Hi Stanton,

I'm in an argument with a colleague who insists that the only way people
recover from alcoholism is to hit bottom and get sober in AA. Now I know
this is false and that most people recover on their own and in myriad other
ways but would like to be able to point him to research that delineates the
percentages of people who have been diagnosed with alcohol dependence
and how they report they recovered, e.g.:

On their own: 45%
Private therapy: 10%
AA: 9%
etc.

Are you aware of research like that?

Name withheld

Dear Name,

Yes I am. And your colleague is living in an alternative universe called "The American Recovery Movement." (Be careful - such individuals often react violently when presented with actual information.) In the real world, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) conducted interviews with a representative sample of 43,000 Americans in 2001-2002.  Called the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), its results are quoted at the NIAAA Web site: