The largest, most rigorous independent study on Alcoholics Anonymous to date shows that AA can help people get sober, stay sober, drink less, and suffer fewer negative consequences of drinking, all while keeping health care costs down. Watch scientists John Kelly (Harvard/MGH) and Keith Humphreys (Stanford/VA) discuss their findings (published 3/11/20 by the Cochrane Collaborative), with commentary from psychologist Gabrielle Jones.
Study finds AA best for alcohol abstinence
A Stanford researcher and two collaborators conducted an extensive review of Alcoholics Anonymous studies and found that the fellowship helps more people achieve sobriety than therapy does.
Alcoholics Anonymous, is the most effective path to abstinence, according to a comprehensive analysis conducted by a Stanford School of Medicine researcher and his collaborators.
After evaluating 35 studies — involving the work of 145 scientists and the outcomes of 10,080 participants — Keith Humphreys, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and his fellow investigators determined that AA was nearly always found to be more effective than psychotherapy in achieving abstinence. In addition, most studies showed that AA participation lowered health care costs.
The review was published March 11, 2020, in Cochrane Database of Systematic Review. Cochrane requires its authors to undertake a rigorous process that ensures the studies represented in its summaries are high-quality and the review of evidence is unbiased.
John F Kelly, PhD
Recovery Research Institute
Center for Addiction Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
Keith Humphreys, PhD
Veterans Affairs and Stanford University Medical Centers, Stanford University Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, USA
Marica Ferri
Best practices, knowledge exchange and economic issues, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon, Portugal