Relapse Prevention Planning for Mental Health

In Australia, anxiety disorders, affective disorders, and substance use disorders are the most commonly diagnosed mental health conditions (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2023). Many people struggle with symptoms such as panic attacks, social isolation, worry and rumination, depressive or manic mood episodes, and substance misuse. For some, these conditions can also follow chronic, relapsing patterns that threaten long-term stability and quality of life. Fortunately, evidence-based psychological treatment strategies, such as relapse prevention planning, can help interrupt these cycles and support wellbeing.

Relapse prevention planning is where responses are planned out ahead of time to reduce the impact, frequency, intensity, or duration of periods of mental illness. While relapse prevention planning originated in addiction recovery (Marlatt & Gordon, 1985), it is a valuable strategy for managing a range of mental health conditions, as well as supporting general wellbeing to reduce or prevent symptoms in everyday life. This article introduces relapse prevention planning and its benefits, outlines how it can be done, and provides suggestions of starting points to build upon. It will also explain how a psychologist can assist with identifying early warning signs, developing coping skills, and supporting greater management of independent functioning.

Image of a clipboard for showing symbolic relapse prevention planning for mental health worksheet

As with all articles on this website, this information does not constitute personalised advice or replace individual guidance from your own mental health professional. Instead, information is for educational purposes to increase awareness of psychological strategies available to help improve management of mental illness and long-term mental health. This article features AI-generated images created with Grok by xAI for illustrative purposes.


Approach & Benefits of Relapse Prevention Planning

Relapse prevention planning is an applied psychological strategy often included as part of the recovery process or during a period of wellness. It takes information from self-monitoring data, early warning signs, and personal mental health history, then plans out clear actions ahead of time that are likely to be beneficial for future scenarios. This planning equips you with the knowledge and insight of how and why problems may have developed in the past; then, translates it into guiding preparation to reduce the likelihood or severity of the same problems from happening again. The resulting plan can increase a person’s responsiveness and ability to cope with specific challenges and everyday stress, as well as provide some level of control over a process which often feels totally out of control at the time.

Relapse prevention can be compared with the ‘check engine’ light in a car, where the light provides an early warning alerting the driver to take action before things get worse. The owners manual then guides the responses that will most likely prevent potential disaster from occurring. Humans have built many examples of early warning and response systems into the environments we interact with over time. Smoke alarms, blood glucose monitors, and even historically the canary in the coal mine. These are all examples of systems relied upon to detect change and cue pre-determined actions to navigate situations more safely and successfully. This is because our human senses are not great at noticing slow, quiet shifts over time and when things do go wrong, the ‘fight-or-flight’ activation of the nervous system can dramatically interfere with the ability to think logically and clearly. For example, you do not want to be trying to learn how to properly use a fire extinguisher in the exact moment you really need it to work. It is far better to get that lesson, and give it a practise run, ahead of time.

When creating relapse prevention plans, organising responses to common early warning signs is beneficial, but the predictive ability and utility of the plan can be improved by focusing on personal early warning signs, evaluated against baseline scores, if they are known (Birchwood et al., 2000; Lobban et al., 2011). As discussed in a previous self-monitoring and early warning signs article, information like this can be particularly beneficial for different conditions, including depression, Bipolar Disorder, addiction, psychosis, or Eating Disorders (Jørgensen, 1998; Birchwood et al., 2000; Morriss, 2004; Lam & Wong, 2005; Marlatt & Donovan, 2005; Morriss et al., 2007; Goossens et al., 2010; Lobban et al., 2011; DiClemente & Crisafulli, 2022; Chen et al., 2025; Pennesi et al., 2025). This is because different conditions have unique features that could be early warning signs, but are not realised without education or assessment. Working with a psychologist can typically help with learning to identify changes, including in thoughts or thinking patterns which were not recognised previously.

Finally, relapse prevention planning emphasises a non-linear recovery process is normal, and realistically, will likely include some bumps along the way. So rather than adding unhelpful emotions to the situation or seeing temporary set-backs as ‘all-or-nothing’ failures, relapse prevention planning encourages seeing them as opportunities for learning how to make successful changes in the long-term, which is essential to practise (DiClemente & Crisafulli, 2022).

Graphs of a realistic recovery process with ups and downs compared to idolised linear recovery

Developing a Relapse Prevention Plan

Relapse prevention plans are made up of several components which each contribute to the overall approach. They do not all have to follow the same structure, however, typically function best when divided into clearly defined sections and tailored to fit individual needs. For instance, a plan developed for someone diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder will likely feature different recommendations compared to if it was for problems with Generalised Anxiety Disorder or addiction. While components of the plan could be completed independently, most benefit from additional guidance or discussion with a mental health professional, like a clinical psychologist. The main sections of a plan are discussed below.

1) Establish a Foundation & Motivation

I often find one of the most critical things to start with in planning out a relapse prevention plan is clarifying your reasons for it. Asking yourself, “why is this important to me and why now?”. I typically encourage people to take the time to reflect on this question and determine where they are at and what their reasons are internally, rather than “because my doctor told me I had to”. Setting up the plan from this personal perspective encourages more responsibility and ownership, which improves chances of successful use and integration into your life. This section can also include intentionally gathering other health information to better understand what to be mindful of and future desired directions.

