The Power and Promise of AA: Can It Also Help Beat Depression?

With 2 million members belonging to 116,000 groups and a 75-year history, Alcoholics Anonymous is the mother of all 12-step programs guiding scores of people to sobriety. But some scientists wondered: can this approach ease the depression that often accompanies alcoholism? The answer is a resounding yes, but the suspected reason may surprise you.

It's been long accepted that people with alcohol issues often experience depression along with mood swings. But, what hasn't been known until this study was just reported in the journal Addiction, is that attending AA meetings actually lowered depression levels and improved moods overall. In fact, the 1700 participants who attended more AA meetings over the 15 month period of the study, had significantly less depression, as well as less frequent and intensive drinking. So it appears the bottom line is, if people feel less depressed, there is less reason to drink in the first place.

And researchers believe it could be the social aspect of the AA meetings — the kinship, camaraderie and the coffee — that enhances the members' overall sense of well-being and keeps their depression in check. We are, after all, social beings and we all need other people in order to be healthy and thrive. We just feel better when we’re around other people. The recent PBS series This Emotional Life found scientific evidence for this — and for what many of us have always intuitively known — the best part of life is the people we share it with.

"Perhaps the social aspect of AA helps people feel better psychologically and emotionally as well as stop drinking," says study author John Kelly, Ph.D., associate director of Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Addiction Medicine. "Most treatment programs refer patients to AA or similar 12-step groups, and now clinicians can tell patients that, along with supporting abstinence, attending meetings can help improve their mood. Who wouldn't want that?"

Photo by Mike (Inbet_1979) via Flickr