Alcohol and other drug use disorders are the top public health problem in most middle and high income countries around the world. To address these challenges, most societies provide a variety of formal professionally directed treatment and recovery support services as well as a cadre of community-based recovery support options. Alcoholics Anonymous is by far the world's largest addiction recovery support organization and professional treatments have been developed and implemented to link patients with these resources to help prevent relapse and sustain remission. Until recently, little was known from a rigorous scientific standpoint regarding the efficacy of clinically delivered treatments designed to engage patients with AA (so called, Twelve-Step Facilitation [TSF] treatments) or the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness of AA and the therapeutic mechanisms through which AA confers benefits. This talk will review the latest science on AA, TSF treatments, cost-benefits, and mechanisms, and discuss the implications for clinical implementation.

After attending the session, participants will be able to:

(1) Describe the state of the science on AA, 12-step treatments, and cost-effectiveness along with the three major therapeutic mechanisms through which AA has been shown to confer recovery benefits; and,

(2) Discuss how AA can work differently for different people despite conferring similar magnitude of benefit.