Drug treatment and 12-step program participation: the additive effects of integrated recovery activities.

The dramatic rise in the number of 12-step programs and participants raises questions concerning client participation in drug treatment and 12-step programs, and their separate and combined effects on recovery. The results of a treatment outcomes study indicate that rather than recovery alternatives, drug treatment and 12-step programs are utilized by the client as integrated recovery activities. Treatment participants with pretreatment 12-step involvement stayed in treatment longer, and were more likely to complete the 24-week program. Both pretreatment 12-step involvement and duration of participation in drug treatment are associated with subsequent 12-step involvement. Most importantly, there is an additive effect of these recovery activities in that those who participated concurrently in both drug treatment and 12-step programs had higher rates of abstinence than those who participated only in treatment or in 12-step programs.