SynthesisJournal of studies on alcohol and drugs2016
Is the Construct of Relapse Heuristic, and Does It Advance Alcohol Use Disorder Clinical Practice?
Synthesis in Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Substance Use Disorder Treatment Outcomes: Methodological Overview of Metrics and Criteria.International journal of methods in psychiatric research · 2025Pooled it
- Examining cocaine use reductions and long-term outcomes in two clinical trials of continuing care for cocaine dependence.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2024Trial
- Maintenance of World Health Organization Risk Drinking Level Reductions and Posttreatment Functioning Following a Large Alcohol Use Disorder Clinical Trial.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2019Trial
- Abstinence and low risk drinking during treatment: Association with psychosocial functioning, alcohol use, and alcohol problems 3 years following treatment.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2018Trial
- Using ecological momentary assessments to predict relapse after adult substance use treatment.Addictive behaviors · 2018Trial
- Effects of Initiating Abstinence from Alcohol on Daily Craving and Negative Affect: Results from a Pharmacotherapy Clinical Trial.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2018Trial
- Temporal Stability of Heavy Drinking Days and Drinking Reductions Among Heavy Drinkers in the COMBINE Study.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2017Trial
- Predicting relapse and rehospitalization in alcohol use disorder: A psychodiagnostic perspective.Addictive behaviors reports · 2026Article
- Modeling the dynamics of addiction relapse via the double-well potential system.Journal of psychopathology and clinical science · 2025Article
- Self-Reported Sobriety Labels: Perspectives from Alumni of Inpatient Addiction Treatment.Substance abuse and rehabilitation · 2024Article
- Approach avoidance training versus Sham in veterans with alcohol use disorder: protocol for a randomized controlled trial.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- An ideographic study into physiology, alcohol craving and lapses during one hundred days of daily life monitoring.Addictive behaviors reports · 2022Article
- The Clinical Course of Alcohol Use Disorder Depicted by Digital Biomarkers.Frontiers in digital health · 2021Article
- Patterns of transitions between relapse to and remission from heavy drinking over the first year after outpatient alcohol treatment and their relation to long-term outcomes.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2020Article
- Reductions in Drinking Predict Increased Distress: Between- and Within-Person Associations between Alcohol Use and Psychological Distress During and Following Treatment.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2020Article
- A Reinforcer Pathology perspective on relapse.Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior · 2020Article
- Course of remission from and relapse to heavy drinking following outpatient treatment of alcohol use disorder.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2018Article
- Does change in self-perceived problem drinker identity relate to change in alcohol use? An examination of nontreatment seeking hazardous drinkers.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2017Article
- Do Alcohol Relapse Episodes During Treatment Predict Long-Term Outcomes? Investigating the Validity of Existing Definitions of Alcohol Use Disorder Relapse.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2016Article
- Key Terms and Concepts in Alcohol Use and Problems: A Critical Evaluation.Substance use : research and treatmentArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveAlcohol use disorder (AUD) relapse is a construct that has been of major clinical and research interest but has been inconsistently defined. The purpose of this study was to review the definitions of AUD relapse that have been used in clinical research as a basis for drawing conclusions about its heuristic value.
methodA systematic review of the literature was conducted on empirical studies that (a) were published in peer-reviewed journals, (b) were published between 2010 and 2015, (c) were written in English, and (d) provided a definition of alcohol relapse (or lapse) that was used in the study.
resultsThe review yielded 139 individual studies that met inclusion criteria. The studies showed wide variability in how relapse was defined and interpreted in the literature, and there was little direct empirical or theoretical rationale provided for the definitions of relapse that were chosen. Furthermore, the concept of AUD relapse as a discrete state is not consistent with the empirical literature on the clinical course of alcohol consumption.
conclusionsWe conclude that the heuristic value of AUD relapse as currently studied is low. An alternative approach that embeds the construct in theory and data on the clinical course of alcohol consumption and aligns with current trends in healthcare would seem to have a better chance of improving AUD clinical decision-making and knowledge about AUD in general.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.