovery provides a range of therapy to enable each person to live their best life to the fullest. That includes relapse prevention therapy. Relapse Prevention is a skills-based, cognitive-behavioral approach that requires patients and their clinicians to identify situations that place the person at greater risk for relapse — both internal experiences e.

Then, the patient and clinician work to develop strategies, including cognitive related to thinking and behavioral related to action , to address those specific high-risk situations.

With more effective coping, the patient develops increased confidence to handle challenging situations without alcohol and other drugs i. In Relapse Prevention RP , the clinician and patient work first to assess potential situations that might lead to drinking or using other drugs.

These situations include, for example, social pressures and emotional states that could lead to thoughts about using substances, and ultimately to cravings and urges to use. RP clinical protocols typically include 12 weekly sessions, and are empirically supported when delivered over that time frame.

The clinician will use a range of strategies to facilitate these activities. For example, in Relapse Prevention — and many of the cognitive-behavioral approaches — role playing is common. In this related approach, clinicians teach patients mindful meditation to help them cope with potentially triggering thoughts, feelings, and situations. Developed in the s by G. This theory emphasizes the importance of personal belief in the ability to remain substance-free i. Relapse Prevention is considered among the most important clinical innovations in the substance use disorder treatment and recovery field, and continues to be one of the most widely practiced.

Specifically regarding Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention MBRP , Marlatt and his junior colleagues who would continue this work, including Katie Witkiewitz, developed this RP therapeutic approach by building on clinical research in the area of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression. Standard Relapse Prevention RP has strong empirical support as a helpful intervention for substance use disorder and works about as well as other active substance use disorder treatment approaches.

Preliminary evidence suggests Black and Latino individuals may not derive as much benefit from Relapse Prevention RP as White individuals. The studies on which this evidence is based, however, were not designed specifically to test this question of differential benefit. More research is needed to understand whether ethno-racial minorities show differential benefit, and if so, whether culturally adapted versions of RP can help address it.