Countering The Abstinence Violation Effect: Supporting Recovery Through Relapse

It is known that the longer someone abuses a substance, the higher tolerance they will have for the effects it produces. This is why, after a period of abstinence, https://ecosoberhouse.com/ that person’s tolerance declines substantially, and why someone can accidentally overdose if they start to use again at the same level as before abstaining.

Have you ever made a determination to start a new habit and have you been able to stay 100% dedicated to it through the remainder of your life? (insert cricket sound…) Of course, if you are reading this then you are still living and cannot confirm nor deny the attainment of this goal. If you are like most people, you set a goal to establish some new behavior which can be performed consistently and probably have sometimes where you fall short of your idealized expectations. Perhaps you said you would start waking up an hour earlier so you can exercise, or you’ve sworn off some specific type of food, only to find yourself having periodic success.

The Abstinence Violation Effect

At any point in time, any one of these can put someone at risk of relapsing. Another example is the urge to smoke at the times when smoking was enjoyed, such as with a coffee in the morning or when driving long distances. Although the benefits of 12-step participation may outweigh the added AVE risk, clinicians should be aware of this particular risk and take steps to counteract it.

• Recontact contracts can also be useful where it is agreed in advance what the criterion will be for a time where a gambler should recontact the therapist.
• These alcohol-related cognitions are placed in the relapse prevention model within the overlap of the tonic stable processes and the phasic fluid responses.
• More and more, behavioral health organizations are moving away from “kicking people out of treatment” if they return to substance use.
• Conversely, people with ineffective coping responses (decreased self-efficacy) which, together with the expectation that drug use will have a positive effect (i.e., positive outcome expectancies), can result in an initial lapse.
• Additionally, abstinence violation effect can affect people differently, based on different factors in their lives.

Vertava Health offers 100% confidential substance abuse assessment and treatment placement tailored to your individual needs. Contrasting this, the aforementioned negative mindsets can lead to a cycle of blame and shame. Instead of looking at the slip as an opportunity to grow and learn, a person lets it color the way they think about themselves.

How Can the Abstinence Violation Effect Hinder Recovery?

Marlatt teaches a technique called „urge surfing“ as a way to cope. „It goes up and down. You don’t try to get rid of it, but accept it and let it pass.“ People tend to think that urges will escalate infinitely if they don’t yield to them — but in fact, like a wave, they rise to a peak and then fall. The durability of the symptoms and the failure of new psychiatric syndromes to emerge in the follow‐up period is evidence that bulimia is a distinct diagnostic entity and not a variant of another underlying condition.

When abstinence violation occurs, individuals typically enter a state of cognitive dissonance, defined as an aversive experience resulting from the discrepancy created by having two or more simultaneous and inconsistent cognitions. Abstinence violators realize that their actions (e.g. “I drank”) do not line up with their personal goal (e.g. “I want to abstain”) and feel compelled to resolve the discrepancy. Attributions are made to try to resolve or justify the discrepancy. In this case, individuals try to explain to themselves why they violated their goal of abstinence. The abstinence violation effect refers to the negative cognitive and affective responses that an individual experiences after the return to substance abuse after a period of abstinence. These responses, both physical and psychological, can be very difficult to deal with.

Etiological Influences in Eating Disorders

The Abstinence Violation Effect was a theory developed to help combat the incidence of individuals falling into lapse and subsequent relapse by creating a more thorough understanding of the mechanisms involved in relapse. Among those mechanisms were shame, misunderstanding, and blame; individuals who feel that relapse is an indication of an inherent flaw or an entirely uncontrollable aspect of their disease feel ashamed, hopeless, and unable to combat relapse. It became the work of the individuals who identified the Abstinence Violation Effect to mitigate the negative effects of this thought process and create healthier coping mechanisms and a greater understanding of addiction and addiction recovery. The revised dynamic model of relapse also takes into account the timing and interrelatedness of risk factors, as well as provides for feedback between lower- and higher-level components of the model. For example, based on the dynamic model it is hypothesized that changes in one risk factor (e.g. negative affect) influences changes in drinking behavior and that changes in drinking also influences changes in the risk factors.

