title: The relationship between substance user treatment and 12-step fellowships: current knowledge and research questions.
abstract: This article reviews and synthesizes information about the relationship between two distinct approaches to helping substance users, formal "addiction treatment" and 12-step mutual aid. The following issues are addressed: Extent of formal treatment and 12-step fellowship participation for persons with substance use-related problems; overlap between treatment and 12-step participation; early attempts to "integrate" treatment and 12-step mutual aid; differences and similarities between the 12-step program and treatment; issues of spirituality in the 12-step program; effectiveness of 12-step participation as treatment aftercare; and whether help-seekers can be "matched" to 12-step. The article poses pertinent questions that could answered by additional research, including life cycle patterns of usage of treatment and 12-step, outcomes of such episodes, reasons for using different interventions at different times, feasibility of 12-step participation as a primary intervention, the relative contributions of striving for spiritual values vs. social support factors to the effectiveness of 12-step, and the comparative effectiveness of secular vs. 12-step mutual aid. The article concludes with a proposed reconceptualization of the relationship between formal treatment and 12-step mutual aid that may help in structuring future research.
authors.affiliation: National Development and Research Institutes, Inc.. New York, Ny 10010, USA. magura@ndri.org
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Magura
mesh_terms: D000436:Alcoholics Anonymous; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D012944:Social Support; D029181:Spirituality; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013695:Temperance / Q000523:psychology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States