Back in 2009, Time magazine published an article claiming 12 steps are too many. This article, in addition to having a section praising Naltrexone (a pill with limited value), uses a single study to conclude the 12 steps are not helpful.
The dubious study was led by pro-moderate-drinking-for-alcoholics advocate William Miller, and is entitled “Spiritual direction in addiction treatment: Two clinical trials.”
This paper is an outlier. A 2012 meta-study of hundreds of papers about religion, spirituality, and health (Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications by Harold G. Koenig) looks at hundreds of similar studies. Of the 178 studies about depression and spirituality with the highest methodological rigor, the 2008 Miller paper is one of only 13 which showed spirituality resulting in more depression symptoms. In addition, this meta-study looked at whether spirituality helps people get clean and sober. Of the 145 studies with the best methodologies directly investigating the question of whether spirituality helps overcome substance abuse, 131 showed that it did, and only one could make the case that spirituality hurts someone’s chances of getting off of alcohol and/or drugs.
Koenig 2012 is not the only paper that contradicts Miller 2008. J. P. B. Goncalves et al. 2015 (Religious and spiritual interventions in mental health care: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials) looks at 23 studies; Miller 2008 is the only study they look at which concludes there is a negative correlation between spirituality and better results.
Another paper may explain the issues with the methodology in Miller 2008. Greene 2012 (Gary Greene and Tuyen D. Nguyen The Role of Connectedness in Relation to Spirituality and Religion in a Twelve-Step Model) speculates that Miller 2008 “may point to the immeasurable therapeutic value of the spiritual connectedness between members of twelve-step and other groups and a measurable disconnect often present in research trial” (emphasis in original). In other words, Greene 2012 speculates that the subjects of Miller 2008 who got “spiritual” guidance did not get it in the form a newcomer gets it in the rooms of 12-step meetings, since the subjects did not experience the same connectedness.
Cherry picking a single study whose results are different than the results of the majority of similar papers does not make for a very compelling case against using the 12 steps to stay clean and sober.
The 12 steps work. A single study saying otherwise does not change this fact.
