Relapse prevention: an emerging technology for promoting long-term drug abstinence

This article reviews relapse prevention strategies that can be applied after primary drug treatment. To sustain their own recovery, ex-addicts must learn a program of self-management to cope with drug cravings and social pressures to use drugs, become integrated into a new social network, learn to find pleasure in drug-free activities, and find new ways of responding to emotional stress and physical pain. While additional research is needed to identify the very best methods, there is now sufficient evaluation data to argue that practitioners should incorporate this approach as an integral part of their treatment services.