Abstinence Violation Effect AVE definition Psychology Glossary

However, if we are aware of the AVE and it’s power, we can prepare ourselves for drifting/slipping from our goals and increase the chances of returning to our goals. Faced with working with individuals trying to change who tend to see use as tantamount to having “F-ed up,” practitioners who treat SUDs routinely are charged with helping them reframe such use as something other than “failure” lest they return to active use. 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?

Talking to ourselves in a motivational way can increase the chances we will go back and also addresses the reasons behind our drift. Say something like, “I’m upset that I didn’t go to the gym as I’d planned to. I think going after work is going to be unrealistic because I’m most tired and hungry then.

Abstinence Violation

Furthermore, the use of FDA-approved medications (which not all clients will view as “abstinence”) has been shown to produce the best health and recovery outcomes for people with opioid use disorders. 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. More and more, behavioral health organizations are moving away from “kicking people out of treatment” if they return to substance use.

Clients are expected to monitor substance use (see Table 8.1) and complete homework exercises between sessions. The majority of people who have gone through treatment for substance addiction will experience some kind of “triggering” event, leading to an initial fall back to the undesired behavior (e.g. substance use), known as a lapse. Research has indicated that the majority of individuals who receive treatment for a substance use disorder will experience a lapse. Among those people who lapse, many are able to follow this with a “prolapse,” defined as getting back on track in the direction of positive behavior change. This can be followed by remission, a relatively brief period of time without indulging in the behavior, which is often followed by another lapse cycle.

Science Based Psychological, Behavioral, and Addiction Specialists

For example, an individual who has successfully abstained from alcohol, after having one beer, may drink an entire case of beer, thinking that since he or she has “fallen off the wagon,” he or she might as well go the whole way. When an abstinence violation occurs, the attributions an individual makes play an important part in determining the trajectory of subsequent use. 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.

Marlatt and Gordon (1985) contend that individuals’ reactions to the initial slip and their attributions regarding the cause of the slip are the determining factors in the escalation of a lapse or setback into a full-blown relapse. The transition from slip or lapse to relapse involves the “abstinence violation effect,” which results from a state of cognitive dissonance regarding the nonabstinent behavior and the individual’s image of being abstinent. This dissonance can be reduced by either https://ecosoberhouse.com/ changing the behavior or changing the image, and characteristically in this population is resolved by the latter. Internal and stable attributes for the slip also lead to further lapse behavior. This model has received a good deal of empirical support and has the merit of dismantling the process of relapse and exploring subjective and cognitive variables in a manner that has important treatment implications. An early CBT approach to addictions is relapse prevention (RP; Marlatt, 1985).

11.4.2 Cognitive Behavioral Models

If AVE sets in pre-emptively, it may actually lead us to the relapse we so desperately fear. Those who wish to become sober—and stay that way—must therefore learn to identify abstinence violation effect and the dangerous ways in which it might impact our recovery. These negative thoughts fuel a dangerous cycle fed on hopelessness and more guilt. In order to cope or avoid these damaging thoughts, these individuals turn back to drugs or alcohol to numb the pain. Others may continue using because they believe they’ve already lost the battle.

• Marlatt considered the abstinence violation affect a serious risk factor for relapse that could be avoided by understanding the difference between a slip and a full-blown violation of one’s commitment to recovery.
• I’ll try again next year” then we are likely not going back to that gym.
• Say something like, “I’m upset that I didn’t go to the gym as I’d planned to.
• Cori’s goal is to ensure all patient’s needs are met in an accurate and timely manner.
• Thus, a biological predisposition toward greater than average weight gain could lead to preoccupation with body weight and food intake in bulimia nervosa.
• 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.

For those struggling with some form of addiction, this is a very relatable topic. Making a commitment to stop drinking only to find yourself days, weeks, months or years down the road ingesting alcohol. If you can relate with this, I’d like you to think of a time when you deviated from your goal to abstain and what your mind told you the moment you veered off that path. This type of thinking is a prime example of the Abstinence Violation Effect, or AVE.

Cognitive dissonance also arises, and attributions are then made for the violation. In a similar fashion, the nature of these attributions determines whether the violation will lead to full-blown relapse. Be that as it may, a perennial threat to recovering, especially if abstinence is perceived as the prerequisite of changing one’s substance using behavior, is to use, even once.