Addiction Treatment: Relapse Prevention

What is addiction treatment? You could say addiction treatment is basically relapse prevention; however, this applies to those who actually accept abstinence as the foundation for recovery. Our intensive outpatient program is based on abstinence from mood altering drugs not prescribed by a doctor, preferably a doctor who has experience in addiction treatment. Yet, many come to us with the idea they’ll learn how to manage their drinking/drug use. Because we’ve seen people return to treatment over and over as they try to manage their drinking/drug use, we don’t recommend controlled use as a viable option. We recommend abstinence and we show our clients how to develop a life-long plan for relapse prevention.

As I wrote above, when clients come to us with no intention of stopping drug use all together, we present them with facts, and we tell them why we are an abstinence-based treatment program — then the client has to decide whether they accept abstinence as the foundation of recovery or whether they choose to attempt controlled use as an option. When people ask about our success rate, we tell them it’s complicated. People coming into treatment have different motives. Those who come to us after many failed attempts at controlling their drinking/drug use, who have experienced consequences from their addiction, are more amenable to developing a plan for relapse prevention. They have tried to control their use and now they know they can’t, but they don’t know how to remain abstinent — they can’t quit and they can’t control their drinking/use — these clients usually do well.

Those clients who come to us with the goals of avoiding trouble when they drink/use, and to find a way to drink/use responsibly, and who refuse to develop a plan for relapse prevention, don’t do well. For those with an addiction problem, it’s the chosen drug and their brain that’s the problem, not the lack of knowledge how to drink/use responsibly. When an alcoholic/addict begins drinking/using they eventually lose control, and there are consequences. Untreated addiction is a progressive illness that gets worse over time, not better. There are treatment programs and therapists who claim to teach people how to control their use. We don’t believe in this model. To be clear, though, if a client comes to us with a dual diagnosis of addiction and a co-occurring mental health issue, we don’t insist that this person discontinue their medication just because it can be considered mood altering — we will, however, recommend that the person get a second opinion from a psychiatrist trained in dual-diagnosis treatment. It’s important to treat both the addiction and the mental health issue in tandem. If not, it’s likely one disorder will have a negative effect on the other.

To repeat, we consider addiction treatment as, broadly speaking, relapse prevention. We believe treatment works best when the client accepts abstinence as the foundation of recovery. We believe some people with co-occurring addiction and mental health disorders might have to take medication, but it’s best if the medication and treatment are managed by a doctor with experience in both disorders.