ReviewAddiction (Abingdon, England)2017
Is Alcoholics Anonymous religious, spiritual, neither? Findings from 25 years of mechanisms of behavior change research.
Review in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 176 citations in OpenAlex.
- One-stop shopping for recovery? A systematic review of the evidence on U.S. recovery community centers.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Pooled it
- Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs for alcohol use disorder.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Longitudinal effects of social network changes on drinking outcomes for individuals with a first-time DUI.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2021Trial
- Mapping and measuring addiction recovery: Recommended protocols through the PHENX toolkit.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Review
- How Age and Race/Ethnicity Affect the Benefits of Mutual-Help Group Involvement for People With Alcohol Use Disorders: Findings From the PAL Study Cohorts.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2026Article
- Redefining Recovery: The Expanding Cannabis Landscape and Its Implications for the California Sober Approach in Addiction.International journal of mental health and addiction · 2026Article
- Telehealth-Delivered Mindfulness-Based Intervention: Protocol for a Randomized Clinical Trial for Individuals With Alcohol Use Disorder.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Development and Pilot Test of a Novel Digital Social Support Intervention for Reducing Hazardous Alcohol Use.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2026Article
- Coping strategy as a predictor of illicit drug use among persons who inject drugs.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2026Article
- A Qualitative Study of the Phoenix Exercise and Activity-Based Mutual-Help Program.Alcoholism treatment quarterly · 2026Article
- A Tragedy of Errors: The State of Psychedelic Research in the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Evaluating Impulsivity as a Mechanism of Behaviour Change for 12-step Engagement during Alcohol Use Disorder Recovery.Research square · 2025Article
- PROTOCOL: Mutual Help Organizations to Support Recovery Among Individuals Who Use Drugs: A Systematic Review Protocol.Campbell systematic reviews · 2025Article
- Participants' Experience of Psychedelic Integration Groups and Processes: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis.Psychedelic medicine (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- The Adoption of a "Diseased Identity" in Traditional 12-Step Groups: Exploring the Implications of These Processes for Individuals and Practitioners in Health and Social Care Services.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- A systematic qualitative study investigating why individuals attend, and what they like, dislike, and find most helpful about, smart recovery, alcoholics anonymous, both, or neither.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2024Article
- Polyphonic narratives: The mixing of Alcoholics Anonymous and relapse prevention in stories about recovery and relapse.Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift : NAT · 2024Article
- Prevalence and correlates of 12-step and second-wave mutual-help attendance in a nationally representative US sample.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2024Article
- Spirituality in Addiction Recovery: A Narrative Review.Journal of religion and health · 2024Review
- Disparities in Alcoholics Anonymous Participation from 2000 to 2020 Among U.S. Residents With an Alcohol Use Disorder in the National Alcohol Survey.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a world-wide recovery mutual-help organization that continues to arouse controversy. In large part, concerns persist because of AA's ostensibly quasi-religious/spiritual orientation and emphasis. In 1990 the United States' Institute of Medicine called for more studies on AA's effectiveness and its mechanisms of behavior change (MOBC) stimulating a flurry of federally funded research. This paper reviews the religious/spiritual origins of AA and its program and contrasts its theory with findings from this latest research.
methodLiterature review, summary and synthesis of studies examining AA's MOBC.
resultsWhile AA's original main text ('the Big Book', 1939) purports that recovery is achieved through quasi-religious/spiritual means ('spiritual awakening'), findings from studies on MOBC suggest this may be true only for a minority of participants with high addiction severity. AA's beneficial effects seem to be carried predominantly by social, cognitive and affective mechanisms. These mechanisms are more aligned with the experiences reported by AA's own larger and more diverse membership as detailed in its later social, cognitive and behaviorally oriented publications (e.g. Living Sober, 1975) written when AA membership numbered more than a million men and women.
conclusionsAlcoholics Anonymous appears to be an effective clinical and public health ally that aids addiction recovery through its ability to mobilize therapeutic mechanisms similar to those mobilized in formal treatment, but is able to do this for free over the long term in the communities in which people live.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.