What Are A A. Meetings and How Do They Work?

This paper was presented as the plenary address to the American Society of Addiction Medicine 43 by the 2007 recipient of the R. Brinkley Smithers Distinguished Scientist Award. The work was supported by grants from NIAAA (R01 AA 14688, P50 AA 5595, and R01 alcoholics anonymous AA 09750).

Disease model

We do not impose our experience with problem drinking on others, but we do share it when we are asked to do so. We know our own sobriety depends on connecting with other alcoholics. Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) is an international program focused on supporting people during alcohol recovery, with a goal of helping them achieve and sustain sobriety.

• Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A.
• Group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A.
• Locate Your Path to Healing, State by State Effortlessly search for AA meetings in your area, spanning across all states.
• Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of people who come together to solve their drinking problem.

Big Book ASL – Chapter 5 – How It Works

The most recent meta analysis 10 concluded that attending AA led to worse outcomes than no treatment at all. A review summarizing the state of the literature 7 years later 7 argued that there was a consistent, rigorous body of evidence supporting AA effectiveness. Again, there seems to be something for everybody, and the literature really does seem to be widely subject to interpretation. This may stem from the criterion being used to judge effectiveness. The book16 consists of over 400 pages.

What to Expect at an A.A. Meeting

Articles involving Alcoholics Anonymous. Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, 12-step group, and 12-step facilitation in the title or as a keyword were considered for this review. Electronic searches involved all relevant databases (e.g., https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/warning-signs-of-drug-use-and-addiction/ Etoh, MedLine, etc.), and were augmented by the author’s paper files on AA.

• A 2020 review looked at 27 studies involving a total of 10,565 participants and noted that A.A.
• Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, 12-step group, and 12-step facilitation in the title or as a keyword were considered for this review.
• Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.4.
• Gain access to a wealth of information about localAA gatherings, times, and locations.
• The most recent meta analysis 10 concluded that attending AA led to worse outcomes than no treatment at all.
• The Serenity Prayer is commonly used in AA meetings as a tool for reflection and guidance.

Results are shown using figures, with the percentage abstinent from alcohol along the y axis and the AA exposure along the x axis. Some studies combined alcohol and drug abstinence, or considered 12-step group attendance which would have included Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and other 12-step groups for drugs (in addition to AA). This is reflected in the figure titles and in the text. Results from studies that did not report rates of abstinence are not shown.

• The author would like to acknowledge the helpful feedback received from colleagues, including Drs.
• In 1939, the program expanded, largely due to the publication of the book, Alcoholics Anonymous, which is known as the “Big Book.” The growth of people’s interest in A.A.
• The 4th edition (2001) is also freely available online.12 Marty Mann (1904–1980) wrote the chapter “Women Suffer Too” in the second through fourth editions of the Big Book.
• If someone you care about has a drinking problem, A.A.

We welcome new members, but we do not recruit them. We are people who have discovered and admitted that we cannot control alcohol. We have learned that we must live without it to live normal, happy lives. We’ll be able to tell you if your insurance provider is in network with an American Addiction Centers treatment facility. Given the number of individuals struggling with or at risk for an AUD, it is understandable that AA has grown to what it is today—an organization with more than 115,000 groups worldwide.

Criterion 5, specificity

Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptlym admitted it.11. Sought though prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs. A 2020 review looked at 27 studies involving a total of 10,565 participants and noted that A.A. And other twelve-step programs are effective for increasing abstinence.

Participate, listen,and share in a judgment-free zone. Each meeting is a step forward in your journey towards lastingsobriety and personal growth. Other studies have analyzed the effectiveness of peer support, in general, during substance use recovery and found that it contributed to a variety of improved outcomes. Outcomes were also improved for individuals with co-occurring substance use and mental health issues.