Relapse Prevention With Sex Offenders

Over the past ten years, the treatment of sex offenders has focused increasingly on behavioral and cognitive'behavioral treatments?relapse prevention (RP) among them. Designed for practitioners working at the front lines?hospitals, prisons, clinics?Relapse Prevention with Sex Offenders presents in detail a variety of RP assessment and treatment approaches that can be implemented in clinical practice. This uniquely practical volume highlights the ways in which RP treatment for sex offenders both resembles and differs from RP for other impulse control disorders. Following an introductory overview tracing the evolution of RP and its practical applications in sex offender therapy is a series of chapters exploring major problem areas. Examined here are specific high'risk situations for sex offenders, the sequence of the relapse process, problems of immediate gratification, and the abstinence violation effect of sexual fantasies. Subsequent chapters consider possible solutions to these problems: solutions through assessment of high'risk situations and coping skills and solutions through treatment. Identification of risk factors through clinical interviews, records analysis, and client autobiographies is described with unusual clarity, as is evaluation of coping skills by situational competency tests, self'efficacy ratings, and relapse fantasy analysis. In addition, a variety of specific skill training and global interventions are discussed, including relapse rehearsal, cognitive restructuring, and coping strategies for dealing with urges and cravings. Rounding out the comprehensive coverage are in'depth accounts of three major RP programs for sex offenders in the United States and an evaluation of initial outcome data. Relapse Prevention with Sex Offenders systematically presents and analyzes the core components of RP for this population. The first text to focus exclusively on relapse prevention for sex offenders, this authoritative compilation of current assessment and treatment approaches provides practitioners working in the field with a practical, step'by'step guide to established interventions.Laws, D. Richard is the author of 'Relapse Prevention With Sex Offenders' with ISBN 9780898623819 and ISBN 0898623812.