Relapse prevention is all about impulse control. Many alcoholics have damaged the brain to an extent where normal responses to difficult situations are unlikely. Alcoholics developed patterns of thinking which imagine situations as out of their control and that leads to feelings of helplessness. The way alcoholics deal with these negative feelings is to drink. Since most of the imagined threats are completely false; if they just waited long enough the perceived threats would pass. Pausing and looking well before leaping are pragmatic approaches to anxiety that arrest impulsive patterns of behavior.