[72] He took a sip and felt Susan Cheever,
[73] Wilson invited him over Ibid.
[74] At that moment, he later wrote Ernest Kurtz,
[75] An estimated 2.1 million people Data provided by AA General Service Office Staff, based on 2009 figures.
[76] as many as 10 million alcoholics Getting firm figures on AA’s membership or those who have achieved sobriety through the program is notoriously difficult, in part because membership is anonymous and in part because there is no requirement to register with a central authority. However, the 10 million person figure, based on conversations with AA researchers, seems reasonable (if unverifiable) given the program’s long history.
[77] What’s interesting about AA In psychology, this kind of treatment-targeting habits-is often referred to under the umbrella term of “cognitive behavioral therapy,” or in an earlier era, “relapse prevention.” CBT, as it is generally used within the treatment community, often incorporates five basic techniques: (1) Learning, in which the therapist explains the illness to the patient and teaches the patient to identify the symptoms; (2) Monitoring, in which the patient uses a diary to monitor the behavior and the situations triggering it; (3) Competing response, in which the patient cultivates new routines, such as relaxation methods, to offset the problematic behavior; (4) Rethinking, in which a therapist guides the patient to reevaluate how the patient sees situations; and (5) Exposing, in which the therapist helps the patient expose him-or herself to situations that trigger the behavior.
[78] What AA provides instead Writing about AA is always a difficult proposition, because the program has so many critics and supporters, and there are dozens of interpretations for how and why the program works. In an email, for instance, Lee Ann Kaskutas, a senior scientist at the Alcohol Research Group, wrote that AA indirectly “provides a method for attacking the habits that surround alcohol use. But that is via the people in AA, not the program of AA. The program of AA attacks the base problem, the alcoholic ego, the self- centered, spiritually bereft alcoholic.” It is accurate, Kaskutas wrote, that AA provides solutions for alcoholic habits, such as the slogans “go to a meeting if you want to drink,” and “avoid slippery people, places, and things.” But, Kaskutas wrote, “The slogans aren’t the program. The program is the steps. AA aims to go much deeper than addressing the habit part of drinking, and AA founders would argue that attacking the habit is a half measure that won’t hold you in good stead; you will eventually succumb to drink unless you change more basic things.” For more on the explorations of AA’s science, and debates over the program’s effectiveness, see C. D. Emrick et al., “Alcoholics Anonymous: What Is Currently Known?” in B. S. McCrady and W. R. Miller, eds.,
[79] sitting in bed Kurtz,
[80] He chose the number twelve I am indebted to Brendan I. Koerner for his advice, and to his article, “Secret of AA: After 75 Years, We Don’t Know How It Works,”
[81] step three, which says Alcoholics Anonymous World Services,
[82] Because of the program’s lack Arthur Cain, “Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure?”
[83] “It’s not obvious from the way they’re written” Emrick et al., “Alcoholics Anonymous: What Is Currently Known?”; J. S. Tonigan, R. Toscova, and W. R. Miller, “Meta-analysis of the Literature on Alcoholics Anonymous: Sample and Study Characteristics Moderate Findings,”
[84] One particularly dramatic demonstration Heinze et al., “Counteracting Incentive Sensitization in Severe Alcohol Dependence Using Deep Brain Stimulation of the Nucleus Accumbens: Clinical and Basic Science Aspects,”
