The Sober Truth (25 page)
Authors: Lance Dodes
WE ARE DEEPLY GRATEFUL to have had Helene Atwan as our editor. Her careful attention and perceptive eye made the book as good as it could be.
We would like to thank our agent, Don Fehr of Trident Media Group, whose enthusiasm for producing a potentially controversial book was essential to its creation.
Thanks also to Professor Richard Gelber, whose expertise in biostatistics was critical to our evaluation of scientific studies.
We are grateful to the many people who offered to share, by interview or in writing, their personal experiences with AA and rehab centers.
Lance would also like to thank the people he has seen in treatment over the years who have shared their experiences with addictions and the inner stories of their lives.
CHAPTER ONE
1
. Benedict Carey, “Drug Rehabilitation or Revolving Door?,”
New York Times
, December 22, 2008.
2
. L. Amato Ferri and M. Davoli: “Although it is the most common, AA is not the only 12-step intervention available. There are other 12-step approaches (labeled Twelve Step Facilitation (TSF). . . . No experimental studies unequivocally demonstrated the effectiveness of AA or TSF approaches for reducing alcohol dependence or problems” (“Alcoholics Anonymous and Other 12-Step Programmes for Alcohol Dependence,”
Cochrane Database Systems Review
3 [July 2006]: CD005032).
3
.
Alcoholics Anonymous
, 3rd ed. (New York: AA World Services, 1976), 58–60.
4
. Ibid., 77.
5
. Paul Pringle, “The Trouble with Rehab, Malibu-Style,”
Los Angeles Times
, October 9, 2007.
CHAPTER TWO
1
. W. White,
Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America
(Bloomington, IL: Chestnut Health Systems, 1998).
2
.
Selected Papers of William L. White
website, “Significant Events in the History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America,”
http://www.williamwhitepapers.com/
.
3
. Cynthia Crossen, “If Dr. Keeley Could See You Now,”
Wall Street Journal
, December 31, 2007.
4
. Ibid.
5
. M. Keller, “The Old and the New in the Treatment of Alcoholism,” in
Alcohol Interventions: Historical and Sociocultural Approaches
(supplement to
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly
), ed. B. Carruth et al. (New York: Routledge, 1986).
6
. M. S. Gold, MD, and Christine Adamec,
The Encyclopedia of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse
(New York: Facts on File, 2010).
7
.
Selected Papers of William L. White
, “Significant Events in the History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery.”
8
. B. Weiner and W. White, “The Journal of Inebriety (1876–1914): History, Topical Analysis, and Photographic Images,”
Addiction
102, no. 1 (January 2007): 15–23.
9
. Francis Hartigan,
Bill W.: A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson
(New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2001). Unless otherwise indicated, in this chapter, quotes from and anecdotes about Bill Wilson are taken from this book.
10
. William James,
The Varieties of Religious Experience
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, March 11, 2013).
11
.
“Pass It On”: The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A. A. Message Reached the World
, 1st ed. (New York: AA World Services, December 1984); also “Bill W.,”
Wikipedia
,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_W.#cite_note-19
.
12
. B. Pittman,
AA: The Way It Began
(Seattle: Glen Abbey Books, 1988).
13
.
“Pass It On.”
14
. Susan Cheever,
My Name Is Bill: Bill Wilson—His Life and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous
(New York: Washington Square Press, 2005).
15
.
“Pass It On.”
16
. “Problem Drinkers,”
March of Time
, 1946,
http://www.aamuncie.org/March_of_Time_1946.html
.
17
. E. Kurtz,
Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous
(Center City, MN: Hazelden Educational Services, 1979), 92.
18
. E. M. Jellinek, “Phases in the Drinking History of Alcoholics: Analysis of a Survey Conducted by the Official Organ of Alcoholics Anonymous,”
Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol
7 (1946): 1–88.
19
. T. J. Falcone,
Alcoholism: A Disease of Speculation
(Amsterdam, NY: Baldwin Research Institute, 2003),
http://www.baldwinresearch.com/alcoholism.cfm
.
20
. Ad for
Alcoholics Anonymous
,
http://www.barefootsworld.net/aa-medicine.html
.
