PREVENTING RELAPSE - GUIDELINES FOR THE PEDIATRICIAN

Preventing relapse into substance use means first helping the teenager to develop a state of recovery. This involves completing a First Step of a 12-Step program, whereby the teenager accepts that drugs and alc ohol have been destructive in his or her life and that moderate use is impossible. Thus, abstinence is necessary in a productive life. Paren tal support is also established. The two more common causes of relapse are being in the presence of alcohol- and drug-using peers and the pr esence of co-existing psychiatric problems.