Is the 12 Step Method the best way to treat addiction?
A study conducted by the University of New Mexico showed that participants who were placed in treatment programs providing spiritual guidances were slower to show improvement than their counterparts who were placed in more secular psychotherapy. While both groups had similar long term outcomes, those who received spiritual guidance as part of their treatment reported higher levels of anxiety and depression.
Read a full write-up in Time.
What do you think? Is religion and spirituality a key component of recovery? Why do you think this spiritual approach may be slower? What does this mean for programs like AA?
From my perspective, the 12 steps introduced me to a different way of thinking. I had no clue that it was not okay to blame everyone else for my choices, or make endless excuses for myself. Those concepts were foreign to me. Doing 90 in 90, twice, and working the steps with a sponsor cemented the concepts of acceptance, patience and willingness in my head. The other positive part was that it took away my uniqueness, the “nobody gets it” excuse.that I cherished. At that time, 16 years ago, there was no way I would have accepted a religious program. I did relapse after that, but the concepts I learned in those first months are what kept me alive, and led me back to a sane life. I’m a Christian now, after many, many twists and turns, The 12 steps started me on the road and it’s impact is beyond measure. For those of us who have a corrupted or negligible understanding of “religion, faith, or spirituality” the camaraderie, support and guidance of the 12 steps can be a deal breaker.
Kaycee, your post reflects my experience exactly. When I entered the rooms of AA in May 2012, I was still clinging to “my version” of spirituality which did not include Christian beliefs. Today I am attempting to follow Christ on a daily basis and am preparing to lead a bible study at the Christian recovery home where my daughter turned her life around 18 months ago. I am still a part of AA, and take meetings into the local jail on a regular basis. I would like to start an AA group / Bible study – who knows? Read “The Good Book and The Big Book, AA’s Roots in the Bible” by Dick B.
I attended a secular rehab program who highly recommended the 12 step program. I think at first I had a hard time with the “God” issue but slowly learned that spirituality is no religion. I don’t attend church regularly but I do meditate each day and live to the best of my ability following the 12 steps. I found my “GOD” initially in the group (Group Of Drunks) but by doing the steps I learned so much about myself and begin to rely on a “higher power”. My HP is not religion based. I feel many can get confused with this at first, but the steps are there for a reason and this is a sponsors job to help you also. My friends from rehab that went out on their own have relapsed and one died. I am grateful I stayed around long enough to change my thinking and change my attitude toward sobriety.
I have been in and around AA for over thirty years, so please trust me when I tell you I have some knowledge and experience on which I base the rest of my comment. I believe that the twelve steps are tools and that there are many tools available to addicts and alcoholics. The reasoning behind the twelve steps is essentially sound, but the whole “nudge,nudge, wink, wink, we’re a ‘spiritual not a religious’ organization” line that AA and other twelve step groups espouse is all too frequently crossed. I am a secular humanist. I do not pray to a higher power, I have a dialogue with my conscience. I do not believe that my willingness to get sober was “divinely” inspired, I had simply had enough. The literature of AA has quite a lot of condescending language concerning agnostics, atheists and the rest of us who do not prescribe to the Judeo-Christian underpinnings of the “program.” The idea that I will eventually “come around to our way of thinking” is an insult to me and my intellect and is part of the “religion of AA” that I find objectionable. I realize that the basic texts were written in a very different time and I accept and follow the logic that underpins AA, NA, OA and the rest of the twelve step based recovery models, but with the advent of MRIs, other neurological and neuro-chemical testing and the progress we have made concerning the effects of trauma, pre-natal and neo-natal development, environmental (physical, psychological and emotional) influences and other factors, I feel that it is time for AA and other similar groups to accept the fact that the “non-believers” will soon outnumber the “believers” and it may be time to let go of the pseudo-religious trappings that are making helping them become anachronisms.
Great article, Toferburl and I agree with you to a large extent. AA was founded in a time when premarital sex was considered a sin and homosexuality was regarded as an abomination, but attitudes have change drastically since then. Although I do not agree with the dogma that often surrounds AA, I will admit that AA saved my life and would would advise anyone starting out on a journey of recovery to at least give AA a try. I regard myself as a spiritual person and I did have a spiritual experience the night before I formally joined AA. I did not follow the 12 steps rigorously as some people do and I never had a sponsor or sponsored anyone. That was my personal choice. I embarked on a journey to find the truth for myself and I discovered many other tools outside AA that helped me. I believe that each one has a path to walk and how they choose to walk that path is up to them and, even if I don’t condone their methods, I still respect them for what they believe in. As far as I am concerned it does not matter how a person attains sobriety. It only matters that they do.