When did the 12 step program begin?
In the early 1800s, the temperance movement came to light. The temperance movement was a movement in which people abstained from drinking alcohol. There were temperance groups and organizations all throughout the country by the mid 1800s. In 1833, there were around 6,000 temperance societies in different states. The temperance movement eventually turned into prohibition in the 1920s.
The prohibition era was a time in the United States where alcoholism was criminalized. Alcoholism was a serious problem; it carried violence and instability. This was recognized by Bill Wilson, a man that realized that treating alcoholism in a hospital may not be enough to cure someone. Wilson attended a christian fellowship that took the liberty of talking about men’s flaws and sins in attempts to purify them. He overcame alcoholism and achieved sobriety in 1935 once he met Dr. Bob Smith. It was then that the two men created their own support group for alcoholism, which then became Alcoholics Anonymous. Bill Wilson wrote the Alcoholics Anonymous guide in 1939, and the “Big Book” includes the 12 steps to recovery. Most of the 12 step programs today still follow the original 12 steps that Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith created.
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Does it work?A study conducted by Campbell, Davis, Lieber and Tax (2002) found that those in treatment with a 12 step AA program were more successful in abstinence from alcohol than those with minimal treatment not involved in the AA program. According to Fiorentine (1999), those who attend an AA meeting once a week are more likely to abstain from alcohol than those who go less than once a week. According to Connors et al. (2001), regardless of inpatient or outpatient treatment, AA had a positive impact on abstinence in patients who are men. |