Another article with a reasonable look at AA

Here is an article, written by a medical student, which looks at Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) from the viewpoint of a doctor who needs to understand the program better. Not only does it have a favorable viewpoint about AA, it links to and summarizes scientific studies showing the AA works for most people who make a regular habit of going to meetings:

http://in-training.org/sitting-in-the-circle-what-a-third-year-medical-student-learned-from-alcoholics-anonymous-16951

Well worth a read.

As one Reddit user put it

Here is a Reddit post which nicely summarizes the “AA does not work” nonsense out there:

Partial truth & twisting of facts is however representative of those with a bias and agenda against 12 Step recovery modalities. They expect the gullible to just accept their reporting as the entire truth and not take the time to check out the actual facts. Those with a predilection against 12 step or have a perceived resentment of course will jump on the partial truths and outright lies of those with a similar bias.

How else can you describe a mindset where people believe AA has a 5% success rate even though no peer reviewed study has ever concluded this. Instead, the studies show a 67%-75% success rate among alcoholics who get serious about the program; people in denial, however, don’t let facts gets in the way of their flawed world view.