home > our alcohol drug rehab center > Why 12 Step Fails and Cognitive is Superior
Why 12-Step Doesn't Work
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You can choose to be beaten by addiction for life or empowered to move ahead
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You can choose 12-step forever or you can make the changes you need to get on with a successful life
Why not make a critical decision using quality information and common sense? Here's our opinion:
12-Step Programs:
Morals & disease based program
What is a morals/disease based program?
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Clear Haven Center:
Holistic based program
What is a holistic based program?
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- Labels you an addict
for life, beaten by addictions, no self control, needing lifetime
membership
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VS |
- Optimistic outlook,
you CAN become a new and better person
- Empowering you to
transform your perception of addiction
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- Culture of fear of
failure and certainty of failure
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VS |
- Culture of confidence
in an individual's ability to succeed
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- If progress is not
made, client is forced to repeat the same 12 steps over and over...
- "Insanity: doing
the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
--Albert Einstein
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VS |
- Using evidence based
tools
- Learning how to find
new tools to apply differently in each new situation
- Supporting lifelong
positive growth through continued learning
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- Focused only on
addictions
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VS |
- Provides a broad
spectrum of life tools
- Uses cognitive
therapy
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- Christian approach
dominant
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VS |
- Common sense based
approach applicable for everyone
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- Lifetime attendance
required
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VS |
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- Focuses on programs
for a singular drug or type of addiction, such as cocaine, alcohol, gambling
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VS |
- Covers any addiction,
overlapping addictions and conditions
- Addresses underlying
erroneous thinking and poor life skills
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- One problem, one
solution one approach
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VS |
- Holistic approach,
mind and body, nutrition, exercise, recreation, communication, relaxation,
school/work life, social life/skills
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VS |
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Making a decision about rehab is one of life's major turning points. The cost of the wrong decision is high for all those involved. How do you make such a decision? Do you research first, or go by hearsay?
12-step programs have very
little research to prove their effectiveness, consider the following:
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Abbreviated
from: 1. After Drug Treatment:
Are 12-Step Programs Effective in Maintaining Abstinence? |
- By not considering dropouts, who may be more
likely to continue or resume drug and alcohol abuse, the effectiveness of
12-step programs is probably exaggerated.
- Approximately 50% of AA participants drop out
within the first 3 months of attendance, and only about 13% of initial
attendees will maintain a long-term relationship with AA.
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Abbreviated
from: 2. Alcoholics Anonymous:
Cult or Cure |
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Although at least half and perhaps as many as
nine out of ten alcoholics in the US have been to an AA meeting once in
their lives, only about 5 to 8 percent of alcoholics return often enough
for AA to count them as members.
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Two studies attempting to measure the impact of
AA participation against control groups both concluded that AA
participation was less effective than either nothing or participation in
secular treatment.
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A sympathetic long-term comparative study of
AA-based treatment, by Harvard professor George Vaillant, found that the
rate of relapse for those who had participated in the AA-based treatment
was no different than for the untreated control group.
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On the basis of this and a
good deal of other data, most of it circumstantial but in the aggregate quite
suggestive, Bufe concludes that there is no good evidence that participation in
AA has any measurable effect in improving rates of recovery from alcoholism
Here is an overview of the
core fundamentals of the two programs:
Morals Based 12-Step Programs |
Cognitive / Problem
Based Therapy |
- We admitted we were
powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
- Came to believe that a
power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn
our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Made a searching and
fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to
ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to
have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to
remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all
persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to
such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or
others.
- Continued to take
personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
- Sought through prayer
and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood
Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry
that out.
- Having had a spiritual
awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to
alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
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The National
Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) (1999) reports that cognitive therapy is an
effective intervention for drug addiction treatment.
Problem focused
strategies are used in cognitive therapies to help the individual transform
their perception of the problem.
Problem focused strategies
help the client to identify a specific problem(s).
The client is then
assisted in identifying the responses that he/she typically used to reduce
distress in the situation such as drinking.
The client is then
assisted to evaluate their typical responses for their effectiveness, lack of
effectiveness, and cost, such as wife leaving me because I drink.
The client is then
assisted to develop alternative responses or other ways they can handle the
situation in a more effective and positive way
The client can then
make conscious choices about how he/she chooses to respond to stressful
situations.
Clients develop the
cognitive skills needed to deal with social pressures, interpersonal
conflict, and negative emotions
This leads to the
client developing a greater sense of control and empowerment, which serve to
enhance self-esteem, and wellbeing.
Cognitive therapy can
include treatment for other problems during rehab treatment. It is very effective at treating
clients who also suffer from depression, anxiety, or other mental health
issues
Once the techniques
taught in cognitive therapy are mastered, the client can apply them to any
area of their life where they experience distress Abbreviated
from: 3. Cognitive Theory and
Therapy in Substance Abuse Treatment |
Cognitive therapy is proven. The techniques taught can be applied to all areas of life, including relationships, communication, work, and health. Cognitive therapy empowers the individual to make change.
The choice is yours, the outcome is yours, the power is yours to decide.
We thank
reference source authors, and acknowledge that our viewpoint may not be the
same as theirs nor our interpretation of their work.
Abbreviated
from:
1.
After Drug Treatment: Are 12-Step Programs Effective in Maintaining
Abstinence? American Journal of
Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Feb 1999 by Robert Fiorentine,
>> View Article
2.
Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure, by Charles Bufe (2nd edition, 1997),
Reviewed by Marty N.,
>> View Article
3.
Cognitive Theory and Therapy in Substance Abuse Treatment, Jerald Cilente, PhD, Mental Health
Professional, Clinical Psychologist, Alcohol Addiction Forum
>>View Article
Additional
Background Materials:
4.
Cognitive Therapy of Substance Abuse, Aaron T. Beck, Fred D. Wright, Cory F.
Newman, Bruce S. Liese, 1993 The Guildford Press, New York
5.
The Feeling Good Handbook, David D. Burns, 1999, M.D., Penguin Group, New York
6.
Concurrent Disorders: Mental Disorders and Substance Use Problems,
heretohelp.bc.ca, BC Partners for Mental Health and Addictions Information
>> View Article
7.
BC Planning Framework for Problematic Substance Use and Addiction, Mental
Health and Addictions Publications, Province of British Columbia, Canada
>> View Article
8.
Drinking: are you in control?, Review of Dr. Nancy Snyderman's 20/20 report,
>> View Article
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