An individual who believes they’ve failed and violated their sobriety goals may begin to think that they’re not good enough to be considered a true abstainer. We at JourneyPure support our patients and recovering family members with a mixture of cutting-edge therapies and tried-and-true treatment approaches. Contact us today to find out how we can help you or a loved one reengage with an active, healthy, and sober lifestyle. There is nothing abnormal about relapse in recovery, which is why it is imperative that everyone recovering from a substance use disorder knows how to prevent relapse.

Experiential Aspects of Bulimia Nervosa

Having healthy and effective coping strategies in place to anticipate a lapse or relapse is pivotal, because the likelihood of never again lapsing into an addictive behavior is often quite low. This effect is often unintentionally amplified by the 12-Step approach. I’ve heard of AA meetings where a member with over 10 years of sobriety ends up drinking (let’s say as an attempt to cope with the loss of a loved one or other tragic event).

Our hopelessness and our instinctive desire to give up were spot-on, or else we would be happy all the time. But when we feel this way about ourselves, it somehow feels rational. Giving up on sobriety should never feel like a justified response to vulnerability. Looking back does have its benefits in that it helps us identify weaknesses in our program. The problem is that abstinence violation effect magnifies these weaknesses and prevents us from seeking solutions. Our first instinct should be to figure out a relapse prevention plan that addresses the faults we have identified. This is an important measure, but it doesn’t do much for relapse prevention if we don’t forge a plan to deal with these disturbances when they arise.

So long as an individual maintains a perceived sense of self-control, he/she has a better chance at evading further lapses. AVE has been studied and supported for the cessation of sex offenses, heroin, marijuana, and other illicit drug use. Starting from the point of confronting and recognizing a high-risk situation, Marlatt’s model illustrates that the individual will deal with the situation with either an effective or ineffective coping response. Effective coping skills can lead to increased self-efficacy, and a decreased probability of a lapse. However, if one lacks skills, then the model predicts a decrease in self-efficacy and an increase in positive outcome expectancies for the effects of using the substance. This is a likely predecessor of giving into temptation in the initial use of a substance. Most people who try to change problem behaviors — whether it’s overeating, overspending or smoking cigarettes — will slip at least once.

• Dieting behaviors may tax the adaptive capacities of serotonergic pathways.
• We must learn to recognize this if we wish to stay on the right track.
• A verbal or written contract will increase the chance that gamblers will recontact at an appropriate stage and therefore minimise the likelihood of a full blown relapse.
• Relapse rates for methamphetamine use disorders were estimated to be 52.2 percent.
• This approach would be applicable to recovered depressed patients and would serve as a means of preventing relapse.
• Although there may be practical reasons for your client to choose abstinence as a goal (e.g., being on probation), it is inaccurate to characterize abstinence-based recovery as the only path to wellness.

This viewpoint that the deviation is a total failure is then used as a further justification to continue using or doing the addictive behavior. I have had clients that expressed after having one sip of a drink, they felt so badly and shameful for failing that this was the permission giving thought that getting drunk wouldn’t be any worse. Feelings of personal failure can lead to ongoing use of the substance.

Prolonged use of a substance causes a level or physical tolerance but after a period of abstinence that tolerance declines substantially. This is why many individuals what is abstinence violation effect who have been abstinent (or „clean“) for awhile accidentally overdose by starting to use again at the same level of use they were at before their abstinence period.

The most important thing to remember when experiencing challenges in recovery is to accept them and find healthy ways to get past them so that the recovery can continue. For some, this process is difficult to grasp, and this difficulty can lead to major setbacks, including relapse. In addition to this, booster sessions over at least a 12 month period are advisable to ensure that a safety net is available since gamblers are renown for not recontacting sufficiently hastily when difficulties arise. Recontact contracts can also be useful where it is agreed in advance what the criterion will be for a time where a gambler should recontact the therapist. The guiding strategy here is to ensure that gamblers learn to cope with minor setbacks on their own but are able to recognise more major setbacks before they become fully blown relapses. A verbal or written contract will increase the chance that gamblers will recontact at an appropriate stage and therefore minimise the likelihood of a full blown relapse. Effect and ensures that patients no longer adhere to the “one drink, one drunk” mentality which leaves them at risk for relapse.