You do not have to be fond of the programs to recognize that they have helped many. They are an extremely low-cost way for people who have no chance of getting into an expensive treatment program for addictions to find their way. You will not find a sympathetic audience in me, even though I left the program many years ago and recognize its defects as well as any cynic might.

It is understandable that some alcoholics and drug addicts are in and out of the program endlessly, because there is no single approach that works with these intractable diseases of the human condition.

As for using the 12 steps to treat other conditions besides alcoholism and addiction, I found a lot of whining going on in al-anon and ACOA. This doesn't mean those programs are bad; it just means they didn't resonate for me.

You have to want recovery, and if you don't, neither 12 steps nor other forms of treatment will work.

At least, that's my $.02.