Circles of Recovery

Self-help organizations across the world, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Croix D’Or, The Links, Moderation Management, Narcotics Anonymous, and SMART Recovery, have attracted tens of millions of individuals seeking to address addiction problems with drugs or alcohol. For the first time, this book provides an integrative, international review of research on these organizations, focusing in particular on the critical questions of how they affect individual members and whether self-help groups and formal health care systems can work together to combat substance abuse. Keith Humphreys reviews over 500 studies into the efficacy of self-help groups as an alternative and voluntary form of treatment. In addition to offering a critical, state-of-the-art review of the international body of research in this area, he provides practical strategies for how individual clinicians and treatment systems can interact with self-help organizations in a way that improves outcomes for patients and for communities as a whole.

Author Biography

DOB: April 11, 1966. Professor Humphreys has published more than 100 scientific articles, has received national and international awards for his work, and has served on expert consultant panels for The Center for Mental Health Services, The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, The Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research, The Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. He has also served as a consultant on mental health related issues to agencies in other nations, including Spain, Canada, Ireland and post-apartheid South Africa. From March through June of 2002, he was on sabbatical at The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, where he worked on policies concerning drug treatment, prevention and education.