AA is presented as only way without hardly any evidence.
Recovery seems to have no end point.

What's you're point? You brought up AA.

AA claims a 100% success rate IF you work for it which means going to meetings and doing the 12 steps under the guidance of your AA sponsor.

The 90% you are talking about are the ones who didn't do that.

Here is a video which will help you understand how it works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoO3h_HYcDw

there is also secular recovery program that I recently found....but I am an AA guy....and I work within the twelve step programs of three different programs now.....but I did support a friend who has started a secular recovery program here in my town....last night I was shopping on Kindle app I have on Iphone and saw they actually have a book on kindle from secular recovery....some people cannot overcome the ties to God within the AA or other 12 step programs.....

good luck on keeping the plug in the jug....I would never suggest trying to moderate....your right it is poison.....enough of it will kill you....over one night or twenty years.....just drinking too much is not good.....

To each their own and I wouldn't be surprised if we all have some combination of things that help keep us sober.

If you can find statistics on success rates for different methods to stay sober then sure, try the one with the best rate first and move down the line if it doesn't work.

Moderation management sounds like something that might be more appropriate for people who aren't alcoholics as alcoholics cannot successfully drink in moderation...at least not that I've seen. But if someone is finding they are drinking too much, maybe that might work.

Why don't you like AA? I'm all about everyone doing what works for them and I didn't like the idea of AA but I figured if so many people suggested it, it wouldn't hurt to try.

Plus, 10% is better than 0 which is the success rate of doing nothing.

I hope the alternative methods work for you and I will try to check them out as I do think it's good to keep an open mind and expand our resource base. Thanks for the info.

I suppose I have an image or view in my head that if I completely turn my back on booze it will be because I think it's a poision for everybody. Thus why go to meetings x years after giving something up ?
Going to meetings becomes an addiction.
However I emphasis whatever works for you. Don't fix it if it ain't broke.
There is secular groups like lifering. One thing I like about lifering is you can comment on what other people say.
I'm a naturally skeptical person..we just had a housing crash. Took 10 years for Ireland to recover.. Everybody said we would have a soft landing. Bull.
Anyway I'm glad people are willing to debate. I was afraid I would be run out of town

I got sober in AA 10 1/2 years ago, after a friend brought me to AA, and these days I go to meetings 4 times a week. I really would not be doing very well without the meetings. Perhaps I would still be physically sober, but I need the human contact and support from my fellow AA's, or I would be quite miserable. I suppose going to meetings might be an "addiction," but I certainly believe it to be a positive addiction, like my daily walking or hiking for battling depression. For me to continue having a much better life, and thinking and acting like an adult, the success rate in AA that is most important to me is mine. Chapter 2 of the 1939 book "Alcoholics Anonymous" is entitled "There Is A Solution." Note the third and fourth words, A Solution. Most of my AA friends are pretty much "Live and Let Live" types, and would wish people well no matter how they got and stayed sober.

100% success with AA - sober since 07/04/2004 after successfully completing the program of recovery as outlined as the "12 Steps". My husband also has 100% success with AA - sober 27 years this 09/02.

No one I know touts AA as the "only option". However, when I ask people how they achieved sobriety and how they maintain their sobriety, the answer is most likely "AA".

Since I completed the program, I don't go to any meetings - I am recovered. Year after years of meetings is not required. However, as with my physical health, should I ever start feeling "ill", I know I can easily get a "check up" at a local AA meeting.

AA has no "verified" success rates because AA doesn't has admissions forms, case managers, administrators to monitor the progress of anyone who walks into the rooms of AA.

I wonder what the "success rate" of other methods of recovery are if they were included all those who voluntarily leave rehab or other recovery groups without completion of the program? Or the people who visit the facility and then decide "it's not for me"?

I did not achieve successful long-term recovery after attending 3 different rehab programs (including court-ordered admission) and inpatient admission to a pysch hospital. So 0% success with those recovery methods.

But I have been 100% sober and happy since I completed the 12 Steps of AA. That's the only "success rate" that matters to me.

PS. The Big Book of AA makes a distinction between "heavy drinkers" and alcoholics. AA maintains that heavy drinkers may be successful in moderating or managing their alcohol consumption. And "hats off" to them. AA is not aimed at heavy drinkers. AA is aimed at alcoholics - men and women who have lost their ability to control their drinking.

I'm curious - have you even attempted AA's program of recovery?

Me ? Yes

I wish you the best in pursuing recovery, whatever method you decide is best for you.

For me there had to be a change inside me. I stopped many times only to decide not drinking was worse than drinking. Only this time 7 years ago I found that I was the problem and I used alcohol to hide from myself.
Best of luck. It’s not like shopping for dinner at the market, it’s more like growing food in a garden, it takes effort and time. You have to put in effort and my experience is most alcoholics are not willing to make changes and so keep doing the same thing, drinking while life just slips away

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My success has been possible because I KNEW it was time to change. I pursue steady practice of physical/emotional/spiritua health because I want to be a better person for myself and those around me. Now that I know how wonderful a sober life is If I ever did relapse I would be to the first aa meeting weather I liked it or not. I’m pretty sure that any success is what you choose to create. Just like the exercise ritual I maintain (that feels like work a lot of the time), I can’t argue with the results. Cause and effect. Are you shopping around for a cure while avoiding the decision to heal yourself? No offense but I thought I’d ask to shift your perception. I would love to see everyone who wants to stop drinking have success. The disease is in our minds and will manifest in the easiest way. If not alcohol it would be some other form. Seek mental health by learning how to be the witness to your own thoughts and actions. Being vigilant can show us everything we need to know about ourselves. Meditation is powerful medicine. If not now, when?

Thank you all

Well said, finallyawakenow. I head to my early Sunday morning AA meeting in a couple of hours, but rereading all of the above posts has been very helpful. Thanks.