21
. A. Tom Horvath, PhD, ABPP, “Court-Ordered 12-Step Attendance Is Illegal,”
Practical Recovery
,
http://practicalrecovery.com/readings/non-12-step-2/court-ordered
.
22
.
The Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States
,
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/ppotpus/4731549.1966.001
.
23
. Federation of State Physician Health Programs website,
http://www.fsphp.org/
.
24
. R. L. DuPont et al., “Setting the Standard for Recovery: Physicians’ Health Programs,”
Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
36 (2009): 159–71.
25
. E. M. Gallas, “Endorsing Religion: Drug Courts and the 12-Step Recovery Support Program,”
American University Law Review
53, no. 5 (June 2004),
http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=aulr
.
CHAPTER THREE
1
. Jason Koebler, “Diet Soda Linked to Depression in NIH Study,”
US News & World Report
,
http://www.usnews.com/
.
2
. G. Taubes, “Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy?”
New York Times Magazine
, September 16, 2007.
3
. Ibid.
4
. Ibid.
5
. Deborah Dawson, PhD, “Recovery from Alcohol Dependence: Response to Commentaries,”
Addiction
100, no. 3 (March 2005): 296–98.
6
. A. H. Thurstin et al., “The Efficacy of AA Attendance for Aftercare of Inpatient Alcoholics: Some Follow-up Data,”
International Journal of the Addictions
22 (1987): 1083–90.
7
.
Alcoholics Anonymous
, 3rd ed. (New York: AA World Services, 1976), 58–60.
8
. J. M. Brandsma et al.,
Outpatient Treatment of Alcoholism: A Review and Comparative Study
(Baltimore: University Park Press, 1980).
9
. C. D. Emrick, “Alcoholics Anonymous: Membership Characteristics and Effectiveness as Treatment,”
Recent Developments in Alcoholism
7 (1989): 37–53.
10
. D. C. Walsh et al., “A Randomized Trial of Treatment Options for Alcohol-Abusing Workers,”
New England Journal of Medicine
325, no. 11 (September 12, 1991): 775–82. The paper explains:
The average length of stay at the 10 hospitals (of which 2 accounted for 86 percent of the hospital assignments) was 23 days. . . . The participating hospitals described their programs in similar terms . . . held AA meetings at the hospital, and cited abstinence as the goal of treatment. . . . The third treatment option—referred to as “choice”—was one that involved the subjects in the planning of their treatment. . . . The subjects randomly assigned to a choice of treatments were not required to join AA or enter a hospital, although the staff of the employee-assistance program sometimes encouraged them to do one or the other, and were free to elect no treatment. . . . Of the 71 subjects in the choice group, 29 elected hospitalization in a total of five hospitals (average length of stay, 24.5 days), 33 went directly to AA, 3 chose outpatient psychotherapy (with a social worker, a psychiatrist, or a marriage counselor), and 6 opted for no organized help at all.
11
. D. Sacket,
Canadian Medical Association Journal
167, no. 4 (2002): 363–64,
http://www.cmaj.ca/content/167/4/363.full
.
12
.
Cochrane Database Systems Review
3 (July 2006): CD005032.
13
. Citations from ibid.: Brown 2002; Cloud 2004; Davis 2002; Kahler 2004; MATCH 1998; McCrady 1996; Walsh 1991; Zemore 2004.
14
. R. Fiorentine, “After Drug Treatment: Are 12-Step Programs Effective in Maintaining Abstinence?”
American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
25, no. 1 (February 25, 1999): 93–116.
15
. B. S. McCrady et al., “Issues in the Implementation of a Randomized Clinical Trial That Includes Alcoholics Anonymous: Studying AA-Related Behaviors During Treatment,”
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
57 (1996): 604–12.
16
. Quoted in Taubes, “Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy?”
17
. Ibid.
18
. R. H. Moos and B. S. Moos, “Paths of Entry into Alcoholics Anonymous: Consequences for Participation and Remission,”
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
29, no. 10 (2005): 1858–68; R. H. Moos and B. S. Moos, “Participation in Treatment and Alcoholics Anonymous: A 16-Year Follow-Up of Initially Untreated Individuals,”
Journal of Clinical Psychology
62 (2006): 735–50.
