Do self-help meetings make a difference to recovery rates?

People trying to manage a substance misuse problem have long been recommended to attend self-help meetings, but they may wonder just how big an impact this will have on their success in stopping using. 

In an 8-year-long study finally published in 2008, researchers examined the relationship between the number of AA meetings that people attended each week and the percentage of days of abstinence they achieved ( PDA ).

As you can see from the graph, attending just *one* meeting per week had a massive impact on the success of stopping drinking, and this effect was even more substantial for two and three meetings per week. 

If you are at a point where you are considering the need for help, here is one thing that you can do that will *significantly* improve your chances of recovery. 

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