Alcoholics Anonymous

There is no doubt that many people attribute AA as being instrumental in helping them recover from alcoholism and in turning their life around but equally there are many who have not been helped. The problem is that studies on the effectiveness have never been done by AA itself, only by academics from outside. The lack of official memberships or having in place a documented follow up process to measure outcomes makes it difficult to do. Studies that have been done though do not show any great success and the vast majority of non-mandated attendees stop attending after only a few weeks. Most studies show AA as being at best no better than other self-help programs and much worse than other scientifically designed therapies. As reported in Psychology Today 'Psychologists at the University of New Mexico led by William Miller tabulated every controlled study of alcoholism treatment they could find They concluded that the leading therapy was barely a therapy at all but a quick encounter between patient and health-care worker in an ordinary medical setting. The intervention is sometimes as brief as a doctor looking at the results of liver-function tests and telling a patient to cut down on their drinking. Many patients then decide to cut back—and do'.