Externalizing the Urge

An important aspect of the RP [Relapse Prevention] model is to teach clients to anticipate and accept these reactions as a "normal" conditioned response to an external stimulus. According to this approach, the client should not identify with the urge or view it as an indication of his or her "desire" to drink. Instead, the client is taught to label the urge as an emotional or physiological response to an external stimulus in his or her environment that was previously associated with heavy drinking, similar to Pavlov's dog, which continued to salivate at the sound of a bell that had previously signaled food. –Marlatt (1985), Relapse Prevention, p. 10 The most effective cognitive coping strategy with craving and urges is to develop a sense of detachment with regard to these experiences. Most clients tend to "identify" with the urge; they equate the urge with a volitional desire to indulge in the addictive behavior. Identification with the urge makes it more difficult to resist the temptation to indulge, whereas to "remove oneself" from the experience is to gain some control over it. The client is likely to think, "I'm dying for a cigarette," instead of "I am experiencing an urge to smoke—this is a useful signal to me that I need to cope with the situation." The best way to facilitate "disidentification" with the urge is to externalize it—to perceive it as a response to some external cue or situation instead of stemming from an internal physical source. By externalizing the urge, the client is more likely to assume an objective position of detached awareness instead of a subjective identification with the experience. –Marlatt (1985), Relapse Prevention, p. 241

How to do it

The client first needs to recognize craving and urges when they occur, and to label them accurately.