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A treatment program for adolescents with substance-use disorder that incorporates the practices and philosophy of 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) produced even better results than the current state-of-the art treatment approach in a nine-month, randomized trial. The results of the study, led by a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) psychologist, are being published online in the journal Addiction.
“While all adolescents can improve when they receive well-articulated substance-use disorder treatment, we showed that adding a 12-step component to standard cognitive-behavioral and motivational strategies produced significantly greater reductions in substance-related consequences during and in the months following treatment,” says John Kelly, PhD, director of the Recovery Research Institute in the MGH Department of Psychiatry, who led the study. “It also produced higher rates of 12-step meeting participation, which was associated with longer periods of continuous abstinence.”
While it is common for adolescent…