2) Build Insight & Awareness

Once your foundational goals and motivation have been defined as a starting point, relapse prevention planning shifts towards building greater insight, symptom recognition, and contextual awareness. This is developed through learning what could be signalling changes in your wellbeing, how and where these symptoms can emerge, and other factors that either need to be avoided, minimised, or managed.

The process of building insight and awareness starts with knowing what is ‘normal’ for you, then identifying the signs and symptoms to pay extra attention to, and finally, listing the factors that are activating, ‘triggering’, or high-risk so that they can be planned for in the next section.

Image of a check engine warning light showing time to act as an analogy to care for the self

Other factors which often go unrecognised without structured self-monitoring or objective examination are the shifting internal processes related to unhelpful thoughts or thinking patterns. These often create and add significant stress, however, due to the intrinsic influence they have, this can be masked. By the end of this section, aim to have a clear list of the different activating events and high-risk scenarios as these guide the next part.

3) Plan Responses & Practise Coping Skills

With the foundation of the plan in place and after sharpening your insight what to look out for when a problem may be starting to develop, the next stage is combining this information with action planning. This is arguably the primary component of the plan, where proactive identification and development of the skills or strategies that are the most likely to help correct downward trajectories or restore stability after deviation from your personal baseline are focused on.

The goal is planning out and linking actionable responses to the early warning signs, activating events, and/or high-risk scenarios identified in previous steps. This could be with general strategies or formal coping skills mapped out in tables or using ‘If-Then’ statements, where if this happens, then I do this. Including more than one response option is encouraged and even if the responses only function slowing down the rate of deterioration this can still provide a valuable window of time to access professional support.

An example for somebody with a Bipolar Disorder diagnosis could be:

If I identify unusually elevated mood for 3 days and notice that my mind is constantly racing;
Then I will stay in a low-stimulus environment, double-check I have been taking the correct medications, practise deep breathing and muscle relaxation twice a day, eliminate stimulants from my diet, prioritise good sleep hygiene and routine, reduce any stressors, avoid making unsupported big decisions or purchases, and if needed, let my support network know I might need help getting to my doctor before this progresses into a manic episode.

Essentially, coping skills tell you what to do, but planned responses tell you when to do it. Including further details of where and how to do the coping skills can also make plans more realistic and actionable. More examples of planned responses are provided here.

Seeing a psychologist can be useful for learning and practising a wide range of different practical, evidence-based coping skills, some of which many people may have never had opportunities to develop. Broadly defined, coping skills are the tools, techniques, approaches, and internal/external resources used to manage, reduce, tolerate, or avoid demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the capacity of the person (Folkman & Lazarus, 1988; 1990).

Although they provide similar protective functions as ‘defence mechanisms’, like denial or repression, coping skills instead represent conscious, adaptive processes which are distinctly different. They are typically divided into ‘problem-focused’ or ‘emotion-focused’, where the aim is to address the stressor directly or regulate the emotional response to it (Folkman & Lazarus, 1988; 1990). This is also why it is important to develop a range of coping skills, as one may be appropriate in one situation or environment, but not others (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2004).

For example, a hammer is great for putting nails into a piece of wood, but not as useful for painting it. If you think of coping skills as psychological tools, the idea works similarly, where one single tool or coping skill is not expected to be able to do everything. The investment of time adding tools to your psychological toolkit also reduces vulnerability to mental illness in the first place, as they can improve abilities to manage stress before it turns into distress.

To take the analogy a step further, after getting a new tool (learning a new coping skill) a key part is developing the experience needed to effectively use it. In psychology, this process is referred to as psychological skills training, where techniques and expertise are developed through systematic, consistent practise.

Image of a 'psychological toolkit' for therapy coping skills

4) Engage Support Networks

Taking the time to establish regular contact and engagement with your informal and formal support networks can provide one of the core pillars of positive mental health. These social networks can be vital sources of the mutual benefits of a sense of companionship, community, acceptance, understanding, belonging, and self-regard, among many other factors. A relapse prevention plan can highlight areas for manageable changes to cultivate and strengthen supportive relationships with family, friends, community, land, and culture.

 
Picture showing mental health support network for better treatment and recovery

Along with identifying options for key personal and professional supports, working with a psychologist can be useful for developing:

  • skills to form new friendships as an adult or young person and maintain them over the lifespan

  • methods for managing family commitments while balancing social time with personal time to avoid social fatigue or neurodivergent burnout

  • options for participating in rewarding community events or volunteering

  • effective communication strategies, including assertively asking for what you want or need, setting and maintaining boundaries, and resolving conflicts

  • pathways for ending self-sabotaging relationship behaviours or destructive and interfering relationships

5) Final Considerations

The final parts of the plan might include any other additional information that you might deem as relevant or useful to have. This could include requesting and keeping supportive messages from friends or family, inspirational or meaningful photos as reminders, or artistic representations of your goals or values.

