What Is the Abstinence Violation Effect, and How Do I Get Over It?

In 1988 legislation was passed prohibiting the use of federal funds to support syringe access, a policy which remained in effect until 2015 even as numerous studies demonstrated the effectiveness of SSPs in reducing disease transmission (Showalter, 2018; Vlahov et al., 2001). Despite these obstacles, SSPs and their advocates grew into a national and international harm reduction movement (Des Jarlais, 2017; Friedman, Southwell, Bueno, & Paone, 2001). In addition to shaping mainstream addiction treatment, the abstinence-only 12-Step model also had an indelible effect on the field of SUD treatment research. Most scientists who studied SUD https://g-markets.net/sober-living/alcohol-shakes-symptoms-causes-treatments-and/ treatment believed that abstinence was the only acceptable treatment goal until at least the 1980s (Des Jarlais, 2017). Abstinence rates became the primary outcome for determining SUD treatment effectiveness (Finney, Moyer, & Swearingen, 2003; Kiluk, Fitzmaurice, Strain, & Weiss, 2019; Miller, 1994; Volkow, 2020), a standard which persisted well into the 1990s (Finney et al., 2003). Little attention was given to whether people in abstinence-focused treatments endorsed abstinence goals themselves, or whether treatment could help reduce substance use and related problems for those who did not desire (or were not ready for) abstinence.

Thus, despite various definitional issues in the research, the above definitions will guide this article and discussing the issue of relapse. How one defines relapse may be an important influence on determining what happens when one suffers a lapse or slip. For instance, one interesting manifestation of a lapse is something termed the abstinence violation effect. People commonly confront relapse as a part of their process in achieving long-term sobriety. Perfection isn’t required by those in recovery, but rather a willingness to do their best each day with a supportive team backing their efforts.

Balanced lifestyle and Positive addiction

In one of the first studies to examine this effect, Herman and Mack experimentally violated the diets of dieters by requiring them to drink a milkshake, a high-calorie food, as part of a supposed taste perception study [27]. Although non-dieters ate less after consuming the milkshakes, presumably because they were full, dieters paradoxically ate more after Building Alcohol Tolerance having the milkshake (Figure 1a). This disinhibition of dietary restraint has been replicated numerous times [20,28] and demonstrates that dieters often eat a great deal after they perceive their diets to be broken. It is currently not clear, however, how a small indulgence, which itself might not be problematic, escalates into a full-blown binge [29].

• Self-monitoring, behavior assessment, analyses of relapse fantasies, and descriptions of past relapses can help identify a person’s high-risk situations.
• The first step in planning a cognitive behavioural treatment program is to carry out a functional analysis to identify maintaining antecedents and set treatments targets, select interventions.
• Therefore, one global self-management strategy involves encouraging clients to pursue again those previously satisfying, non-drinking recreational activities.
• After six successful months of recovery, Joe believed he was well on his way to being sober for life; however, one evening, he got into a major argument with his wife regarding her relationship with another man.
• While abstinence is the only guaranteed method for avoiding disease and pregnancy, current discourse generally considers abstinence-only programs to be ineffective.
• This isn’t the only way in which our thinking might become twisted when we experience a lapse in sobriety.

Various psychological factors were significant in initiating and maintaining Rajiv’s dependence on alcohol. At the start of treatment, Rajiv was not keen engage to in the process of recovery, having failed at multiple attempts over the years (motivation to change, influence of past learning experiences with abstinence). Several studies over the past two decades have evaluated the reliability and predictive validity2 of the RP model as well as the efficacy of treatment techniques based on this model. One recent large-scale research effort assessing the RP model https://accountingcoaching.online/arrest-of-boston-sober-home-operator-raises/ was the Relapse Replication and Extension Project (RREP), which was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Lowman et al. 1996). This collaborative research project evaluated the reliability of raters’ categorizations of high-risk situations using Marlatt’s taxonomy and assessed whether a prior situation could predict future lapse episodes. In one clinical intervention based on this approach, the client is taught to visualize the urge or craving as a wave, watching it rise and fall as an observer and not to be “wiped out” by it.

Specific Intervention Strategies

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is a structured, time limited, evidence based psychological therapy for a wide range of emotional and behavioural disorders, including addictive behaviours1,2. CBT belongs to a family of interventions that are focused on the identification and modification of dysfunctional cognitions in order to modify negative emotions and behaviours. Although high-risk situations can be conceptualized as the immediate determinants of relapse episodes, a number of less obvious factors also influence the relapse process. These covert antecedents include lifestyle factors, such as overall stress level, as well as cognitive factors that may serve to “set up” a relapse, such as rationalization, denial, and a desire for immediate gratification (i.e., urges and cravings) (see figure 2). These factors can increase a person’s vulnerability to relapse both by increasing his or her exposure to high-risk situations and by decreasing motivation to resist drinking in high-risk situations.

• Among social variables, the degree of social support available from the most supportive person in the network may be the best predictor of reducing drinking, and the number of supportive relationships also strongly predicts abstinence.
• Another efficacy-enhancing strategy involves breaking down the overall task of behavior change into smaller, more manageable subtasks that can be addressed one at a time (Bandura 1977).

The focus is on identifying and accepting the urge, not acting on the urge or attempting to fight it4. Recent studies have also explored whether abnormalities in metabolic signals related to energy metabolism contribute to symptoms in the eating disorders. Several studies have suggested that patients with bulimia nervosa may have a lower rate of energy utilization (measured as resting metabolic rate) than healthy individuals. Thus, a biological predisposition toward greater than average weight gain could lead to preoccupation with body weight and food intake in bulimia nervosa. The important thing to consider is that the hardest drug addiction to recover from is the one that you suffer from.

Characteristics of Abstinence Violation Effect

It is essential to understand what individuals with SUD are rejecting when they say they do not need treatment. In this model, treatment success is defined as achieving and sustaining total abstinence from alcohol and drugs, and readiness for treatment is conflated with commitment to abstinence (e.g., Harrell, Trenz, Scherer, Martins, & Latimer, 2013). Additionally, the system is punitive to those who do not achieve abstinence, as exemplified by the widespread practice of involuntary treatment discharge for those who return to use (White, Scott, Dennis, & Boyle, 2005).