so today we're gonna be talking about a new study on a a success rate so make
sure that you stay tuned what is up everybody this is Chris from the rewired
soul where we talk about the problem but focus on the solution so Vox just
published a story about new studies around the AA success rates and other
12-step programs and there is a reason why I keep using air quotes for the word
study and let's dive into this so I came across this because there's a podcast
where I listen to it's mainly political but when you talk about this I was just
like oh my god like I lost I lost so much respect for him okay
because you can tell like he's a very smart and intelligent guy very smart but
you could tell he pretty much just read the headline of this he already had a
bias towards 12-step programs and then he kind of just ran with it and did this
clip I'm like no no no you can't you can't do that
so I felt like it was time to chime in and talk about this I left some comments
on the video from his podcast and I got a bunch of hate and things like that but
whatever let's talk about it here so first I won't start out by saying this
granted that you haven't turned this video off like this my clients at my
rehab know that I am extremely extremely open minded about recovery one saying
that I have is I do not care what program you work just as long as you
work a program that is my catchphrase that is what I always say I would be a
downright liar if I see looked you in the eyes and said 12-step programs are
the only way to stay sober it's a bold-faced lie I know plenty of
people who don't use it did it save my life yes but it would be a lot to tell
you that it's the only way that works but I take issue when people write these
articles and they try to talk down about these programs and they are just not
well founded in any way shape or form so like I highly suggest that you check out
a video from last week tonight by John Oliver I love that
but you did a whole episode on scientific studies and it's amazing and
you should really really watch it because the word studies or research is
thrown around left and right and the criteria to meet that is very very low
for example they'll say a new study found this and they like studied like
two people like are you gonna take any scientific evidence based off of like
two people no you want it to be hundreds if not thousands of people for to get a
very clear view of this thing you know what I'm saying but anyways I'm gonna
jump into the article now and please do me a favor like if you take anything
away from this video please share it like my don't like how people are
getting turned away from the program just based on ignorance or poorly
written articles so please share this video and spread some awareness okay
anyways let's jump into it so the Fox article starts out by saying this what
the study found the study conducted by the alcohol research group at the Public
Health Institute in California and published last month in the Journal of
substance abuse treatment surveyed more than 600 people with alcohol use
disorder AUD who were divided by which multiple
help group they primarily participated in researchers followed up at six months
and then 12 months measuring involvement in the groups and various substance use
outcomes including abstinence from drinking and alcohol related problems
after controlling for several factors the researchers concluded that women for
sobriety life ring and smart are as effective as 12-step groups for those
with a u DS okay so the first thing I had to do so I've heard of women for
sobriety I've also heard of smart recovery neither of which I have an
issue with but the first thing was I thought was like what the heck is life
free so I did a quick Google search and I checked out life ring and according to
the life ring website there are meetings but there are meetings available right
now in ten states in ten states okay so this is one of the issues that I have
one of the issues I have when people are down
being on 12-step programs is that the availability for these alternatives is
not there like hopefully they are there hopefully they get there like if any of
you know me like I love refuge recovery I love that program I'm all about
Buddhist philosophy and meditation I love refuge recovery but it's hard for
me to promote it because it's not available everywhere okay so I feel that
it's a disservice to say like oh the success rates in this or just as well
when there's a very lack of availability like as it stands you can go to pretty
much any country on earth and any major city and some like medium-sized cities
and you'll automatically find a 12-step program that's how available they are so
like when trying to promote these other programs that are very limited like I
find an issue with that because the lack of availability and like let's just put
it this way too what if this was a whole nother scenario where it involves money
right like this is the best treatment you can get you know am i promoting all
this stuff but it costs money you know that that one of the reason why I talk
about these 12-step programs because there's some people who say well this
type of treatment works better than 12-step programs okay well I don't know
if you got the memo but most drug addicts and alcoholics have lost
everything including health insurance like my rehab the one I work with like
it cost about $30,000 out-of-pocket so like if you've destroyed your life the
way I did you're not coming up with $30,000 so that's why I feel like it's
not okay to like talk down about 12-step programs when they are the easiest to
access now like I will touch on this pretty soon in this video like you know
hopefully these other programs do expand so we could do more proper research but
anyways getting now let's talk about smart recovery small recovery for those
of you who don't know is based on cognitive behavioral therapy which is
evidence-based treatment and I will make a more dedicated video on smart recovery
but to put in perspective for you about smart recovery Las Vegas where I live
the city of Las Vegas has about a thousand a thousand that's not an
exaggeration thousand 12-step meetings every single
week 1000 okay now think about where I live
Las Vegas Nevada a city that is designed to kill people like me drug addicts and
alcoholics and there are thousand meetings okay you could find them 24
hours a day now here in Las Vegas a pretty big city a city that needs
