This week I talk 12-steps programs and the history of alcohol. The self-reported success rate of AA is 5%-8%. The average spontaneous recovery rate for addiction is 3.7%-18% (depending on the study). That means the big claims made by 12-steppers and tough-lovers are based on shaky evidence at best.

For more information about success rates of AA and other 12-step programs, avoid for-profit research and stick with peer reviewed journals or metanalyses of peer reviewed journals. I recommend Dodes & Dodes book The Sober Truth. 

Saturday Evening Post article from 1941. 
For more about Jeffery Brandsma's study that showed AA participants fair worse than other options for treatment, see his article, "Outpatient Treatment of Alcoholism: A Review and Comparative Study."
Read the infamous 2006 Cochrane Study that showed AA's "success" rates.

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