Playset with trees and leaves Over 2 years 50% of 12-Step treated addicted people were clean and sober. In contrast only 37% of non-12-Step based addicts were clean and sober.

Additionally, 12-Step treatment cost 30% less in healthcare fees.

Accumulating evidence indicates that addiction and psychiatric treatment programs that actively promote self-help group involvement can reduce their patients’ health care costs in the first year after treatment. But such initially impressive effects may wane over time.

The researchers examined whether the higher success and reduced health care costs obvious at 1 year after treatment were maintained at 2-year after treatment began. They were!

The 12-step–based programs placed substantially more emphasis on;

  • 12-step concepts,
  • had more staff members "in recovery,"
  • had a more spiritually oriented treatment environment, and
  • promoted self-help group involvement much more extensively than did the other programs.

The 2-year follow-up assessed patients’ substance use, psychiatric functioning, self-help group affiliation, and mental health care utilization and costs.

The researchers concluded that,

“Promoting self-help group involvement appears to improve treatment success while reducing the costs of continuing care. Even cost offsets that somewhat diminish over the long term can yield substantial savings.

Actively promoting self-help group involvement may therefore be a useful clinical practice for helping addicted patients recover in a time of constrained fiscal resources.”

Reference; Keith Humphreys, Rudolf H. Moos (2007) Encouraging Posttreatment Self-Help Group Involvement to Reduce Demand for Continuing Care Services: Two-Year Clinical and Utilization Outcomes Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 31 (1), 64–68.

See also;

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Related Reading:

Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America's Greatest Tragedy
Under the Influence: A Guide to the Myths and Realities of Alcoholism
If You Loved Me, You'd Stop! What You Really Need to Know When Your Loved One Drinks Too Much
A Clinician's Guide to 12-Step Recovery: Integrating 12-Step Programs into Psychotherapy