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Twelve Step Facilitation as Behavioural Approach in Addiction Treatment

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Textbook of Addiction Treatment: International Perspectives

Abstract

Hazardous and harmful alcohol use, illicit drug use, and the misuse of prescription medications represent major public health concerns that affect a large segment of the population. These highly prevalent conditions are associated with medical, social, and psychiatric comorbidities that bring them to the attention of practitioners in a variety of health-care and social service settings. While many such individuals will benefit from brief interventions or more formal specialty substance abuse treatment, many also might choose to engage in a mutual support program to seek assistance or gain additional support in their communities to help them achieve and maintain their goal of reducing or discontinuing their substance use. The present chapter reviews 12-step mutual support programs that serve as widely available, no-cost resources in substance abuse recovery. It reviews evidence about the effectiveness of such support groups and of specific interventions designed to facilitate engagement in them. It also describes the physician’s role in educating patients and families in promoting 12-step programs. Important steps for physicians include understanding 12-step mutual support programs, preparing patients or family members to engage in a mutual support program, monitoring attendance and engagement, exploring patient resistances to mutual support programs, knowing the components and “tools” of the program, and being aware of alternatives for patients who will not use 12-step programs.

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Acknowledgment

This chapter was supported by a series of grants from the United States National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) as part of the Cooperative Agreement on National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network: Pacific Northwest Node (U10DA13714) and Appalachian/Tri-States Node (U10DA20036). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIDA.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, University of Washington, 1107 NE 45th Street, Suite 120, Seattle, WA, 98105, USA

    Dennis M. Donovan

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA

    Dennis M. Donovan

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Dennis C. Daley

Authors
  1. Dennis M. Donovan
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  2. Dennis C. Daley
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Correspondence to Dennis M. Donovan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Alberta Gambling Research Institute University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Nady el-Guebaly

  2. Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, United Kingdom

    Giuseppe Carrà

  3. Division of Alcoholism & Drug Abuse, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA

    Marc Galanter

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Donovan, D.M., Daley, D.C. (2015). Twelve Step Facilitation as Behavioural Approach in Addiction Treatment. In: el-Guebaly, N., Carrà, G., Galanter, M. (eds) Textbook of Addiction Treatment: International Perspectives. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-5322-9_41

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-5322-9_41

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Milano

  • Print ISBN: 978-88-470-5321-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-88-470-5322-9

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