Wanna provide a cite to those studies?
For alcoholism, the latest studies from the CDC point to A.A. and psychologal counsoling (treatment) as having the best outcome, followed by A.A alone then just counsoling. No treatment comes in dead last. I imagine it is the same with addictions.
I will post the links tomorrow.
Slee
Is that A.A. or A.A. like (i.e. not 12 step) groups?
It would seem to be common sense, to the extent that it could be assumed to work unless it was shwon not to (in the absence of any better ideas, which is the case for many drug addiction issues) that putting a bunch of **motivated **addicts together to talk to each other would help. I highlight motivated because the best place to score in general in an unfamiliar place where you don’t know anyone is around a drug treatment place.
What hacks skeptics off about A.A. is the twelve step program, cause most of the steps are bollocks and blatantly religious.
Having said that I have been to N.A. meetings in person, and indeed sometimes attend an online one, and in practice at least in the UK there isn’t any religious stuff going on. But then again probably 80% of UK addicts are going to be functionally atheist, and the rest will not bother people with their ideas, so I have no idea whether it’s worse in the US. Frankly it seems unlikely to me, I can’t see your typical alcoholic being irritatingly preachy. More the Johnny Cash type.
The studies are for 12-step type programs.
Link.
Link.
As far as the steps in A.A. being bollocks, I highly disagree and I am an atheist. While the 12 steps are couched in weak religious wording, the underlying ideas seems to be pretty solid for a lot of alkies. The steps are a good guide on how to deal with life if you never really learned how to deal with life.
Basically, my interpretation of the 12 steps is this: Admit you have a problem, stop lying about it. Talk to people about how to fix the problem and do what they say. Be honest with yourself, if you have fucked up, own it and apologize. Once you get your shit straight, help other people. Then keep doing all the above.
Not too hard. And the vast majority of meetings I have been to have been about as religious as a Nascar race. An opening and closing prayer.
Slee
See, you’re even couching it in religious terms by “interpreting” the twelve steps.
I have absolutely no problem* with the general concepts you highlight, I think they are wise indeed. Perhaps then the twelve steps should be replaced with Slee’s five steps. If so I promise that most of the opposition would stop. There’d still be requests for efficacy to be demonstrated of course but that’s a separate thing, and a task I suspect, but do not know, would be reasonably easy.
P.S. “only” an opening and closing prayer??!?!?! TBH mate I’ve never seen a NASCAR race in my life, do they actually have prayers there? Do most american sports? Prayers are OBVIOUSLY RELIGIOUS.
*except for the usual caveat that I don’t believe in free will. Nevertheless for these purposes it’s easiest to assume it exists 
I did one year of AA 22 years ago at the rate of several meeting per week. The next 3 or 4 years I may have gone to a couple a month and now maybe a couple a year. I was a heavy drinker and pot smoker but never really felt like I fit the classic alcoholic symptoms. I drank because everything in my life was really fucked up and I was usually hopelessly overcommited. At that time I had a good business going, and money was not an issue. I simply had too many irons in the fire and felt like I was loosing control. I got sober, closed the business and got a job. I now will have an occassional drink. I have not so much as gotten a buzz on alcohol since I got sober and have no desire to. Recently retired I smoked a few hits of pot with a friend on a couple of occasions. I have no more desire to repeat that either. I really like being sober. I like how I changed my life as suggested by the program.
Le sigh. It is like half the world is turming into Der Trihs where any mention of god throws them into a silly, stupid frenzy. At the meetings I attend, there may be a reading of the serenity prayer before and after. There are athiest meetings but I’ve only been to a couple. I stopped going because the members of those meetings were assholes more focused on being offended because other people believe in god instead of working on getting and staying sober.
Additonally, tracking which treatments work best for alkies or addicts is rather hard. The recovery rate for the best programs is not high for the best programs and the targets are less than responsible.
As far as ‘couching it in religous’ terms goes, you are absolutely wrong. Go read the steps yourself. Unless you are one of those who throw a hissy fit everytime you see the word god, you’ll find that the advice is straight forward and the world would be a hell of a lot nicer places if the normal folks out there actually followed it.
Plus, the research shows that the programs work.
Slee
The only prayer I’ve ever heard at an A.A. meeting is the Serenity Prayer, which is way too pithy to be considered remotely religious.
I’m about as anti-Christian as anyone can get, and yes the A.A. was founded by a Christian so the God themes are a bit overdone, but the “Higher Power” aspect doesn’t need to be necessarily religious. I once knew someone who kept a bottle of whiskey on his top cupboard shelf and referred to that as his “Higher Power”, due to the power alcohol had over him.
Typo? I don’t see it. 