A Relapse Prevention Approach to Reducing Aggressive Behaviour

THE TREATMENT OF VIOLENT BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS OVER THE LAST TWO decades has increasingly utilised a cognitive-behavioural approach. Relapse Prevention (RP) (Marlatt & Gordon 1985) is a variety of cognitive-behavioural intervention which is gaining increasing currency in the area of violent behaviour, including sexual offending (Pithers 1990) and domestic violence (Jennings 1990). Given the situational and emotionally charged nature of much violent behaviour, a core advantage of RP approaches is that they help the individual avoid situations in which violent behaviour has proved likely to occur, rather than trying to modify the behaviour itself or 'cure' the psychological problems presumed to underly it. An RP approach is highly suitable for use in a correctional framework. Philosophically, it is consistent with a system which focuses on the offender's criminal behaviour rather than their therapeutic needs, and which elects to retain an emphasis on the offender's continuing responsibility to be actively involved in a search for alternatives to offending behaviour. Strategically, a RP approach does not require high levels of clinically skilled personnel and can hence be 'mainstreamed' in the context of a sentence management approach to correctional programming. It is also able to be flexibly resourced, using a balance of departmental and contracted services.