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The Science of 12-Step Programs
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Since the inception of Alcoholics Anonymous — the progenitor of 12-step programs — science has sometimes been at odds with the notion that laypeople can cure themselves because the numerous spiritual references that go with the 12-step program puts A.A. on "the fringe" in the minds of many scientists. But there is an interesting read at National Geographic where Jarret Liotta writes that new research shows that the success of the 12-step approach may ultimately be explained through medical science and psychology. According to Marvin Seppala, chief medical officer at Hazelden and sober 37 years, attending 12-step meetings does more than give an addict warm, fuzzy feelings. The unconscious neurological pull of addiction undermines healthy survival drives, causing individuals to make disastrous choices, he says. "People will regularly risk their lives—risk everything—to continue use of a substance." Addicts don't want to engage in these behaviors, but they can't control themselves. "The only way to truly treat it is with something more powerful," like the 12 steps, that can change patterns in the brain. Philip Flores, author of Addiction as an Attachment Disorder, says the human need for social interaction is a physiological one, linked to the well-being of the nervous system. When someone becomes addicted, Flores says, mechanisms for healthy attachment are "hijacked," resulting in dependence on addictive substances or behaviors. Some believe that addicts, even before their disease kicks in, struggle with knowing how to form emotional bonds that connect them to other people. Co-occurring disorders, such as depression and anxiety, make it even harder to build those essential emotional attachments. "We, as social mammals, cannot regulate our central nervous systems by ourselves," Flores says. "We need other people to do that.""
No true Scotsman.
Can somebody spot the naive idiot who doesn't know what they're talking about? I can, because before my account was banned after I had too much to drink and tried to choke Rob Malda at a bar before fucking Catherine...uh...Kathleen Fent without a condom, I had an epiphany -- That the folks in AA and other programs like it are not "warm and fuzzy" because they have a support system. In fact, if any of you bed-wetting momma's-boys actually been to an AA meeting, you'd know that the participants are not at all "warm and fuzzy." On the contrary, they are angry and bitter zealots. In short, the principle at work is addiction substitution.
That is why, when you go to an AA meeting, the folks have been sober for months or years and yet are chugging coffee and chain-smoking at 8 p.m. with angry and impatient scowls on their weathered faces. That is why born-again Christians are the most fanatical religiots, stalking you to shove their new-found love of Jesus up your ass while normal religiots would simply invite you to their church and then ta-ta.
We all do addiction substitution -- perhaps substituting morning coffee for a brunch soda, or replacing sex with porn when the wife is bitching for foreplay and all you want to do is spit on it and stick it in. Or, more to the point, Junkies getting "clean" by instead ingesting methadone. This "warm and fuzzy" picture being painted by the summary is complete bullshit.
I speak with authority in these matters because I am -- Ethanol-fueled , motherfuckers! And I got laid by a Filipina a couple hours ago. Made great food, and smelled interesting in a pungent-but-not-necessarily-bad way. Hooyah!
12 step programs success rate is the same as the spontaneous success rate. AKA it is not effective. It is a pseudo religious cult that the government forces people to got to. I'm sure addicts can use help dealing with there addiction but that costs real money not just free use of a church basement, coffee, and a doughnut spread.
No sir I dont like it.
My definition of an alcoholic states very clearly that there is no definition of an alcoholic, since there is no such thing as an alcoholic. You just aren't smart enough to understand it, just as you don't understand the difference between a definition and a set of criteria.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun