Volunteer Groups in the Treatment of Addictions; The Model of Alcoholics Anonymous

The failure of traditional medicine to provide assistance to the large and growing numbers of substance abusers, mostly alcoholics, during the 1930s and 1940s led to the appearance of many self-help groups. A group of recovering alcoholics in Ohio, borrowing elements from other self-help programs, formulated a program that spread rapidly throughout North America and then the world. Although aimed initially at alcoholics, many mixed substance abusers and other substance users have received benefit from the Alcoholics Anonymous program.