Date Published: 24 July 2006

Believers, skeptics benefit equally From 12-Step Programs

Recent research suggests that addiction recovery programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous help people to stay away from booze even if they're skeptical of spirituality or suffer from mental illness.

Alcoholics enrolled in AA and similar programs were more likely to abstain from alcohol completely than people who did not take part in support groups, and they drank less if they did return to the bottle. And those who attended the most meetings got the most benefit.

" If you don't go to any, you have the worst outcomes,"

said study lead author John Kelly, associate director of the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Addiction Research Program.

" If you go to a few, you have a little bit better outcome, and if you go to a lot, you have an even better outcome."

The study is among the first to examine the effectiveness of AA-type programs among different types of people.

In the new study, Kelly and a colleague followed 227 alcoholics for up to three years after they left outpatient rehabilitation programs in Boston and Providence, R.I. They report their findings in the August issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

In groups such as AA, participants are urged to believe in a "higher power." Even so, nonreligious people benefited as much from AA and similar programs as those who were religious, Kelly said. However, the nonreligious were less likely to join the support groups in the first place.

The design of the study didn't allow the authors to say exactly how much the various types of people drank after taking part in the programs. However, it was clear that men and women benefited equally, as did people with coexisting psychiatric illnesses, Kelly said. And those with the most severe alcoholism were most likely to be participants.

But a comprehensive new review of eight studies from the Cochrane Library found that AA and other 12-step group programs are not more effective than other psychosocial interventions for alcohol dependence. Lead reviewer Marica Ferri suggests that the best choice of treatment depends on the individual participant.

AA and similar programs appear to work by providing

"camaraderie and a support structure,"
said Aaron White, associate professor of psychiatry at Duke University and a specialist in addiction.

"When you feel like drinking, you have a sponsor, someone in charge of keeping you from doing that. That's pretty powerful socially."

Still, success in overcoming alcoholism ultimately comes down to "how badly people want to do it," White said.

Reference: Kelly JF, et al. A 3-year study of addiction mutual-help group participation following intensive outpatient treatment. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 30(8), 2006.

Massachusetts General Hospital, established in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of nearly $500 million and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, transplantation biology and photomedicine. MGH and Brigham and Women's Hospital are founding members of Partners HealthCare HealthCare System, a Boston-based integrated health care delivery system.

News on the IvyRose website is to inform visitors about current issues, but not to endorse any particular view, activity or product. Any views expressed in the article above are not necessarily those of IvyRose Ltd.. At least some of the material in this news item was released by the source indicated below on or about 24 July 2006 and may have been edited for inclusion here.