Defense mechanisms styles of relapsing addicts in Malaysian context: a new discovery

Substance abuse disorders have long been recognized as chronic brain relapsing disease and return to drug use after undergoing treatment program is considerably expected amongst recovering addicts (National Institute of Drug Abuse, NIDA 2008Larimer, Palmer, & Marlatt, 1999). Relapse is seen as part of the recovery journey in terms of episodes rather than a signal of failure in the treatment (Abd. Halim, Rafidi, Lasimon, 2008). In Malaysia, as of December 2010, 983 cases of relapse were reported, a figure that is higher than the 774 cases in 2009 (National Anti Drugs Agency, NADA 2010). From this description, it is believed that relapse management is a crucial component in post drug treatment to achieve long term sobriety