Effective Addiction Treatment
Countless people addicted to drugs, alcohol or both have managed to get clean and stay clean with the help of organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous or the thousands of residential and outpatient clinics devoted to treating addiction. But if you have …
Read more on New York Times (blog)

Evidence-Based Addiction Treatments Offer High Probability of Success
11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — "I want people to recover from addiction without the suffering I endured," said Richard Taite , CEO and founder of Cliffside Malibu Treatment Center. "That's why I went to the evidence-base before we opened our doors in 2005.
Read more on PR Newswire (press release)

Question by almintaka: How well do alcohol recovery programs actually work?
Hi Everyone,
Alcoholics Anonymous (“AA”, spiritual), Rational Recovery (“RR”, cognitive), SMART (cognitive), Save Ourselves (“SOS”, cognitive) and other alcohol recovery programs all claim varying levels of success in helping alcoholics on the road to recovery. However, there is a lot of controversy surrounding their claims, as even a quick search on the internet will reveal. Viewing this chaos of opinions from “outside the box”, it certainly seems as though they’re all blowing smoke. Anecdotal arguments are used, tabloid-style quotations are touted as being authentic, and “my way or the highway” rationalizing is often used. One thing they all have in common is that apparently none of them has a handle on real statistics (though I could be wrong here; I just haven’t found any). In addition, independent studies (NIAA, Dawson) have shown that these programs are no more successful than no program at all. What’s your opion? Do one or more of these programs work better than nothing?

Best answer:

Answer by Rachel
I think any recovery program works only as well as the time & persistance the addict puts into staying clean.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Question by Maryy: What percent of rehabilitated people actually are cured?
ok so this is for a project….
does anyone know what percent of rehabilitated people get out and dont do the same mistake agian??? (i.e.- they would use drugs daily, went to rehab, then when they got out they quit completly)
i searched yahoo, google, and ask jeeves. i did all of my project and this is just a small part of it wich isnt really gonna be graded so keep your useless coments to yourself

Best answer:

Answer by raysny
Rehabs often claim amazing results, but the reality is less than spectacular.

According to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_addiction
“The effectiveness of alcoholism treatments varies widely. When considering the effectiveness of treatment options, one must consider the success rate based on those who enter a program, not just those who complete it. Since completion of a program is the qualification for success, success among those who complete a program is generally near 100%. It is also important to consider not just the rate of those reaching treatment goals but the rate of those relapsing. Results should also be compared to the roughly 5% rate at which people will quit on their own. A year after completing a rehab program, about a third of alcoholics are sober, an additional 40 percent are substantially improved but still drink heavily on occasion, and a quarter have completely relapsed.”

That estimate is based on information from Dr. Mark Willenbring of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and in my opinion, optomistic.

” About 80 percent of addiction patients will relapse, studies suggest, and long-term success rates for treatment are estimated at 10-30 percent.
“The therapeutic community claims a 30 percent success rate, but they only count people who complete the program,” noted Joseph A. Califano Jr., of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. “Seventy to eighty percent drop out in three to six months.” ”
http://www.addictioninfo.org/articles/1633/1/Little-Evidence-that-Costly-Treatment-Programs-Work/Page1.html

90-95% of rehabs in the US are 12step-based. The rest are Scientology or religion-based.

The 12step treatment method has been shown to have about a 5% success rate, the same as no treatment at all:

Although the success rate is the same, AA harms more people than no treatment:
1) Dr. Brandsma found that A.A. increased the rate of binge drinking, and
2) Dr. Ditman found that A.A. increased the rate of rearrests for public drunkenness, and
3) Dr. Walsh found that “free A.A.” made later hospitalization more expensive, and
4) Doctors Orford and Edwards found that having a doctor talk to the patient for just one hour was just as effective as a whole year of A.A.-based treatment.
5) Dr. George E. Vaillant, the A.A. Trustee, found that A.A. treatment was completely ineffective, and raised the death rate in alcoholics. No other way of treating alcoholics produced such a high death rate as did Alcoholics Anonymous.
http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-letters85.html

1) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Brandsma
2) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Ditman
3) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Walsh
4) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Orford
5) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Vaillant

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Question by Hello There: Is the recovery from bulimia in a 12 step program drastically different than Alcoholics Anonymous?
I had a friend tell me that in ABA for example- you don’t start counting days again if you purge again, and that the road to recovery isn’t complete abstinence from binging and purging, but reaching a level of manageability in which you ‘get back on the horse’ when you purge after a period of refraining. I was alarmed, but intrigued by her statements and wanted to find out if this was the case- since I’m so AA biased.

Best answer:

Answer by thebigz
there is over eaters antonymous in a 12 step program but as far as i know there is no program for bulimia you can make your program around the two where you are now and the oa program and see if that works if you like the 12 step program

Good Luck

Give your answer to this question below!

Question by almintaka: How well do alcohol recovery programs actually work?
Hi Everyone,
Alcoholics Anonymous (“AA”, spiritual), Rational Recovery (“RR”, cognitive), SMART (cognitive), Save Ourselves (“SOS”, cognitive) and other alcohol recovery programs all claim varying levels of success in helping alcoholics on the road to recovery. However, there is a lot of controversy surrounding their claims, as even a quick search on the internet will reveal. Viewing this chaos of opinions from “outside the box”, it certainly seems as though they’re all blowing smoke. Anecdotal arguments are used, tabloid-style quotations are touted as being authentic, and “my way or the highway” rationalizing is often used. One thing they all have in common is that apparently none of them has a handle on real statistics (though I could be wrong here; I just haven’t found any). In addition, independent studies (NIAA, Dawson) have shown that these programs are no more successful than no program at all. What’s your opion? Do one or more of these programs work better than nothing?

Best answer:

Answer by Rachel
I think any recovery program works only as well as the time & persistance the addict puts into staying clean.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Teen Drug and Alcohol Addiction Support Resources
Drug and alcohol treatment centers often hold teen therapy or support groups in their facility. It may be part of a drug education program or it may be run as a self-help group. Contact the treatment centers in your area for more information on teen …
Read more on PsychCentral.com (blog)

NIAAA honors nonprofit leader with Senator Harold Hughes Memorial Award
The Hughes Award recognizes the contributions of a nonresearcher whose work translates research into practice, thereby building bridges across the alcohol prevention, treatment and policy-making communities. The award is named for Harold Hughes, …
Read more on National Institutes of Health (press release)

Breaking the bonds of addiction
Countless people addicted to drugs, alcohol or both have managed to get clean and stay clean with the help of organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous or the thousands of residential and outpatient clinics devoted to treating addiction. But if you have …
Read more on Sarasota Herald-Tribune (blog)

Bike, Bark, Bite, Blood: The Perils of Cycling in Rabies Country
Numerous other websites and forums address the same question that I had–can one drink alcohol during post-exposure rabies treatment? Though some travelers have been advised by hospital staff not to exercise, drink alcohol, tea or coffee, or have sex …
Read more on Smithsonian (blog)