Twelve Step Facilitation Therapy (TSF) is a brief, structured, and manual-driven approach to facilitating early recovery from alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and other drug abuse and addiction problems. TSF is implemented with individual clients over 12 to 15 sessions. The intervention is based on the behavioral, spiritual, and cognitive principles of 12-step fellowships such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA). These principles include acknowledging that willpower alone cannot achieve sustained sobriety, that surrender to the group conscience must replace self-centeredness, and that long-term recovery consists of a process of spiritual renewal. Therapy focuses on two general goals: (1) acceptance of the need for abstinence from alcohol and other drug use and (2) surrender, or the willingness to participate actively in 12-step fellowships as a means of sustaining sobriety. The TSF counselor assesses the client's alcohol or drug use, advocates abstinence, explains the basic 12-step concepts, and actively supports and facilitates initial involvement and ongoing participation in AA. The counselor also discusses specific readings from the AA/NA literature with the client, aids the client in using AA/NA resources in crisis times, and presents more advanced concepts such as moral inventories.
The Twelve Step Facilitation manual reviewed for this summary incorporates material originally developed for Project MATCH, an 8-year, national clinical trial of alcoholism treatment matching funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Project MATCH included two independent but parallel matching study arms, one with clients recruited from outpatient settings, the other with patients receiving aftercare treatment following inpatient care. Patients were randomly assigned to Twelve Step Facilitation, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, or Motivational Enhancement Therapy. Findings from Project MATCH are included in this summary.
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