Abstinence Violation Effect AVE definition Psychology Glossary


More and more, behavioral health organizations are moving away from “kicking people out of treatment” if they return to substance use. This type of policy is increasingly recognized as scientifically un-sound, given that continued substance use despite consequences is a hallmark symptom of the disease of addiction. Although it may be helpful for treatment centers to incorporate small penalties or rewards for specific client behaviors , enforcing harsh consequences when clients do not maintain total abstinence will only exacerbate the AVE.

abstinence violation effect

As a reminder, in an era of very potent opioids, this can lead to fatal results. Provide naloxone and overdose prevention training to all clients. One of the biggest problems with the AVE is that periods of abstinence from opioids increase a person’s risk of overdose and today’s heroin is often tainted with super-potent fentanyl analogs. As a result, the AVE can be profoundly dangerous in today’s drug market. Because of heightened overdose risk, treatment providers can offer naloxone and overdose prevention training to all clients, even those whose “drug of choice” does not include opioids. Rather than communicating pessimism about a client’s potential to recover, these overdose prevention measures acknowledge the existence of the AVE and communicate that safety is more important than maintaining perfect abstinence. More information on overdose prevention strategies in treatment settings is available here.

The benefits of being present: mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being.

Acknowledging your triggers and developing the appropriate coping skills should be a part of a solid relapse prevention program. Lastly, treatment staff should help you to learn how to recognize the signs of an impending lapse or relapse so that you can ask for help before it happens. Substance use recovery programs should refrain from defining a mere slip as a total failure of abstinence. Instead, they should promote the notion that slips should be addressed immediately and that individuals can learn from them and improve.

You can download the image below to print or share it with your friends through Twitter, Facebook, Google or Pinterest. If you are a webmaster or blogger, feel free to post the image on your website. Please scroll down to see its definitions in English, and other five meanings in your language. The data demonstrate the importance of coping or problem-solving ability in exercise and suggest that relapse may result from ineffective coping with exercise barriers.

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This is why many individuals 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. Equally bad can be the sense of failure and shame that a formerly “clean” individual can experience following a return to substance use. When a lapse or relapse has occurred, seeking a mental health intervention is often one of the first steps toward picking back up on the road to recovery, and decreasing the likelihood of repeated lapses. This is because relapses may signify gaps in the coping and recovering process, to begin with. Continuing to work with a mental health professional can cover any gaps that may have been missed in developing healthy coping mechanisms and can improve the response to any future lapses or relapses.

abstinence violation effect

Setting a goal, taking steps to achieve it, and at times falling short. 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, https://ecosoberhouse.com/ 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.

How Does The Abstinence Violation Effect Occur?

Instead, those experiencing this effect can fall quickly down the rabbit hole. This does not mean there is a straight abstinence violation effect line to successful recovery. There are many missteps and mistakes that a person can make on the way.

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  • This approach would be applicable to recovered depressed patients and would serve as a means of preventing relapse.
  • The AVE is a psychological response to relapse that suggests that a single instance of relapse is indicative of a moral failure, loss of hope for continued recovery, or proof that recovery is, ultimately, not possible.
  • For instance, one interesting manifestation of a lapse is something termed the abstinence violation effect.

We can give you resources to help you create or tweak your relapse prevention plan. Additionally, we will guide you to outpatient and inpatient treatment options. Marlatt’s relapse prevention model also identifies certain factors called covert antecedents which don’t stand out as clearly. Examples include denial, rationalization of why it’s okay to use (i.e. to reduce stress), and/or urges and cravings. The abstinence violation effect occurs when an individual has a lapse in their recovery.

What is the Abstinence Violation Effect and How Can it Hurt Recovery?

The result of this lackluster planning is that we recognize future disturbances, yet do nothing to truly resolve them. If we feel stress, anger or depression, we do not find healthy ways of confronting these feelings. We instead view these emotions as justifications of the negative cognition experienced under AVE. 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.

How effective is abstinence?

Abstinence is 100% effective as long as you're actually abstinent. But if you do have unprotected vaginal sex — even just one time — pregnancy can happen. Nobody's perfect, and sometimes people plan on being abstinent but end up having sex. That's why it's a good idea to keep condoms around, just in case.