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Friendly_Award7273 t1_j2euivl wrote

I am an ex addict/alcoholic and by the grace of god I’ve been clean 7 years, and none of those even come close to a cure for the mental aspect of it, and fall short of the physical aspect as well. Some of which become a substitute addiction in themselves, but because of Alcoholics Anonymous and other programs, I have a wonderful life which have never been possible, I would never preach the program to anyone else, but it has worked for me and countless others and if you are out there suffering I urge you to seek help and give it a try

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nauseacomaneci t1_j2exvkz wrote

There is also a lot of conflicting research on the efficacy of AA & NA. While these programs saved my life, some research suggests that their success rate is much lower than previously thought & rather, it is AA/NA's dominance, & the paucity of other available treatment options that leads to its perceived efficacy.

Something else about these programs is their tautological approach. If AA works for you, you're an alcoholic, if it doesn't, it is either because you didn't work the program or because you could actually "drink like a gentleman," aka you weren't an alcoholic in the first place.

What this does is taint the sample such that only those who find success in AA are counted, whereas those that don't are dismissed as not qualifying for the program. It makes it hard to get accurate statistics on how successful AA is compared to other treatment options.

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