12 step programs - do they work?

[skygazer]

Twelve years ago on my birthday, I quit a 6 year heroin habit. I did it cold turkey and from that day to this, I have not touched a grain of dope. Nor have I had any desire to.

Still, I’ve had proponents of 12 step programs tell me I’m not “really” an ex-addict – rather, I’m in denial and in danger of relapse because I didn’t go through the program. Stephen King wrote a column in Entertainment Weekly a couple of years ago that touched on that – he said that the only way a person could kick an alcohol or drug habit was by going through a 12 step program. Advice columnists regularly recommend 12 step programs for a broad range of addictions. I started to wonder how successful they really are.

So just for the hell of it, today I thought I’d do some research and just a preliminary (and completely unscientific) look at some of the information out there was enlightening to say the least. I just googled a bunch of terms – “AA recovery rates”, “12 step recovery rates”, “12 step relapse rates” etc.

I got a mix of information but the actual scientific studies that turned up suggested that the recovery rate for people who attend 12 step programs is roughly the same as that of people who simply decide to quit on their own (which seemed to apply to both drugs and alcohol). The relapse rate is quite high, also about the same as those who quit cold turkey.

Which brings up a couple of questions in my mind. First, isn’t it possible that those people who say that a 12 step program “saved” them might actually have saved themselves? In other words, perhaps their recovery is more because of them than because of the organization. There are numerous stories of people who quit several times, attended a program each time, relapsed and then finally quit for good. Was that because they were finally working the program “right” or because they’d finally decided to change their lives and meant it?

Secondly, why is it okay for judges to order people to attend AA meetings or other 12 step programs if they aren’t actually effective? This happens every day. Isn’t it dishonest to officially sanction a course of treatment that isn’t actually proven to be more effective than no treatment at all?

And perhaps most importantly, are we, by so universally supporting a course whose effectiveness is questionable failing to look for treatments that ARE effective?

Once again, I have to stress that the information I have is just from one afternoon’s casual googling. I have also never attended an AA meeting in my life so I have no personal experience with it. But it makes me wonder about a lot of stuff – there are people out there who are frightened and desperate and 12 step programs hold out the hope of a solution. If it isn’t really a solution, that’s pretty disillusioning.

Thoughts? Comments?