As part of the patient’s treatment and ongoing recovery, those battling addiction should prioritize developing a strategy to prevent relapse. They ought to get it done as quickly as they can. People are taught how to identify situations that could harm their health. They are shown how to design plans for coping with those situations in a way that is beneficial to their health as part of this plan (Menon & Kandasamy, 2018). People who utilize tactics to prevent relapse may seek aid in figuring out their support network and devising a strategy to stay connected to resources and assistance as soon as they begin utilizing these strategies. This assistance may take the form of either direct or indirect help.
Angel’s Relapse Prevention Plan
Relapse Prevention (RP) is a cognitive-behavioral approach that helps individuals retain their improvements by identifying and resolving high-risk scenarios that may lead to relapse. RP is a technique that helps individuals keep their gains. RP assists persons in preserving the improvements they have made, which in turn assists these individuals in retaining their progress. RP is an approach that aims to reduce the likelihood of an individual experiencing a relapse by helping them identify high-risk circumstances and prepare them to respond appropriately to those circumstances (Livingstone-Banks et al., 2019). Practitioners can use training in relapse prevention to assist individuals in identifying relapse triggers and early warning indicators and develop the skills and strategies necessary to prevent or mitigate the severity of a relapse.
Goal Identification
The first goal was for Angel to reduce his alcohol usage to no more than three drinks per day, three days per week. As a result, Angel will spend the next two months attending PTSD and anxiety-focused individual therapy once per week. Angel will also attend a mixed substance misuse and dependence group therapy session twice weekly for four sessions in the next month. In addition, Angel will put in 48 hours of volunteer work within the next six months. In the final step, Angel will attend therapy sessions with his family once a week for three months to improve communication and resolve conflicts.
Encouragement
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has been shown to aid drug abusers and reduce the likelihood of relapse. People who engage in CBT can receive assistance in identifying and altering destructive patterns of thought and action that may lead to deterioration. Another potential benefit of cognitive-behavioral therapy is teaching more healthy methods of dealing with stressful situations and emotional difficulties. Adults with depression have a significantly lower risk of relapsing into depressive symptoms when CBT is provided during the treatment’s acute and maintenance phases.
Difficulties
The first issue is that the patient struggling with addiction for many years is still not ready to get help. He has made it clear that he does not want any help or treatment, but he is open to listening to others’ experiences and hearing about recovery programs. We have been discussing how to approach him best and how he might benefit from attending meetings if he changes his mind, but we haven’t come up with a solution yet
Coping Skills
Suppose, despite encountering all of these obstacles, you discover that you cannot keep your sobriety. In that case, you need to seek the assistance of a trained professional as soon as possible. If I cannot quit drinking, I intend to discuss my options with a certified addiction therapist or counsellor specializing in the treatment of addiction. If I cannot quit drinking, I plan to seek treatment for my addiction.
Relapse prevention action steps
- Do not put yourself in extremely dangerous situations; I will attempt to avoid places, people, and things that may cause me to desire to use alcohol or drugs. Do not put yourself in really dangerous situations. In addition, I will not place myself in cases that are likely to be stressful or that I know will test my ability to function without resorting to substances like alcohol or drugs. I would not do either of those things. To put it another way, I won’t knowingly put myself in circumstances where I will likely fail. I am not going to put myself in situations like that.
- Get educated on the most effective strategies for responding to the many situations that could arise. When I am feeling anxious, scared, or angry, I look for ways to gain control over those sensations so that I can continue with my regular activities. This allows me to function normally (Dobber et al., 2018) Because of this, I can work effectively. I am going to do some research on stress management techniques, and then I am going to put those techniques into practice. I will make these techniques for dealing with stress a regular part of my life so that I will have them easily accessible for the occasions when I need them the most.
Self-care Plan
- Angel will start attending individual therapy sessions once a week to deal with her PTSD and anxiety.
- Angel will participate in weekly group therapy sessions for co-occurring substance abuse and dependence.
- Angel will participate in weekly family therapy sessions focusing on communication and finding solutions to conflicts.
- Angel will participate in a 12-step treatment program similar to that of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.
Sober People who offer support
Keep in touch with helpful information and the various digital systems. My sober support system, which consists of my sponsor as well as straight friends and members of my family, will continue to keep in touch with me. In addition, I will begin attending meetings weekly and participating in other activities that help maintain my sobriety.
Accountability of the Consequences
As a form of self-discipline and accountability, there is a commitment to do 48 hours of community service if I fail to reach my objective. By adhering to my strategy, which includes the steps outlined in the following paragraphs, I can ensure that I will not revert to my previous behaviors and thereby avoid failing. My plan to prevent me from falling back into old habits will be revised regularly to take into account any changes in the objectives I have established for myself, as well as any new opportunities or sources of support that may become available
Gratitude
I am grateful for all the strategies and motivations I encountered during the plan’s implementation. For instance, motivational interviewing (MI) helps determine how an individual feels about change and how they will tackle obstacles independently. Through motivational interviewing, it is possible to lessen the likelihood that female drug users will continue to take drugs and their desire to do so (Zhang, et al., 2018). In addition to this, MI was able to assist customers in the process of customizing their transformation plans.
References
Dobber, J., Latour, C., de Haan, L., Scholte op Reimer, W., Peters, R., Barkhof, E., & van Meijel, B. (2018). Medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia: A qualitative study of the patient process in motivational interviewing. BMC Psychiatry, 18(1), 1-10. Web.
Livingstone‐Banks, J., Norris, E., Hartmann‐Boyce, J., West, R., Jarvis, M., Chubb, E., & Hajek, P. (2019). Relapse prevention interventions for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (10). Web.
Menon, J., & Kandasamy, A. (2018). Relapse prevention. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 60(Suppl 4), S473.
Zhang, Z., Zhang, L., Zhang, G., Jin, J., & Zheng, Z. (2018). The effect of CBT and its modifications for relapse prevention in major depressive disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Psychiatry, 18(1), 1-14.