recovery there are two to smart recovery meetings okay so again availability is
the issue so another clip that I took from this
article it says this again the study is not the final word John Kelly
an addiction researcher at Harvard Medical School was not involved in the
study told me that the study is quote unquote good news in general but pointed
out that it's limited by its methodology is based on an online survey not the
kind of randomized trial that's typically the gold standard in research
that may have led to some potentially biased results perhaps participants in
specific groups were less likely to report outcomes for instance so that's
another issue remember how I said this guy in the podcast a big huge podcast
like the dude half million subscribers so to put this information out there for
something that is blatantly saying that this is not a proper study it kills me
it kills me because it says this more than once
in the article like this is not a proper study like first off it's from an online
survey okay like I will also link in the description a video I did a while back
on a a success rates like one issue is honesty but the other thing they bring
up is bias okay like that is a big issue like for people to run with this run
with the headline or just like the cliffnotes of this thing and say like oh
these other programs work just as well like this was nowhere near a proper
study like this might as well have been like a high school like a science
project you know what I mean by this did not meet the gold standard of studies
one of the other issues that this encounters is the version of success
okay so we're talking about success rates
well there's there automatically a problem because 12-step
programs they talk about abstinence okay so success is abstaining then you have
programs like small recovery that sometimes not all smart recovery
meetings but some of them promote harm reduction which means success is
drinking or using less than you were okay so the standard of success is not
equal that is another issue when you're talking about success rate alright I
hope that makes sense this next clip that I've heard from the pulled from the
article says this the u.s. is far from that at the moment most treatment
facilities in America are according to the survey data and research at least
partly based on 12 steps making it the only option for many people while
alternatives like smart or life ring do exist they're not nearly as available as
AAA and they certainly aren't built into professional treatment programs in the
same way as the 12 steps so let me explain why and this is something I
explain to my clients all the time okay so the Affordable Care Act ACA this has
made it so all insurance companies must provide treatment for people with
addictions as well as mental health issues all insurance providers must do
this but here's the catch insurance providers get to decide which treatment
programs they they cover okay so what they use is is that go based off
evidence-based treatment okay evidence-based treatment is treatment
methods that are scientifically proven scientifically proven to help people
recover from drug and alcohol addiction stay with me
okay so for example the rehab that I work at is based around 12-step programs
okay there's a lot of other forms of therapies evidence-based therapies and
things like that but we're largely based around 12-step programs so let's let's
put these things together okay people who 99.9% of the people who come
to my rehab have insurance so based on what I just told you why will insurance
cover my rear because we're using evidence-based
treatment but we're a treatment center that works around 12:00 a 12-step model
okay so if you've been able to like kind of put this together do a little
Sherlock Holmes 12-step programs are scientifically proven to help people
scientifically proven other programs smart recovery life ring these other
options hey even one of my favorites refuge recovery there is no scientific
evidence behind it yes 12-step programs like AAA started in
the 1930s it had a lot more time but you have to realize this so when talking
about success rates we need to make this very clear science has proven that those
who work these programs have much better chances of staying clean okay so that's
something like I feel like I have to come out here and I set the record
straight on some of these studies and some of these things because ultimately
what's happening is you know there are some people out there who like look mom
this article from vogue says they're 12-step programs aren't all that great
what should I go to them like there are people out there doing that so without
an argument against that people are give it to just gonna take that and run with
it you know what I mean so it's important that we really look at this we
break them down it's important like I again I encourage all of you to check
out that video from the John Oliver last week tonight episode about scientific
studies because like for example like you gotta understand news reporters like
for lack of better words studies or like their their their cocaine their drugs
their math you know what I mean like when they there's a new study out let's
do let's do a report on that you know what I mean so you got to be very
careful with these studies that you're looking at and you kind of gotta pay
attention don't just be a headline reader really go in there and say huh
was this a proper study you know what I mean because news outlets like Fox and
other places they'll find stuff like this and they'll just roll with it you
know what I'm saying but anyways like I said please share this video share it so
we can get some awareness out there about what's really going on like I said
I'm not something like AAA or in a thumper or anything I'm very open minded
about what program people work I just want to get the truth out there so we
can honestly look at stuff you know what I mean but anyways I
would love to know what your thoughts are I will link to the Vox article in
the description but leave a comment down below let me know what your thoughts are
okay but anyways if you liked this video give it a thumbs up if you're new here
I'm always talking about addiction recovery mental health and all that good
stuff so click that subscribe button you can also click or tap on one of those
thumbnails check out some other videos on this channel alright so thanks so
much for watching make sure you're investigating these studies and I'll see
you next time