AA Works as Aftercare

Alcoholics Anonymous after Treatment: Attendance and Abstinence

Follow-up data on 900 inpatients at eight hospital-based chemical dependency treatment centers demonstrate a high correlation between total abstinence 6 months after discharge and weekly attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous during this period.

Almost three-fourths (73%) of the regular attendees remained chemically free, compared with one-third (33%) of the nonattendees.

These data suggest that Alcoholics Anonymous is an appropriate and beneficial aftercare for the majority of treatment inpatients.

Alcoholics Anonymous after Treatment Substance Use & Misuse 1983, Vol. 18, No. 3, Pages 311-318. Norman G. Hoffmann , Patricia Ann Harrison and Carol A. Belille