Most of the drug rehabs today still use the 12 step model in some of their program. Even though the success rates of most 12 step programs such as A.A. or N.A. are rather poor, you certainly cannot knock the longevity of the program. If the success rates of 12 step still hover around that of essentially leaving the client on thier own, what is it that draws people back, even if they continue to relapse?
The prevalency of 12 step can be traced to several reasons, all of which play a role. Firstly 12 step programs are extremely cheap to give. Addiction is a condition that most of the time leaves the client in very dire financial conditions. No specail training of any kind is neccessary to give a 12 step program other than the ability to read the 12 steps out loud. In many cases there are little or no funds available to treat people with addiction. A program that costs virtually nothing to give would then have an advantage to say the least.
Another issue is one that is everywhere in our country. It is liability. Doctors and business alike operate under conditions of, "If it doesn't work out perfectly, somebody has to pay!" There is again virtually no liability running a 12 step program. If one of the core beliefs of a program is that you are powerless and your higher power is the only thing that will save you, well if it didn't work, I guess you can only blame the higher power.
There is a third reason why 12 step is still so popular. I personally think it is the most powerful one. It is that 12 step uses the power of the story better than anything else in the field. People are not moved by facts and figures. People are not moved by logic. Listen to the great polictical figures of our time, and when they call us to action, they use personal stories. Stories of overcoming obsticles at great odds have the ability to transform us, let us see ourselves in new better, even heroic circumstances. It is these stories that keep people coming back even with extremely low success rates. The other treatment modalities in the feild need to learn from this. Drug rehabs need to learn the power of the story.
