Alcoholics Anonymous at 70
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 6:19 PM

The BBC has an article today about Alcoholics Anonymous, founded in 1935. It offers a couple short paragraphs on three participants, a "regular," a "newcomer," and a "professional." Then there is a section on critics of AA, where Stanton Peele is quoted. One criticism that isn't mentioned is that there is, as far as I know, almost no serious statistical evidence that AA is more effective than other treatments for alcoholism, or than no intervention. Here's a paper that provides some evidence in support of weekly 12-step-style meetings, but the literature review is valuable in pointing out the paucity of other evidence.

Labels: AA, alcohol, treatment