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DEVELOPING RELAPSE PREVENTION PROGRAMS
thesoberworld.com/2018/02/01/developing-relapse-prevention-programs
Relapse-prone chemically dependent patients represent forty percent of all private sector
patients and eighty to ninety percent of all public sector patients. These statistics drive
home an important point. Every treatment center in the nation currently treats
relapseprone patients. The question is whether they are going to do it well or poorly. The
problem is, many treatment programs deal poorly with relapse-prone patients because
they are not using specialized relapse prevention therapy methods and, as a result, many
relapseprone patients fail to recover.
This is unfortunate because it is no more expensive to treat patients using relapse
prevention therapy than it is to use traditional recovery methods. And, the difference in
improved outcomes with relapse-prone patients can radically increase recovery rates,
while lowering the long-term costs of treatment.
Every treatment program needs to be concerned about effectively treating the needs of
relapse-prone patients, and developing a policy for dealing with relapse.
An enlightened policy recognizes that:
• Relapse is common in two-thirds of all patients attempting sobriety for the first time;
• Relapse is not a self-inflicted condition, it is caused by a wide variety of problems that
can be treated;
• Relapse-prone patients deserve effective treatment with specialty methods designed to
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meet their needs, and
• Relapse prone patient are not hopeless. Over 50% of all relapsers will achieve permanent
abstinence with effective treatment, and many of the remaining 50% will significantly
improve the quality of their lives, and lower their health care costs in spite of periodic
relapses.
Relapse prevention programs have two primary goals. The first is to prevent a patient
from returning to alcohol and drug use after treatment. The second is to promptly
intervene should a relapse occur. Prompt intervention assures that a patient who relapses
gets back int