Recovery: with and without self-help

Although self-help/mutual-help groups, like Alcoholics Anonymous, are important factors in the recovery of many chemically dependent individuals, the large dropout rates from such groups and the awareness that many who drop out do not return to dependent behavior raises interesting questions about other paths to sustained abstinence and recovery. Current emphasis on treatment outcome studies provides a means for researching factors in both those who recover with and without the assistance of self-help/mutual-help groups. The authors suggest some questions which might be investigated.