19
. Moos and Moos, “Participation in Treatment and Alcoholics Anonymous.”
20
. Ibid.
21
. Ibid.
22
. J. McKellar et al., “Predictors of Changes in Alcohol-Related Self-Efficacy over 16 Years,”
Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
35, no. 2 (September 2008): 148–55.
23
. C. Timko et al., “Driving While Intoxicated Among Individuals Initially Untreated for Alcohol Use Disorders: One- and Sixteen-Year Follow-ups,”
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
72, no. 2 (March 2011): 173–84.
24
. John-Kåre Vederhus and Øistein Kristensen, “High Effectiveness of Self-Help Programs after Drug Addiction Therapy,”
BMC Psychiatry
6, no. 35 (2006).
25
. Jane Witbrodt et al., “Do 12-Step Meeting Attendance Trajectories over 9 Years Predict Abstinence?”
Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
43, no. 1 (July 2012): 30–43.
26
. J. McKellar et al., “Alcoholics Anonymous Involvement and Positive Alcohol-Related Outcomes: Cause, Consequence, or Just a Correlate? A Prospective 2-Year Study of 2,319 Alcohol-Dependent Men,”
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
71, no. 2 (2003): 302–8.
27
. E-mail to the author.
28
. McKellar et al., “Alcoholics Anonymous Involvement.”
29
. L. Kaskutas et al., “Alcoholics Anonymous Effectiveness: Faith Meets Science,”
Journal of Addictive Diseases
28, no. 2 (2009): 145–57.
30
. R. D. Weiss et al., “The Effect of 12-Step Self-Help Group Attendance and Participation on Drug Use Outcomes among Cocaine-Dependent Patients,”
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
77, no. 2 (2005):177–84.
31
. John Majer et al., “12-Step Involvement among a U.S. National Sample of Oxford House Residents,”
Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
41 (2011): 37–44.
32
. M. Ferri et al., “Alcoholics Anonymous and Other 12-Step Programmes for Alcohol Dependence,”
Cochrane Database Systems Review
3 (July 2006): CD005032.
33
.
Comments on A.A. Triennial Surveys
(New York: AA World Services, December 1990).
34
. H. Fingarette,
Heavy Drinking: The Myth of Alcoholism as a Disease
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988).
35
. J. Harris et al., “Prior Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Affiliation and the Acceptability of the Twelve Steps to Patients Entering UK Statutory Addiction Treatment,”
Journal of Studies on Alcohol
64, no. 2 (2003): 257–61.
36
. Fingarette,
Heavy Drinking
.
37
. Fiorentine, “After Drug Treatment.”
38
. R. Shammas et al., “Remission in Rheumatoid Arthritis,”
Current Rheumatology Reports
12, no. 5 (October 2010): 355–62.
39
. R. G. Smart, “Spontaneous Recovery in Alcoholics: A Review and Analysis of the Available Research,”
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
1 (1975–1976): 284.
40
. Sheldon Zimberg,
The Clinical Management of Alcoholism
(New York: Brunner-Routledge, 1982).
41
. S. E. Mueller et al., “The Impact of Self-Help Group Attendance on Relapse Rates after Alcohol Detoxification in a Controlled Study,”
Alcohol and Alcoholism
42, no. 2 (2007): 108–12.
42
. G. E. Vaillant,
The Natural History of Alcoholism
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983), 283.
43
. R. B. Cutler and D. A. Fishbain, “Are Alcoholism Treatments Effective? The Project MATCH Data,”
BMC Public Health
14, no 5 (2005): 75.
44
. D. Dawson et al., “Recovery from DSM-IV Alcohol Dependence: United States, 2001–2002,”
Addiction
100, no. 3 (2005): 281–92.
Dawson and colleagues’ methodology is as follows
: “This analysis is based on data from the 2001–02 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), in which data were collected in personal interviews conducted with one randomly selected adult in each sample household. A subset of the NESARC sample (total n = 43 093), consisting of 4422 US adults 18 years of age and over classified with PPY DSM-IV alcohol dependence, were evaluated with respect to their past-year recovery status: past-year dependence, partial remission, full remission, asymptomatic risk drinking, abstinent recovery (AR) and non-abstinent recovery (NR).”
