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Research: AA is better pathway to abstinence than psychotherapy
Author(s) -
Knopf Alison
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alcoholism and drug abuse weekly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7591
pISSN - 1042-1394
DOI - 10.1002/adaw.32655
Subject(s) - abstinence , alcoholics anonymous , psychotherapist , psychiatry , alcohol use disorder , psychology , alcohol , clinical psychology , biochemistry , chemistry
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is the best way to get to abstinence, according to a comprehensive literature review published last week in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews . The study, “Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12‐step programs for alcohol use disorder” evaluates 35 studies and shows that AA was almost always more effective than psychotherapy in achieving alcohol abstinence, and that it was also less expensive. According to co‐author Keith Humphreys, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, the reason AA works is the social interaction. “If you want to change your behavior, find some other people who are trying to make the same change,” he said.