Objective: Formulate a clinical view of the process of recovery as related to the area of substance use disorders.

Recovery from substance use disorders often involves a slip or a relapse. Recovery is sometimes mistakenly viewed as episodic, or a one-time event, when actually it is a process. The recovery process can be ongoing and may even be viewed as lasting a lifetime. Although there are various factors that play into a person’s decision to seek formal treatment or not, counselors must formulate, and be able to articulate, a clinical view of the process of recovery and relapse from a substance uses disorder.

• View the following video on craving:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkOl7QIXxlQ
• In the discussion forum address the following:
  • Create a list of circumstances that may impact a person’s decision to seek treatment.
  • Out of the relapse prevention strategies listed in the chapter, pick two or three that you believe would be the most effective. Explain.
  • Discuss the concept of treatment failure in relation to relapse and explore what you would consider progress.