An example of the first page of a relapse prevention plan outlining structured goals, everyday strategies, and recognition of potential challenges for somebody experiencing low mood can be seen here.

Summing Up

Engaging in relapse prevention planning is a proactive step towards symptom reduction, and at the same time, maintenance of long-term mental health and functioning. Taking action with structured relapse prevention planning to guide clear actions for possible future interventions based on personal early warning signs can make it easier to respond more effectively to challenges when they arise. This article has provided information on the approach and benefits of relapse prevention planning, with suggestions for identifying early warning signs, triggers, and high-risk scenarios. It has also outlined how to plan and prepare responses and coping skills while building up supportive social networks.

Remember, the majority of challenges in mental health do not just show up overnight and many people benefit from seeking out therapy for stress, relationship issues, or adjustment difficulties before they become overwhelming. Learning how to use the psychological coping skills referenced here and recognising when to seek help can allow problems to be addressed before they become impairing.

When peoples’ regular coping skills are overwhelmed, this is often what brings people to see psychologists for the first time. If you or someone you know is struggling, it could be important to consider reaching out for professional support. Talking to a psychologist or therapist can be a great first step and to help you learn additional coping strategies to prevent stress from turning into distress. Whether you are located in Brisbane or interested in accessing telehealth therapy sessions online, Kelly Brooks Psychology offers professional, comprehensive, and evidence-based support. If you feel like you could benefit from expanding your psychological toolkit, I invite you to get in contact today to book an appointment.

 

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2023). National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020-2022. ABS. Retrieved from: www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/2020-2022

Birchwood, M., Spencer, E., & McGovern, D. (2000). Schizophrenia: Early warning signs. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 6(2), 93-101. https://doi.org/10.1192/apt.6.2.93

Brown, R. A. (2003). Intensive behavioral treatment. In The tobacco dependence treatment handbook: A guide to best practices (pp. 118–177). Guilford Press.

Chen, P.-F., Lung, H., Tsai, Y.-L., & Lung, F.-W. (2025). Psychometric evaluation of a patient- and caregiver-rated early warning signs scale for acute exacerbations in schizophrenia. BMC Psychiatry, 25(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-07364-4

DiClemente, C. C., & Crisafulli, M. A. (2022). Relapse on the road to recovery: Learning the lessons of failure on the way to successful behavior change. Journal of Health Service Psychology, 48(2), 59–68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42843-022-00058-5

Eisner, E., Drake, R., Lobban, F., Bucci, S., Emsley, R., & Barrowclough, C. (2018). Comparing early signs and basic symptoms as methods for predicting psychotic relapse in clinical practice. Schizophrenia Research, 192, 124-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2017.04.050

Goossens, P. J. J., Kupka, R. W., Beentjes, T. A. A., & van Achterberg, T. (2010). Recognising prodromes of manic or depressive recurrence in outpatients with bipolar disorder: A cross-sectional study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 47(10), 1201-1207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2010.01.010

Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1988). The relationship between coping and emotion: Implications for theory and research. Social Science & Medicine, 26(3), 309-317. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(88)90395-4

Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1990). Coping and emotion. In N. L. Stein, B. Leventhal, & T. Trabasso (Eds.), Psychological and biological approaches to emotion (pp. 313–332). Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203761588

Folkman, S., & Moskowitz, J. T. (2004). Coping: Pitfalls and promise. Annual Review of Psychology., 55(1), 745-774. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141456

Jørgensen, P. (1998). Early signs of psychotic relapse in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 172(4), 327–330. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.172.4.327

Lam, D., & Wong, G. (2005). Prodromes, coping strategies and psychological interventions in bipolar disorders. Clinical Psychology Review, 25(8), 1028-1042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2005.06.005

Lobban, F., Solis-Trapala, I., Symes, W., Morriss, R., & ERP Group. (2011). Early warning signs checklists for relapse in bipolar depression and mania: Utility, reliability and validity. Journal of Affective Disorders, 133(3), 413-422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2011.04.026

Marlatt, G. A., & Donovan, D. M. (Eds.). (2005). Relapse prevention: Maintenance strategies in the treatment of addictive behaviors (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Marlatt, G. A., & Gordon, J. R. (Eds.). (1985). Relapse prevention: Maintenance strategies in the treatment of addictive behaviors. Guilford Press.

Morriss, R. (2004). The early warning symptom intervention for patients with bipolar affective disorder. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 10(1), 18–26. https://doi.org/10.1192/apt.10.1.18

Morriss, R., Faizal, M. A., Jones, A. P., Williamson, P. R., Bolton, C. A., & McCarthy, J. P. (2007). Interventions for helping people recognise early signs of recurrence in bipolar disorder. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (1). https://doi.org//10.1002/14651858.CD004854.pub2

Pennesi, J. L., Jabs, M., Baillie, S., Hart, L., Hay, P., Mitchison, D., ... & Wade, T. D. (2025). Early warning signs for eating disorders in children: A realist synthesis of websites summarizing caregiver and consumer perspectives. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 58(3), 583-597. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.24359

 
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