AA's been around for what, 70 years now? You'd think someone somewhere would be able to produce just ONE study that shows that AA is beneficial and not detrimental.
A lot more than just one study. It doesn't take very long on Google to find them...of course, that requires motivation to search, read and get educated.
Here's just one link that references 11 studies published in peer-reviewed journals. Without subscriptions to the journals, you can only read the abstracts, but those summarize the findings.
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/ ... 93913133.xHere's another one, an essay on AA with references to more studies.
http://www.allfreeessays.com/student/AA.htmlHere's one from NIAAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism):
http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa36.htmAnother good resource is the American Council on Alcoholism (
http://www.aca-usa.org) which provides info on multiple alternatives to treating alcoholism, not just the AA approach.
In addition to research and statistics, of which I remain a skeptic (you can prove just about anything with the right "study"), there is lots of anecdotal evidence of both the effectiveness and the ineffectiveness of AA and the 12-step approach.
Here's one example, from a woman whose work I work I really respect:
"I found purpose in the 12-step programs the rehab introduced me to. Today, I have some problems with the way many treatment centers force 12-step ideology on people. I know that there are many whom it doesn't help -- and in this book, we offer a variety of options for recovery. For me, however, at that time, it did the trick. In the 12-step fellowships, I found that I could make friends without having to give them drugs and that I could be loved for who I was without being rich or famous."
-- Maia Szalavitz
You might recognize the name. One of her other books is advertised on the main Fornits page.
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