Relapse Prevention as a Psychosocial Treatment: A Review of Controlled Clinical Trials

More than 24 randomized controlled trials have evaluated the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral relapse prevention treatment on substance use outcomes among adult smokers, alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and other types of substance abusers. Review of this body of literature suggests that, across substances of abuse but most strongly for smoking cessation, there is evidence for the effectiveness of relapse prevention compared with no-treatment controls. However, evidence regarding its superiority relative to discussion control conditions or other active treatments has been less consistent. Outcomes in which relapse prevention may hold particular promise include reducing severity of relapses when they occur, enhanced durability of effects, and patient-treatment matching, particularly for patients at higher levels of impairment along dimensions such as psychopathology or dependence severity.