RESEARCH_FILE
G. Alan Marlatt
University of Washington
Known for:Founding architect of Relapse Prevention therapy — the cognitive-behavioral model that frames relapse as a predictable, interruptible process driven by high-risk situations, coping deficits, and permission-giving thoughts
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“I just need to relax first”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“I can feel this for ten seconds without turning it into an hour.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Set your phone face down on another surface, write one word for what you’re avoiding on a scrap of paper, and spend 60 seconds doing the smallest visible part of the task, then stop on purpose.
Key findings
- 1985
With Judith Gordon, Marlatt published the foundational Relapse Prevention framework, mapping the sequence from high-risk situation → inadequate coping → permission-giving thought → lapse → Abstinence Violation Effect → relapse, and establishing cognitive-behavioral skills training as the primary intervention. Relapse Prevention: Maintenance Strategies in the Treatment of Addictive Behaviors ↗
- 1986
With colleagues, Marlatt defined and empirically tested the Abstinence Violation Effect — showing that a person's self-attribution after a first lapse (failure of character vs. situational event) is as predictive of full relapse as the lapse itself. Understanding and Preventing Relapse ↗