As Stanford University’s acclaimed psychologist Albert Bandura declared in a major research review, “alcohol abuse is not a monolithic condition with an inevitable progression” but rather, “a multi-determined pattern” varying from person to person in its severity and causation.

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I want to make this perfectly clear from the start. Although I am not an advocate for AA and 12-Step approaches, I would not discourage anyone from doing anything that might help them. I recognize that AA was revolutionary in 1935 and it has literally saved thousands of lives. I work at a rehab that offers AA and 12 Step programs. I work with people who had little success with these approaches. I work with people that have been successful with these approaches but whose lives are still in dismay. I work with a relapse prevention director that has been in AA for 30 years. I also know suffering. People with addictive behaviors are suffering. The idea that a non AA person does not understand their problems is faulty logic. If I had cancer, I don’t need to see a doctor who also has cancer. Drinking has been around for centuries. There is nothing unique about it. Suffering is universal. We all experience it and attempt to cope with it depending on our skill set, belief system, mind set and cultural influences.

However, our culture has been indoctrinated to believe that anyone that has problems related to drinking or drugs is necessarily a chronic and progressively disordered person that has no choice but to except that they have a biological disease from which recovery is life long. This is simply not true. If it were, the majority of college students and young adults that frequent clubs and party in excess would be considered to have serious alcohol and drug problems, but research shows that binge drinking behavior ceases for the majority of young adults once they leave college. It has been this way for generations.

Furthermore, addictions to eating, gambling, the Internet, shopping, relationships, or a variety of other behaviors are just that…behaviors that are used as coping methods to numb and mask psychological and emotional distress. While it is true that someone who becomes so preoccupied with the Internet that they no longer live a normal functional and productive life obviously has some brain related issues, it is unscientific, unproven and not very reasonable to define and conceptualize these types of addictive behaviors as diseases and treat them in the same way as drugs and alcohol.

AA and 12 Step programs are not the problem in the recovery industry. It is the reliance upon them to be a one size fits all treatment approach for all people for all addictive behaviors regardless of any or all circumstances that could logically explain someone’s need for their behavior. This has been the case for 50 years despite scientific research that has been conducted for decades and that concludes that all people are different and that a unitary disease model and the same treatment approaches are not suitable for everyone. That’s assuming they have been assessed and diagnosed properly from the start. Again, if you are someone that has benefited from these approaches, great. The reality is that most people do not, but unfortunately are forced into these forms of treatment because that is simply the way the system is set up. Many people need help. The rejection of one form of treatment should not be seen as non-compliance, or that a person is not ready to stop their behavior, rather, there needs to be additional options made available based on the latest information.

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