Although recent evidence suggests that addictive behavior mutual help groups may work by similar mechanisms, the surface appeal of different groups remains important or very important to many mutual help participants or potential participants. Presentation will 1) review the surface differences between SMART Recovery as a self-empowering approach to change, and AA and other 12-step groups as powerlessness based approaches, 2) overview the evidence about the underlying similarities of these and other mutual help groups, and their effectiveness relative to formal treatment, 3) describe the SMART organization and its related services, 4) describe typical SMART meeting formats and the overall manner and style of SMART meetings (which are significantly different than AA meetings in several ways), and 5) review the scientific evidence about SMART's effectiveness.
References:
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Horvath, A.T., & Yeterian, J. (2012). SMART Recovery: Self-empowering, science-based addiction recovery support. J. of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 7, 102-117.
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Rettie, H.C., Hogan, L.M., & Cox, W.M. (2021). Identifying the main components of substance-related addiction recovery groups. Substance Use & Misuse, 56(6), 840-847. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2021.1899228
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