To anticipate and plan accordingly for high-risk situations, the person first must identify the situations in which he or she may experience difficulty coping and/or an increased desire to drink. These situations can be identified using a variety of assessment strategies. For example, the therapist can interview the client about past lapses or relapse episodes and relapse dreams or fantasies in order to identify situations in which the client has or might have difficulty coping. Several self-report questionnaires also can help assess the situations in which clients have been prone to drinking heavily in the past as well as the clients’ self-efficacy for resisting future drinking in these situations (Annis and Davis 1988; Annis 1982a). Furthermore, clients who have not yet initiated abstinence are encouraged to self-monitor their drinking behavior—for example, by maintaining an ongoing record of the situations, emotions, and interpersonal factors associated with drinking or urges to drink. Such a record allows clients to become more aware of the immediate precipitants of drinking. Even in clients who have already become abstinent, self-monitoring can still be used to assess situations in which urges are more prevalent.
