Research on Drug Addiction Recovery Programs
The respected Cochrane Collaboration, which evaluates published research available in all areas of medical treatment, concluded the research does "not demonstrate the effectiveness of AA or other 12-step approaches in reducing alcohol use and achieving abstinence compared with other treatments" (Ferri et al., 2006).
University of New Mexico researchers led by psychologist William Miller have conducted a meta-analysis (a method for combining the results of many clinical trials) of alcohol treatment trials. Miller et al. (2003) summed the results, weighting each in terms of the methodological rigor with which it was conducted, to assign a value they called the "Cumulative Evidence Score" (CES) for rating the effectiveness of various alcoholism treatments. Negative scores indicate that a treatment fared more poorly than other treatments - including sometimes no treatment.
At St. Gregory Retreat Center™, credentialed leaders in the industry, through the Life Process Model©, melded into one effective program, the top treatments in measured effectiveness.
Treatment Effectiveness...
- Efficacy of Alcohol Treatments+ CES
- Brief Intervention 390
- Motivational Enhancement 189
- Community Reinforcement 110
- Behavioral Self-Control Training 85
- Social Skills Training 57
- Marital Therapy - Behavioral 44
- Twelve-Step Facilitation -82
- Alcoholics Anonymous -94
- Confrontational Counseling -183
- Psychotherapy -207
- General Alcoholism Counseling -284
- Education (tapes etc.) -443
How to interpret these results...
When you contact a treatment center, they will claim a success rate - often remarkably high. These are not scientifically valid data. These numbers are information collected in a variety of ways by the providers themselves, and lack scientific rigor. Or, if they claim they have used an independent firm, what question(s) was asked to base the results on?
The research catalogued by the University of New Mexico team, however, is based on objective published research by leading investigators who themselves do not work for the programs in question. The CES scores are a scale that indicates which treatments are most effective relative to everything out there. There is no way to say a certain guest will succeed with a given program. But using these techniques (as the LPP© does) is the most scientifically grounded way to make sure you are getting the best treatment available.
References
Ferri, M., Amato, L., and Davoli, M. (2006). Review: Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programmes for alcohol dependence. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
Miller, W.R., Wilbourne, P.L., and Hettema, J.E. (2003). What works? A summary of alcohol treatment outcome research. In Hester, R.K. and Miller, W.R., Eds., Handbook of Alcoholism Treatment Approaches: Effective Alternatives, third edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, pp. 13-63.