These novel findings are from a 10-year, prospective investigation led by Maria Pagano, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and principal investigator of the \u201cHelping Others\u201d study (http:\/\/helpingotherslivesober.org). Dr. Pagano and colleagues evaluated the decade long of treatment outcomes using data from a single site in Project MATCH, the largest multi-site randomized clinical trial on behavioral treatments of alcoholism sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. In a large sample with high representation of Hispanic problem drinkers, this study investigated the 10-year course and impact of programmatic activities in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) on long-term outcomes. Results showed that participation in Alcoholics Anonymous-related Helping (AAH) produced lowered alcohol use and increased interest in others at each subsequent follow-up assessment.<\/p>\n \u201cOur study is the first to explore the 10-year course of engagement in programmatic 12-step activities and their simultaneous influence on long-term outcomes,\u201d says Dr. Pagano. \u201cThe AAH findings suggest the importance of getting active in service, which can be in a committed 2-month AA service position or as simple as sharing one\u2019s personal experience in recovery to another fellow sufferer.\u201d<\/p>\n This study also found that alcoholics engaged in AAH did more step-work and attended more meetings than those not helping others. In effect, AAH strengthens the commitment to the program that many newcomers have difficulty with in the beginning.<\/p>\n \u201cConsequently, being interested in others keeps you more connected to your program and pulls you out of the vicious cycle of extreme self-preoccupation that is a posited root of addiction<\/strong>,\u201d says Dr. Pagano.<\/p>\n Dr. Pagano\u2019s continued research in this area is exploring whether or not similar patterns emerge among minors in recovery.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the Case Western Reserve University press release via Newswise: A new study published in a special issue of Substance Abuse finds that recovering alcoholics who help others in 12-step… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[21,185,245,12,305],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6175"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6216,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6175\/revisions\/6216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Alcoholic](\"http:\/\/www.therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/Alcohol2.jpg\")
A new study published in a special issue of Substance Abuse <\/em>finds that recovering alcoholics who help others in 12-step programs furthers their time sober, consideration for others, step-work, and long-term meeting attendance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n