An exposé of Alcoholics Anonymous, 12-step programs, and the rehab industry—and how a failed addiction-treatment model came to dominate America. AA has become so infused in our society that it is practically synonymous with addiction recovery. Yet the evidence shows that AA has only a 5–10 percent success rate—hardly better than no treatment at
An exposé of Alcoholics Anonymous, 12-step programs, and the rehab industry—and how a failed addiction-treatment model came to dominate America.
AA has become so infused in our society that it is practically synonymous with addiction recovery. Yet the evidence shows that AA has only a 5–10 percent success rate—hardly better than no treatment at all. Despite this, doctors, employers, and judges regularly refer addicted people to treatment programs and rehab facilities based on the 12-step model.
In The Sober Truth, acclaimed addiction specialist Dr. Lance Dodes exposes the deeply flawed science that the 12-step industry has used to support its programs. Dr. Dodes analyzes dozens of studies to reveal a startling pattern of errors, misjudgments, and biases. He also pores over the research to highlight the best peer-reviewed studies available and discovers that they reach a grim consensus on the program’s overall success.
But The Sober Truth is more than a book about addiction. It is also a book about science and how and why AA and rehab became so popular, despite the discouraging data. Dr. Dodes explores the entire story of AA’s rise, from its origins in early fundamentalist religious and mystical beliefs to its present-day place of privilege in politics and media.
The Sober Truth includes true stories from Dr. Dodes’s thirty-five years of clinical practice, as well as firsthand accounts submitted by addicts through an open invitation on the Psychology Today website. These stories vividly reveal the experience of walking the steps and attending some of the nation’s most famous rehabilitation centers.
The Sober Truth builds a powerful response to the monopoly of the 12-step program and explodes the myth that these programs offer an acceptable or universal solution to the deeply personal problem of addiction. This book offers new and actionable information for addicts, their families, and medical providers, and lays out better ways to understand addiction for those seeking a more effective and compassionate approach to this treatable problem.
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THE ROAD WELL TRAVELED AND NOTHING NEW. The book just goes over years of research showing that AA/NA is not the cure all its proponents make it out to be. The chief problem in the treatment field is the lack of education and proper training of virtually all addiction counselors including social workers. The 12 step model is all they know so they use it as a one size fits all model of treatment and blame the patient if treatment failsor, more likely, toss them out on administrative discharge if they don’t but into the treatment model. I recently retired from the addictions treatment field working at facilites as diverse as hospital inpatient detox, drug court, methadone clinic, 28 day inpatient treatment center and the longest at a state run mental health and addiction treatment center. The one common factor in all these places was that just about all the licensed counselors were completely ignorant of the neuroscience of addiction including the long term changes to the brain from addiction which made patients susceptible to…
Good For Goose / Good For Gander CH 1: The Problem – Despite having a low success rate, AA’s methods and beliefs have been codified into our medical diagnosis and treatment systems and our legal system (Not at AA’s instigation, by the way, nor are these intrusions always welcome, but AA is considerate enough not to turn them away). Dodes goes over each of AA’s 12 steps and explains why none of them have any relevance in treating addictions. “Yea, but is there anything better?” is a frequent question. Dodes answers, “Yes, there is.”CH 2: The Rise of AA – AA may not be the best way to treat alcoholism, but its founders had a marketing genius within their midst – Bill Wilson. Because of poor results in treating alcoholics, mid 20th century mental health professionals were happy to find a place to send theirs. Eventually, addicts of all sorts found homes in for-profit and not-for-profit 12-step programs.CH 3: Does AA work? – This chapter is not for the statistically lighthearted. Dodes…