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The Minnesota 12 steps model claims to cure drug addiction, but doesn't deeply deal with the personality structure underlying addiction. We know today how addiction is a problem with an enormous range of factors causing it, being personality or/and psychopathology and coping strategies some of the most important.

The method uses 12 steps to free individuals from drugs, but it doesn't use any deep approach to their personalities and its duration is also too short to do it ("The primary care program was intended to last up to 60 days in a residential setting", " "insurance companies then set 28 days as a reimbursement guideline in order to ensure sufficient coverage"(1). There is even little evidence that this model is effective, and it received criticisms.

Hence my questions:

  • Is it really producing changes, or only temporary changes which can collapse every time that personality is challenged?
  • Can it be realistically expected that the individuals treated by this method have their personalities really transformed and would never feel the necessity of consuming drugs, or have other type of addictive behaviours?

(1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64351/

Christian Hummeluhr
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Di Ana
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    Would you mind providing links and/or background information to clarify your question? – Keegan Keplinger Apr 29 '14 at 23:24
  • Your question received a lot of close votes for "unclear what you are asking". I have tried to restructure your post, isolated the questions from the background, added more tags, and a link. If I changed the intent of your question then please roll-back or make more edits. You also make a claim in your question ("its duration is also too short to do it") without any evidence. Please provide a reference for this claim, or remove it. – Artem Kaznatcheev May 01 '14 at 22:18
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    Thanks you for your help in the edition of the question. I will try to clarify the aspects you have mentioned. – Di Ana May 01 '14 at 22:23
  • @ArtemKaznatcheev: "If I changed the internet of your question" :D Mobile app autocorrect? – Nick Stauner May 01 '14 at 22:29
  • @NickStauner I wish I could blame it on that, but I am on my laptop and it was just me doing too many things at once and not paying attention to what my fingers were typing. It is pretty common for me. – Artem Kaznatcheev May 01 '14 at 22:33
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    Maybe this link can also be helpful: http://www.minnpost.com/mental-health-addiction/2014/03/aa-and-twelve-steps-come-another-drubbing – Di Ana May 01 '14 at 23:27

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Grønbæk and Nielsen (2007) conducted a randomized, controlled study of the Minnesota model for treating alcohol dependence in Denmark. 148 alcohol dependent individuals participated. The study reported a significant difference in alcohol abstinence between control and treatment groups when data was aggregated over the one-year period. However, by the end of the one-year followup period, this difference had disappeared. They concluded:

Twelve months after onset of treatment, the Minnesota day clinic treatment does not differ in effect from the much cheaper ‘standard’ public treatment. However, patients in Minnesota treatment were total abstainers throughout a longer period.

References

  • Grønbæk, M., & Nielsen, B. (2007). A randomized controlled trial of Minnesota day clinic treatment of alcoholics. Addiction, 102(3), 381-388.
Christian Hummeluhr
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