Maintenance of therapeutic gains: Issues, problems, and implementation.

The lack of definitive research on the maintenance of therapeutic gains is discussed, and many of the various singular approaches to achieving maintenance are critically appraised. Although maintenance cannot be guaranteed, combining various strategies appears to increase the chances of achieving it. Self-regulation has become the pivotal point of maintenance, with the individual learning coping strategies to use in future problem situations. The environmental social system approach appears necessary for long-term maintenance, but its expense and longitudinal nature have precluded its full implementations. Research efforts used to evaluate maintenance are examined and found to be lacking methodologically, reflecting the current inefficient approach to the problem of maintenance. Suggestions are made to remedy this situation. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)