Secular Recovery Resources

Why recovering from addiction without religion is so important.

Not everyone who is addicted to drugs, alcohol or whatever is religious. And this turns out to be a problem because the most common addiction program is faith based.  The other kind of rather important problem with AA formatted faith based groups is that they don’t really work.

It turns out they are faith based, not science based. This isn't to say that people don’t get sober after joining these groups, they do. It’s just that the efficacy of this groups hasn't been proven. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16856072?ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum) 

No treatment seems to be as effective as treatment.  According to Harvard – lots of people just “get over it” and stop being addicted – or self treat. (see: http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html - for a run down of all this research).  The real problem is that people who go through AA are more likely to binge drink when they fall off the wagon – and the rate they do so is higher than people who have no treatment at all, which means, these faith based programs aren't just not effective, they are counterproductive.

So, what’s a good science minded addict to do? Self treat?  Well, sure, you can and most people do – successfully. But if you are looking for help – go with Rational Behavior Therapy – or RBT for short.  It has better outcomes than no treatment.

Here are some secular RBT type recovery groups to choose from. This list is taken from:  http://www.addictionrecoveryguide.org/resources/recovery/rational_and_secular







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