12-step programs are an incomplete approach and do not meet the requirements for evidence-based treatment because they lack biomedical and psychological components, and they use a one-size-fits-all approach.
Tag: Kristance Harlow
How Does AA Work? A Review of the Evidence
AA is cloaked in misconceptions and mysticism: a society of “former drunks” who tout spirituality as a means to cure the chronic, genetic, and life-threatening disease of alcoholism.
Addiction or Mental Illness: Which Should You Treat First?
Substance use can alter behaviors, moods, and personalities so severely for people with addiction that without specialized knowledge and experience, it’s difficult to determine underlying causes such as mental illness or trauma. I credit psychological intervention for pushing me into recovery from alcoholism. Addiction is a mental illness, but is it one that needs to… Continue reading Addiction or Mental Illness: Which Should You Treat First?
The Importance of Women’s Recovery Spaces
Women’s meetings gave me the space to talk about the unspeakable, allowing me to move closer to becoming free from the fear that has kept me shackled.[Content Note: Discussions of IPV] I started my sobriety journey in a foreign city where there was one English speaking 12-step meeting daily, and a relatively small number of… Continue reading The Importance of Women’s Recovery Spaces
Shame, Alcoholism, Stigma, and Suicide
In addiction treatment circles, conventional wisdom suggests we have to let people hit rock bottom before we can help them. But what happens if rock bottom is dying from suicide? Historical records as far back as ancient Athens have the underpinnings of the stigmatization of suicide. In 360 BCE, Plato wrote that those who died… Continue reading Shame, Alcoholism, Stigma, and Suicide