Self-help groups can complement and extend the effects of professional treatment.
Many times people confuse 12 step programs with clinical addiction treatment. While they are both trying to achieve the same goal, sobriety they are two distinctly different entities and strategies.
Clinical addiction treatment is provided by a, trained professionals, using empirically proven or driven strategies in therapies, and in some cases medication management treat addiction.
12 step programs, on the other hand are peer driven, offers social support, and are generally geared toward living a better, value driven a life that precludes the need for drugs or alcohol.
The most prominent self-help groups are those affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), and Cocaine Anonymous (CA), all of which are based on the 12-step model. Most drug addiction treatment programs encourage patients to participate in self-help group therapy during and after formal treatment. These groups can be particularly helpful during recovery, offering an added layer of community-level social support to help people achieve and maintain abstinence and other healthy lifestyle behaviors over the course of a lifetime.
