Study says alcohol addiction responds to the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

It seems that 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous work for believer and skeptics alike.
The Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) program for beating alcohol addiction has a long history and has helped thousands of people around the world back to health. However, it has been hard to do formal clinical studies on AA because of the way it is set up (with many meetings being 'closed' to outsiders). It works as a 12-step program - the steps being the 'rules' of the system which guide the user away from their dysfunctional relation with drink. The 12-steps involve belief in and surrender to a 'higher' power which the AA people always stress need not be a formal 'God'. So does the 12-step approach work for those who are not religious?

Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Addiction Program studied a group of 227 alcoholics. Those enrolled in a 12-step program like Alcoholics Anonymous did better than those who did not - regardless of whether they came with religious or spiritual beliefs or were skeptics. It is the camaraderie and support you get from the 12-step program that likely provides the benefit, the researchers say. The study showed that other psychosocial interventions could be as effective as AA in keeping people off the booze - so the choice is best left to the individual patient's preferences and lifestyle.

Source
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research August 2006

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