Are societies paying unnecessarily for an otherwise free lunch? Final musings on the research on Alcoholics Anonymous and its mechanisms of behavior change.

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

8 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.

1. Motivation, self-efficacy, and identity-double-edged swords for relapse prevention in patients with alcohol related cirrhosis.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2025
   Article
2. 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 · 2024
   Article
3. Self-help group experiences among members recovering from substance use disorder in Kuantan, Malaysia.Social work with groups · 2023
   Article
4. Leave the Past Behind by Recognizing the Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of 12-Step Facilitation and Alcoholics Anonymous.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2021
   Article
5. New kid on the block: An investigation of the physical, operational, personnel, and service characteristics of recovery community centers in the United States.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2020
   Article
6. Peer support for mood disorder: Characteristics and benefits from attending the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance mutual-help organization.Journal of affective disorders · 2019
   Article
7. Comparative Therapeutic Effects of Plant-Extract Synthesized and Traditionally Synthesized Gold Nanoparticles on Alcohol-Induced Inflammatory Activity in SH-SY5Y Cells In Vitro.Biomedicines · 2017
   Article
8. Prevalence and pathways of recovery from drug and alcohol problems in the United States population: Implications for practice, research, and policy.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2017
   Article

Corrections and comments

• Comment on
  Is Alcoholics Anonymous religious, spiritual, neither? Findings from 25 years of mechanisms of behavior change research.2017

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

Abstract

PubMed holds no abstract for this paper.

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