Mindfulness and Relapse Prevention

Prevention Therapy and Mindfulness

Relapse Prevention Therapy is a cognitive-behavioral approach to addiction relapse prevention that assumes addictive behaviors are learned behaviors.
Treatment focuses on building an addict’s awareness of the triggers of alcohol and drug addiction behaviors such as urges, cravings, interpersonal conflict, social pressure, and negative emotional states. It also incorporates cognitive-behavioral skills training which leads to a patient’s successful changes in thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

Concurrently, “mindfulness” is a term used in alcohol and drug addiction treatment that refers to a patient’s developing a spacious awareness of the present moment. More concisely, mindfulness means a patient must develop a curious and non-judgmental, acceptance of whatever he or she is experiencing from moment-to-moment. Similarly, a patient who develops mindfulness also develops an awareness of the transient nature of internal experience, thus allowing them to release the need to control what comes next.

The theory behind the concept of mindfulness is that existing within with the moment frees one from rigid attitudes, cognitions and behaviors, and lowers one’s reactivity. Mindfulness also helps one cultivate the letting-go of desired outcomes, allowing a patient to more easily tolerate pain without the need to avoid or fix it.