Alcoholics Anonymous 5 percent success rate.

Based on information from Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

According to Alcoholics Anonymous it has a 5 percent success rate. A brief intervention such as the Jude Thaddeus Home Recovery Program has a 30 percent success rate. The six-week Jude Thaddeus Program at the Saint Jude Retreat House offers a 65 percent success rate. And three months in the Jude Thaddeus Extended Education Program (www.soberforever.org) provides a 65 percent success rate. So why on earth would anybody go to Alcoholics Anonymous or any other 12-step program?

One may argue that A.A. is free. But is it? Going back to rehab every so often is hardly free. Moreover, free is not always a bargain - the old adage "you get what you pay for" is probably a good idea to keep in mind. Consider that a brief intervention with (or without) additional support from the Jude Thaddeus Home Recovery Program is six times more likely to help you get off and stay off alcohol and other drugs than attending A.A. or any other 12-step based program.

Doesn't it make sense to give the $109 solution a try before committing additional time and money to other solutions? If after trying the Jude Thaddeus Home Recovery Program, you find that you would like more help, then you should consider attending six weeks at the Saint Jude Retreat. If still more help is needed an extended program with the Jude Thaddeus Extended Educational Program may be right for you. The point is that you and only you can know the kind and amount of help you will need to be successful in your recovery.

You certainly may be skeptical about the programs recommended here because they are not in the mainstream of current treatment for alcoholism and drug addiction. That, however, is just the point. These programs - Jude Thaddeus Home Recovery Program, Saint Jude Retreat, and Jude Thaddeus Extended Educational Program, are alternatives to treatment, rehabilitation, counseling, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics AnonymousTM, other 12-step programs, and medications. As such, the Jude Thaddeus Home Recovery Program, Saint Jude Retreat, and Jude Thaddeus Extended Educational Program have different success rates from treatment, rehabilitation, counseling, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics AnonymousTM, other 12-step programs, and medications. As the table above illustrates, the success rates for the Jude Thaddeus Home Recovery Program, Saint Jude Retreat, and Jude Thaddeus Extended Educational Program are higher - much higher.

Still, Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step based programs are touted as the most successful programs for drug and alcohol problems. So what is the truth? Please consider this:

There is a popular book out these days entitled You Are Being Lied To, The Disinformation Guide To Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes And Cultural Myths. In it, there is an article entitled "AA Lies" authored by Charles Bufe2 that is summarized this way: "In contrast to what you've heard over and over again in the media (and from AA's often-hidden spokespersons) this is the truth about AA:

1. AA is not only far from the only way to deal with an alcohol problem, but the best available scientific evidence indicates that it is ineffective.

2. AA began its life - for its first several years - as part of the Protestant evangelical group, the Oxford Group Movement, not as an independent organization.

3. AA's co-founder, Bill Wilson, did not independently devise AA's "program," its 12 steps. Instead, he merely codified the central Oxford Group Movement beliefs.

4. AA is religious, not spiritual. That is obvious. Even several appeal-level courts have ruled as such.

5. AA relies upon coercion to bring it a majority of its new members, and AA members take an active part in much of that coercion.

6. The 12-step treatment is essentially institutionalized AA.

7. AA employs front groups and hidden members in the media to do its dirty work for it on matters of "public controversy."
It is not our intent here to detract from any good that someone may have experienced by attending or becoming a member of AA. We are merely presenting our own and others' experience and facts as we understand them for the purpose of providing accurate information and as an explanation as to why alternative programs such as the Jude Thaddeus Home Recovery Program, Saint Jude Retreat, and Jude Thaddeus Extended Educational Program are not only needed, but are, indeed, the hope for the future for those experiencing drug and alcohol problems.

So, why not give this solution a try? The worst that can happen is at the end of the program you will know a great deal more about your problem, even though you may decide that you want additional help. Still you would have begun the process of success - and that's better than not beginning. And, of course, the best case scenario is that you would find happiness and success in a sober life. The worst is pretty good and the best is: well, just great!

Footnote TM: Narcotics Anonymous is a registered trademark of Narcotics Anonymous.
Footnote 2: "AA Lies was written especially for this volume [You Are Being Lied To, The Disinformation Guide To Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes And Cultural Myths]. "Alcoholism is not a disease" by Charles Bufe is excerpted from Resisting 12-Step Coercion: How To Fight Forced Participation in AA, NA, or 12-Step Treatment by Stanton Peele Ph.D. J.D. and Charles Bufe with Archie Brodsky (See Sharp Press, 2000)".

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