Relapse
A relapse ( lat. Recidere "to fall back") is the recurrence ("relapse") of an illness or mental disorder . Typically this happens after treatment that has been temporarily successful or after spontaneous remission .
Examples
Cancer - oncology
Cancer recurrence is most often caused by incomplete removal of the tumor, which can lead to the disease recurring over time.
According to the general norm, anyone who does not experience a recurrence in the five years after treatment of a tumor is cured. However, some tumors can cause a recurrence even after a long period of time.
Clinical Psychology
In clinical psychology a number of mental disorders are known, which often show a recurrent course, in particular most mood disorders and schizophrenias . A time-limited phase of a disorder is called an episode in clinical psychology .
Addiction
The term relapse describes the state of a person with addiction , either materially or non-materially , who, after withdrawal , either consumes the addictive substance (such as alcohol , heroin , cocaine or nicotine ) or his previous, non-materially dependent addictive behavior (such as B. gambling addiction , shopping addiction or sex addiction ) shows.
In practically all addictions , the possibility of a relapse belongs to the specific clinical picture.
If a relapse cannot be successfully brought under control within the first few days and if abstinence is still sought, it is often necessary to go through the withdrawal again. There is no panacea for a relapse, but as a rule avoidance of the old (addiction-related) environment is the most important prerequisite for permanent abstinence. Outpatient or inpatient addiction therapy treatment and visits to self-help groups also offer possible help . These support you in recognizing risk situations and developing coping techniques. However, the findings on effective support measures are probably distorted due to the relatively high number of users who stop using ( maturing out ) regardless of the support system , and the great diversity of individual reasons and patterns of consumption . This makes individual and independent support all the more important.
Other diseases
Recurrences can also occur in other diseases, for example a herniated disc that has already been operated on or inflammations and infections of various kinds.
