Getting Started With MBRP
Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention For Addictive Behaviors combines two established practices into a single structured program. It was originally developed by researchers at UCLA and Penn State in the late 1990s, drawing from both Marlatt's relapse prevention model and Kabat-Zinn's mindfulness-based stress reduction work. The core idea is straightforward enough: you learn to notice early warning signs without automatically reacting to them. Most standard CBT approaches focus heavily on cognitive strategies like identifying triggers and building coping plans. MBRP adds a different layer by training awareness of the present moment, particularly the physical and emotional sensations that precede a lapse. The method trains three main skills over what typically runs 8 to 10 weekly sessions. First is body scanning, which involves moving attention systematically through different regions of the body to notice tension, discomfort, or numbness. Second is mindful breathing, where you sit quietly and track the breath without trying to change it. Third is the Urge Surfing technique, which is the piece most people misunderstand. Urge Surfing doesn't mean waiting for a craving to pass. You've probably heard people say to just wait it out, and that advice works sometimes but not reliably. What Urge Surfing actually teaches is observing the craving as a wave that builds, peaks, and eventually dissolves, while staying present with the discomfort instead of fighting it or acting on it. You're learning to tolerate the sensation without making it your enemy. That distinction matters more than most people realize.
A standard session structure usually includes a guided meditation at the start, discussion of that week's homework, a worksheet exploring a recent lapse or near-lapse using the A-B-C model (Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence), and planning for the coming week. The homework typically involves 30 to 45 minutes of daily formal practice plus informal mindfulness applied to routine activities like washing dishes or walking. I ran into a specific problem early on with a client who was highly analytical and treated the meditation practice like another optimization problem. He'd sit down, count his breaths, and immediately get frustrated when his mind wandered because he saw wandering as failure. That created a secondary stress loop that actually heightened his urge intensity. The workaround was shifting him to labeling practice instead. Rather than trying to clear his mind, he'd simply note "thinking" or "planning" when it happened and return to the breath. Removing the judgment component dropped his average post-session anxiety scores noticeably within two weeks. One counter-intuitive point that beginners consistently miss is that mindfulness in this context isn't about achieving a blank state. The goal is open monitoring awareness, which means noticing whatever arises without attachment or aversion. Many people interpret "stay present" as "stop thinking," and when thoughts inevitably appear, they interpret that as the practice failing. It doesn't. The actual skill is in the gentle redirection, not in perfect focus. Another thing that gets overlooked is that urges do not have uniform duration. While the classic 90-second neurochemical surge model is useful shorthand, real-world urges can persist for hours when they're tied to environmental cues or emotional states. Treating every craving like a short burst you can outwait will set you up for repeated failures.
Practical Implementation
If you're working through this independently rather than in a group or with a therapist, you'll need structure. The original protocol uses specific workbooks and audio recordings. The UCLA relapse prevention materials are publicly accessible through their psychology department website, and several apps have incorporated MBRP-style content, though few implement it with full fidelity to the manual. A free resource worth looking at is the mindfulness module available through the Psychology Foundation of Canada's Open Textbook Library, which includes guided practices aligned with the protocol. The typical timeline for seeing meaningful change in craving response patterns is around 6 to 8 weeks of consistent practice. That's not guaranteed. Some people notice shifts in their relationship to urges within two or three weeks. Others struggle to find any benefit and respond better to alternatives. There's no point pretending the transition is smooth. A significant limitation of MBRP is that it assumes a baseline capacity for introspection and distress tolerance. People with active psychosis, severe bipolar disorder, or complex trauma without prior stabilization often cannot engage with these practices effectively. The inward focus can amplify dissociation or intrusive symptoms rather than reduce them. In those cases, phase-oriented trauma therapy or psychiatric medication management should come first. Even for someone who is clinically stable, MBRP alone has moderate effect sizes for substance use relapse according to meta-analyses, which means it's not a standalone cure. Combining it with contingency management or motivational interviewing tends to produce better outcomes than either approach in isolation.
Get the Full Details
The most common implementation error I see is people treating the formal meditation as the entire intervention. The informal practice, where you apply awareness during real triggering situations, is where the actual behavior change happens. Sitting for 20 minutes in a quiet room is useful for building the skill, but it's not the same as noticing a trigger at a bar and choosing a different response. The transfer is where most programs break down, and it's the part that requires the most deliberate work.
