Alcoholic relapse, life events, and behavioral theories of choice: A prospective analysis.

This prospective study investigated the determinants of drinking in 26 alcoholic men during 6 months after treatment. Participants were interviewed while hospitalized regarding the degree to which their drinking had disrupted their functioning in 6 life–health areas. Following discharge, they self-monitored their daily alcohol consumption, event occurrences, and mood. Collaterals were interviewed regarding the alcoholic participants' life–health disruption and posttreatment drinking. Results showed that the more participants' pretreatment alcohol consumption had impaired their intimate relations, family relations, and vocational functioning, the more likely posttreatment events in these areas were to be associated with drinking episodes. Posttreatment drinking episodes preceded by events were more severe than those not preceded by events, which suggests that relapses and lapses may be differentiated by the environmental conditions that existed before and when drinking begins. These results are consistent with an analysis of relapse based on behavioral theories of choice. Negative mood states also were correlated with drinking for the majority of participants who relapsed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)