Related Experiment Videos
Alcoholics Anonymous: cult or cure?
1Harvard Medical School and Division of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 1249 Boylston Street 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02215, USA. gvaillant@partners.org
The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
|June 10, 2005
Summary
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) effectively treats alcoholism by utilizing relapse prevention factors like support and spirituality. AA is as effective as, or better than, traditional methods and has minimal side effects.
Area of Science:
- Addiction Medicine
- Psychiatry
- Public Health
Background:
- Alcoholism poses significant health and social challenges.
- Effective treatment strategies for alcoholism are crucial for recovery.
- Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a widely utilized support group for individuals with alcohol use disorder.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the mechanism of action of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).
- To evaluate the efficacy of AA in treating alcoholism.
- To assess the safety profile of AA.
Main Methods:
- Review of published literature on alcoholism treatments.
- Prospective, multidisciplinary follow-up of recovery in adolescent male cohorts (1940-present).
Main Results:
- AA's mechanism involves external supervision, substitute dependency, new relationships, and spirituality.
- AA aligns with cognitive behavioral therapy principles for relapse prevention.
- AA demonstrates comparable or superior efficacy to conventional alcoholism treatments.
Conclusions:
- AA's effectiveness in relapse prevention is supported by established psychological factors.
- Professional skepticism regarding AA's efficacy is not supported by evidence.
- Alcoholics Anonymous is considered a safe and effective treatment option for alcoholism with likely no serious side effects.