The Recovery from Alcohol Consumption: Analysis of the Construct of Relapse

Abstract

Objective: A systematic review was conducted to identify definitions that facilitated the study of relapse as both behavioral pattern and process. Methods: The review was conducted following the PRISMA-P guidelines. Articles that met the following inclusion criteria were considered: (a) published in peerreviewed journals, (b) provided an explicit operational definition of relapse, (c) assessed relapse during or after a specific psychological or self-care group intervention, (d) focused on alcohol consumption, and (e) were published between 2000 and September 2016. Results: "Any drinking" was the most frequent outcome used to identify relapse, although other discrete outcomes were also considered. Nevertheless, none of the definitions operationalize the notion of the return to a problematic drinking pattern and/or the process of relapse. Conclusion: Problems related to any drinking definition are discussed and we propose the use of a composed index to study relapse. ResumenObjetivo: Se realizó una revisión sistemática para identificar definiciones que permitieran el estudio de la recaída como un patrón y proceso conductual. Método: La revisión fue realizada siguiendo los lineamientos de la guía PRISMA-P. Los artículos que cumplían con los siguientes criterios fueron revisados: (1) publicados en revistas con revisión por pares, (b) definían explícitamente la recaída, (c) se evaluó la recaída después o durante un tratamiento psicológico o participación en un grupo de autoayuda, (d) la intervención se enfocaba en el consumo de alcohol, (d) publicados entre el año 2000 y septiembre de 2016. Resultados: Cualquier consumo fue el resultado más frecuentemente usado para definir la recaída, aunque otros resultados discretos también se consideraron. No obstante, ninguna de las definiciones operacionales reflejó la noción del regreso a un patrón de consumo problemático y/o el proceso a la recaída. Conclusiones: Problemas relacionados a la definición de cualquier consumo son discutidos y se propone un índice compuesto para estudiar la recaída.

Pupillary reactivity to alcohol cues as a predictive biomarker of alcohol relapse following treatment in a pilot study

“…On the basis of the variance in the duration of relapse and the quantity of alcohol consumed during relapse, we opted to classify relapse into three categories of increasing severity of values (no relapse = 0, minor relapse = 1, major relapse = 2). Major relapse was defined as drinking persistently for more than a week as opposed minor relapse referring to any drinking (see (Reyes-Huerta et al 2018) for a review on different relapse distinctions).…”

Pilot study: Improving attention bias modification of alcohol cues through concealed gaze-contingent feedback in alcohol dependence

“…Similar to our previously published study detailing the relationship between pupillary reactions to alcohol stimuli and relapse (Kvamme et al, 2019), we choose to code relapse outcome using three categories of increasing severity of values (No Relapse = 0, Minor Relapse = 1 Major Relapse = 2). Major relapse was defined as drinking behavior persisting for more than a week as opposed to minor relapse referring to any drinking (see Reyes-Huerta, Vacio, Pedroza, Salazar, & Martínez, 2018 for a review on relapse definitions).…”