Relapse: An introduction

Abstract

Quitting smoking is easy…I've done it many times. This is an old joke, often attributed to Mark Twain, although there seems to be no evidence that he actually ever said it. Nevertheless, like other effective behavior, the joke worked in the past, and there is a good chance it will work well into the future. The reason the joke works is that even nonscientists can relate to what it conveys about the difficulty of maintaining longterm behavior change-previously eliminated behavior tends to return. Scientifically, it has become quite clear that behavior suppressed by a variety of means (e.g., extinction, punishment, omission contingencies, alternative reinforcement, various combinations of these) tends to recur following a wide range of changes in circumstances. Such recurrence goes by different names depending on the specific changes in circumstance that provoke it (e.g., resurgence, renewal, reinstatement, spontaneous recovery), all of which comprise an area of research that is often referred to more generically by the moniker "relapse."Numerous histories/reviews of the remarkably long study of different relapse-like phenomena across different eras and various research domains can be found elsewhere (e.g.

Resurgence and downshifts in alternative reinforcement rate

“…Resurgence refers to an increase in a previously reinforced target behavior following a relative worsening of conditions for a more recently reinforced alternative behavior (e.g., Epstein, 1985; Lattal & Wacker, 2015; Shahan & Craig, 2017). Resurgence is theoretically important because it provides a testing ground for examining core questions about the allocation and regulation of operant behavior across time and changing circumstances (see Shahan, 2017, 2020, for discussions). Further, resurgence is of applied significance because it may contribute to instances of treatment relapse following otherwise successful differential‐reinforcement‐based interventions for a range of problematic behaviors including, but not limited to, destructive behavior in intellectual and developmental disorders (e.g., Volkert et al, 2009; Wacker et al, 2011), substance abuse (e.g., Podlesnik et al, 2006; Quick et al, 2011; Silverman et al, 1999) and anxiety disorders (see Smith et al, 2020).…”

Primacia en Un Procedimiento De Renovación Jerárquica en Ratas

“…El estudio de factores históricos en procedimientos de recurrencia es importante, pues permite comprender de mejor manera cuales son las variables responsables de la reaparición de comportamientos extintos. El estudio experimental de estos fenómenos es de utilidad tanto teórica como práctica, pues podría permitir comprender de mejor manera los principios fundamentales del comportamiento humano complejo (Shahan, 2020).…”

Diálogos em análise do comportamento - Volume 3

“…Na construção de análises funcionais para comportamentos adictivos, deve-se levar em conta se os reforçadores que mantêm respostas alternativas aprendidas em um contexto de intervenção serão naturalmente produzidos no cotidiano do indivíduo. Da mesma forma, torna-se possível prever as condições em que a recaída do uso de drogas é mais provável (Bouton et al, 2011;Shahan, 2020).…”