Relapse Management

Even if clients are working toward total abstinence, they should be prepared to handle setbacks. Many clients who attempt to quit substance use will use again. Knowing how to interrupt a lapse or relapse can help clients minimize the damage associated with a return to substance use. Lapses and relapses can be viewed as opportunities to learn from mistakes. Clients can use them to get back on track, change their recovery plan, or focus on learning new skills. How a client responds to an initial lapse plays a significant role in whether the lapse leads to a relapse. Clients who lapse and then judge themselves harshly as failures or have strong feelings of demoralization are at risk for continuing to use substances. The objectives of this chapter are to help the client identify strategies to interrupt an actual lapse or relapse, to raise the client’s awareness of her or his emotional and cognitive reactions to a lapse and how these reactions may lead to a relapse, and to complete a “relapse debriefing” to help the client learn from a lapse or relapse.