Our discussion of "The sober truth"

I was pleasantly surprised when our discussion ended. Because, I thought the book was pretty straight forward, and the author did a good job of telling us "why" AA does not work for most people. But our discussion really morphed into a discussion of addiction as a response to a bigger problem versus a habitual response. One person said that you can decide to stop drinking (or whatever destructive behavior you engage in) but that won't fix what's wrong with you. And yes, the 12-step programs do work for some, but with success rates of 5 to 8 percent and the lack of definitive studies done of what really actually works to help people beat their addictions, it's hard to validate the results. The real issue is there is no "science" behind the way AA does its work, and unfortunately many rehab centers also follow the 12-step doctrine. So, finding a program that will work can be a real crap shoot, and expensive one at that. So, what really works? There is no definitive answer to that question. What works for one person may not work for another. Trying to quit you addiction on your own may be successful for you, or you may need one-on-one counseling to get through. It's different for everyone. Thankfully, the author does not try to say there is a failsafe method that works for everyone. He just wants us to consider that there is another way, other than AA.