Preparation


Slide1
In the preparation stage the person is making ready for the change but has not yet started it. If a smoker, they may have set a quit date, may well be working out strategies to handle the anticipated problematic situations and formulating some kind of action plan to get them through the most difficult bits.
Relapse prevention begins at this point of the cycle and builds on information gathered in the assessment process. In essence, relapse prevention is a set of behavioural techniques that tries to do what it says – to minimise the circumstances in which a person is likely to return to the previous patterns of behaviour. Relapse appears in most versions of the cycle of change appearing after ‘maintenance’ and rather being seen as failure is a common part of the change process for most people where people have a chance to learn and develop skills..
Wilson lists a number of strategies that are important for relapse prevention.
Identification of high risk situations
  • Coping with negative emotional states
  • Coping with interpersonal conflict
  • Coping with social pressure
  • Coping skills training – relaxation training, stress management, decision making skills.
  • Life style interventions
  • Programmed relapse – relapse rehearsal
  • Education about the effects of drugs*


* Peter Wilson: relapse prevention: conceptual and methodological issues in peter h Wilson ed – Principles and Practice of Relapse Prevention – Guildford press NY 2002