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Understand lapse and relapse
Saul Shiffman
Abstract
Even with the best of current treatments, the majority of smokers still relapse to smoking. To help smokers avoid relapse, counselors should to understand when and why smokers lapse and relapse. Smokers' experience of quitting is marked by periodic, acute crises marked by severe craving and high risk of smoking. Lapses to smoking occur in particular situations, often marked by acute emotional distress, as well as by exposure to smoking cues and by alcohol consumption. Some of these high-risk situations can be anticipated and avoided, but some crises are unpredictable or unavoidable, so smokers need to be prepared to cope with such situations without smoking, using either behavioral or pharmacological interventions. Even after a smoker lapses (i.e., has a limited episode of smoking), smokers progress towards relapse slowly and intermittently, suggesting that progression to relapse is not inevitable. Research is beginning to identify factors that drive progression to relapse and to suggest behavioral and pharmacological interventions that may help smokers avoid progression to relapse. Understanding the lapse and relapse process is fundamental to helping smokers quit successfully.
Biography
Dr. Saul Shiffman, Ph.D. is Research Professor of Psychology (Clinical and Health Psychology), Psychiatry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, where he directs the Smoking Research Group. He is also Senior Scientific Advisor to Pinney Associates, which provides consultation on health and health policy matters and pharmaceutical development.
Dr. Shiffman earned his Ph.D. Clinical Psychology in 1981 at UCLA, where he began his research on nicotine and tobacco. His research has focused on studies of nicotine dependence and its development, the nicotine withdrawal syndrome, the causes and prevention of smoking relapse, and behavioral and pharmacological treatments for smoking cessation. His papers on treatment address both behavioral and drug treatments, and both the efficacy of treatment as well as its dissemination and public health impact.
Dr. Shiffman has authored over 200 scientific papers and has served on advisory panels for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and the Center for the Advancement of Health, among others. Dr. Shiffman has been honored by election as a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (divisions of Health Psychology, Psychopharmacology, and Addictions), the American Psychological Society, and the Society for Behavioral Medicine, and to membership in the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research.
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