Incredible Outcomes

Dr. Marvin D. Seppala, Medical Director, CEO
Beyond Addictions

12 Step programs are universally ignored and even derided by many mental health professionals who, like physicians, have little if any training in addiction. This lack of knowledge undermines the appropriate evaluation, treatment and referral of those people that come to them seeking their care. The professionals are left to their opinion, rather than their education, training and expertise, which is never a solid foundation for decision making. This sorry state of affairs brings us to an examination of the research about AA.

The federal government no longer funds studies examining whether AA works, it has been repeatedly proven to be effective in numerous studies. This is not a sexy research topic and doesn’t get a lot of attention because they are not examining new therapies developed by brilliant academics, nor can one make money by promoting 12 Step programs, as could occur with a newly defined therapy. So the dedicated researchers who take on the study of 12 Step programs are not highly honored or lining their pocketbooks, they are just proving that a program developed by a group of alcoholics in the 1930’s actually works better than anything else available for the treatment of addiction.

Approximately 20% of the US population will deal with addictive disease during their lifetime and more alcoholics will use AA than any other resource. Naturalistic studies have proven the effectiveness of AA, not just for abstinence from alcohol, but also in reduction of psychiatric symptoms and improved functioning. (1) AA attendance after formal addiction treatment doubled the rates of abstinence at one year and three years compared to those who did treatment alone. (2) Multiple studies have shown that involvement in AA, actually participating in specific aspects of a 12 Step program, result in better outcomes than merely attending and that those who attend more often per week have a higher likelihood of abstinence. Abstinence rates of close to 90% were shown at 8 years for those attending AA for more than 49 months. (3)

I tell people they will be twice as likely to be abstinent by attending AA after addiction treatment, and they often don’t believe me. The 90% abstinent rate data is often discarded because it is so remarkable. However, as a psychiatrist, this is the only disease I treat with the potential for such successful outcomes.

The research overwhelmingly supports the use of 12 Step programs for those with addiction. Unfortunately most mental health and medical professionals, as well as the public, are unaware of this information. As a result, they rely on their biases, and cannot make good decisions. Those of us that realize this data are responsible for letting others know and training our peers so that more people will be able to gain the benefits of an essentially free, incredibly successful, long term means for addressing alcohol and drug addiction. 1) Ouimette, Finney, Moos 1998 (2) Timko, Moos, Finney, Lesar 2000 (3) Moos & Moos 2006