I Won't Relapse, If You Won't Relapse

            Alcoholism is an ever-growing problem in the United States and though alcoholics spend thousands of dollars on treatment programs to overcome their addiction, almost 90% of people who enter such programs relapse within the first year after exiting the program.  Given such high relapse rates, it is essential to find an affordable relapse prevention program that helps alcoholics remain sober.

            In recent years, Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs have been researched in depth to better understand if attending the meetings help reduce these high relapse rates.  Even further, researchers wish to understand how Alcoholic Anonymous meetings benefit the alcoholic by helping them remain sober. Some research suggests that
the process of alcoholics helping other alcoholics remain sober is the leading cause as to why this specific treatment program works.

            Pagano, Friend, Tonigan, and Stout, conducted a research study to understand more of how this process works. Data from 1,501 patients was collected from Project MATCH, which is a longitudinal investigation of behavioral treatments for alcohol use disorders.  The participants in the study were required to have a substance use disorder and had to report abusing the substance actively during the previous six months before being part of the study.  The data that was collected and assessed from the participants included: the number of drinks consumed daily within the study, the number of AA meetings attending within 90 days, and whether or not the participant was helping another alcoholic on the road to sobriety.  Data was collected at the beginning of the study and a follow up assessment was conducted three months later.

            From the collected data, 120 participants admitted to helping other alcoholics in their journey to sobriety. The majority of the alcoholics that were assisting other alcoholics were older. The research suggests that directly after the discontinued abuse of alcohol, both alcoholics who were assisting others and those were not, relapsed.  However, the data suggests that there was a steady decline in relapse rates as time went on.  The findings of the study also suggest that those who were helping other alcoholics at the end of the treatment period were significantly less likely to relapse in the following 12 months compared to those who were not helping other alcoholics. 40% of the participants that were helping other alcoholics did not consume a drink a year after the treatment program was over, whereas only 22% of the participants who did not assist other alcoholics avoided taking a drink.  The main reason for this is because when one is held responsible for helping another, they feel more conviction about remaining sober themselves.  Another reason to why an alcoholic helping other alcoholics is beneficial is because it is used as a motivational tool to discontinue the abuse of alcohol.

            One of the implications of this study is that alcoholics need to be better educated about AA meetings and encouraged to attend them frequently.  Alcoholics should understand that attendance of AA meetings before, during, and after a treatment program is essential to continue sobriety.  Alcoholics should also be aware that research suggests that if they are to help assist others in the journey of remaining sober, it is likely that they will remain sober for longer periods of time.  More research should also be done on the different levels of helping others within the treatment program and the levels of effects that helping has on the alcoholic.

            The primary limitation of this study was that the rate of helping other alcoholics was only 8% of the entire study.  Only 120 participants were in a position of helping other alcoholics, which makes the data on this particular variable low.  The degree of helping others was not clearly defined in the study, which was also a limitation. Many participants thought that the study was not long enough to become in a position of authority to help other alcoholics on the road to sobriety.

            Overall, the research study suggests that when an alcoholic assists another alcoholic within an AA treatment program, their relapse rate significantly decreases. This is primarily because of a sense of responsibility and motivation from the alcoholic assisting another alcoholic on the road to sobriety.  More research should be conducted with a larger sample size of alcoholics helping other alcoholics, as well as studying different levels of help and the positive effects that helping others has on relapse rates.
Abstract

References
Pagano, M. E., Friend, K. B., & Tonigan, J. S. (2004). Helping other alcoholics anonymous and drinking outcomes: Findings from project MATCH. J Stud Alcohol. 65(6). 766-773.