The rise and fall of relapse prevention

Abstract

This paper initially surveys the development of sex offender treatment from its beginnings in the late 19th century, through the behaviourist phase, culminating in the introduction of cognitive‐behavioural treatment in the 1960s and 1970s. The original relapse prevention model was a natural outgrowth of this movement as was the alteration of the model for use with sex offenders. The application to sex offenders was an extremely promising development, so well accepted that the fact that it was not suited to many offenders was ignored. It was not until the 1990s that an alternative based on varied styles of offending emerged. This is, once again, a very promising development. However, we again run of risk of over‐acceptance and the reader is cautioned to take notice of and incorporate other models and ways of thinking in order to broaden the overall treatment approach and improve clinical service provision.