[MissionInfl]

Not meaning to diminish the role that 12 step recovery plays in the lives of many but given the impact that alcoholism medication had on my own life I can't help but mention it here. I used Naltrexone through The Sinclair Method and rewired my brain by continuing to drink for a year using the medication. I'm now multiple years sober. It took some extra time to deal with some emotional stuff, 12 steps will help you more there. But addressing the chemical addiction first worked well for me. See my comment history for more details.

[thewildginger]

I think most 12 step people who find success actually acknowledge what the psychiatrist is saying. Addiction isnt just one thing, often it can be a bunch of things, a big one being un-treated mental health problems like depression, anxiety, or even add/ADHD. It can be as he said feelings of powerlessness and displacing problems, like chemical procrastination of emotional processing. If that is a source of the issue it would make sense that addiction would be more common in society where emotions are not discussed or stigmatized but alcoholism is not.

This is all to say 12 steps isn't enough by itself and as far as I know most addicts in recovery stress that. I have known heroin addicts who are in recovery who go to meetings, but they also take meds, changed where they live, who they hang out with, media they consume, I even think they went to behavioral health therapy for a while to help change how they approach problems like stress, anger, communication, etc.