One of many reasons that attendance at AA meetings helps alcoholics stay sober appears to be alleviation of depression. A team of researchers has found that study participants who attended AA meetings more frequently had fewer symptoms of depression – along with less drinking – than did those with less AA participation.

"Our study is one of the first to examine the mechanisms underlying behavioral change with AA and to find that AA attendance alleviates depression symptoms," says study leader John F. Kelly, Ph.D., associate director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Ad- diction Medicine. "Perhaps the social aspects of AA help people feel better psychologically and emotionally as well as to stop drinking."

The authors note that problems with mood regulation such as depression are common among people with alcohol problems – both preceding and being exacerbated by alcohol use. Although AA does not explicitly address depression, the program's Twelve Steps and social fellowship are designed to support participants' sense of well-being. While mood problems often improve after several weeks of abstinence, that process may happen more quickly in AA participants.

"Some critics of AA have claimed that the organization's emphasis on 'powerless- ness' over alcohol and the need to work on 'character defects' cultivates a pessimistic world view, but this suggests the opposite is true," Kelly says. "AA is a complex social organization with many mechanisms of action that probably differ for different people and change over time. Most treatment pro- grams refer patients to AA or similar 12-step groups, and now clinicians can tell patients that, along with supporting abstinence, attending meetings can help improve their mood. Who wouldn't want that?"