Soberpotamus

I found an excellent article posted on the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism website. It is an overview of Alan Marlatt's cognitive-behavioral model of relapse prevention.

http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publicatio...-2/151-160.pdf

Marlatt is credited with developing the mindfulness technique of "Urge Surfing".

dragon12

Thanks for this article and glad you found it so informative.. I have just printed it and I will read it later.

Nuudawn

I got through a couple pages before my ADD kicked in...which is unfortunate as there were some incredibly wise soundbites that jumped out at me. I'm going to print it out for a later read with a highlighter pen : )

Soberpotamus

Yeah, it's a bit academic and dry reading But not too long. And some nice (if not cluttered!) flowcharts.

Louise82

Thanks for this Jennie. I'm going to start looking into mindfulness to help with my anxiety so I'm happy to read anything by Marlatt. I'll give it a read when I'm feeling a little more alert. It's been a long day!

FourSeasons

Thanks, SoberJeanie! Great Article. I especially like this paragraph (I broke it up into separate sentences -- much easier to read):

Bottom page 6; Top page 7

“Cognitive Restructuring. Cognitive restructuring, or reframing, is used throughout the RP treatment process to assist clients in modifying their attributions for and perceptions of the relapse process.

In particular, cognitive restructuring is a critical component of interventions to lessen the abstinence violation effect.

Thus clients are taught to reframe their perception of lapses – to view them not as failures or indicators of a lack of willpower but as mistakes or errors in the learning that signal the need for increased planning to cope more effectively in similar situations in the future.

This perspective considers lapses key learning opportunities resulting from an interaction between coping and situational determinants, both of which can be modified in the future.

This reframing of lapse episodes can help decrease the clients’ tendency to view lapses as the result of personal failing or moral weakness and remove the self-fulfilling prophecy that a lapse will inevitably lead to a relapse.”

Notmyrealname

That was great, it was nice to see a professional discussing some of the ideas I've been thinking about over the past year (how successful self-control in other areas helps you stay off the sauce, for example; or thinking of relapse as a learning experience that can help you learn skills for staying sober; and a couple others). They had much better jargon that I would have managed, though

Thanks Jennie!





Aw .. ten o'clock, weekend's over, time for bed.. I am sulk.

Soberpotamus

Yes, I like that about it too. That relapse can be a learning experience if we use it that way... and not a reason to beat ourselves up for lack of willpower, or other character defect. I personally think this is a much more productive and healthier way to see it.

EndGameNYC

One good trait...

Louise82

I've read 3 pages so far and already really liking it. I love the acknowledgement that there are "positive addictions". I guess you could also call them "affirming habits" as by repeating positive actions over and over again, you're regularly reaffirming them as positive. Eventually you get to the point where your mind connects these actions with positivity so instinctively that you get "addicted" to them -- they're now habits.

What the article says about positive outcome expectations makes me realise that my lapses have been triggered by me expecting alcohol to have a positive effect. As the piece also discusses, I forget the fact that these "positive" effects are only short-term, if they really exist at all. The long-term negative effects far outweigh any initial "positive" outcome. So it seems to me that if I can develop "positive addictions" that genuinely do have positive effects, I'll be able to distance myself from the idea of having to rely on alcohol for positive outcomes.

I also really like the distinction they make between lapses and relapses. It never even registered with me before that the word "relapse" is "re-lapse". If a laspe is picking up that first drink, a "re-lapse" is picking up drink after drink after that initial one. If you don't lapse (pick up the first drink) you can't relapse.