AA should not be the frontline referral for every client with alcohol issues

12-stepA couple of weeks ago, we took a quote about alcohol treatment (AA, specifically) from Saving Psychotherapy and put it in an Instagram and Facebook post. It didn’t go well!

You can see our post there to the right. That was the image we shared. Here’s a sampling of how people responded:

  • I find this to be a dangerous overgeneralization.
  • Be careful with this. Lives are at stake.
  • This is just wrong!!
  • Dangerous, irresponsible statement!

Not only do we stand by the quote, the finding itself isn’t especially controversial in the world of research on treatment for substance use disorders. It’s mostly controversial among professionals who don’t want it to be true.

Read more