Please dont speculate on recovery unless you have first hand experience. I know many people who have improved their lives from AA and other meetings of the same type.
There are many people with addiction problems who do not trust doctors or religion and a place of like minded people is the only option for them (AA).
Also I'm not speculating and I do have personal experience since you ask, I didn't say you need a psychiatrist and a prescription but from years of talking to addicts and going through recovery myself I've found that setting goals and staying positive and within limits and simple things like looking at changes in a certain way is very effective compared to what seems like a New Years Resolution that you'll likely fail and beat yourself for failing to keep up. Such therapy mentioned in the article can motivate people more than AA-style regimes can and that's more important in the long run.
I've never been in AA but I am close to someone who has. The primary benefit I see AA provide them is a group of like-minded people who will do fulfilling non-drug-related activities with them.
Addiction is as much social as it is physiological. It's very difficult to quit an addiction if you continue to hang out with the same people in the same environment in which you developed your addiction. Replacing that social environment with a new one composed of people who are sworn to avoid those substances and which is filled with fulfilling activities unrelated to your addiction is a superb way to keep from slipping back into old habits.
I didn't downvote but I have a knee-jerk reaction to want to downvote people using anecdotal evidence to support medical treatments.
Isn't this exactly the kind of thinking that makes people believe that homeopathy works?
For example, saying "I put cumin oil in a vaporizer and now I don't get colds as often" is different than saying "I joined an AA program and now I have been sober for 10 years".
* observation is simpler (are you in AA? are you still drinking?)
* so measurement is simpler (how much blortzroot do you add to your lotion to clear up that rash? can you show your rash is 65% better than last week?)
* AA attempts to provide a permanent solution, not a remedy for symptoms, so it's more clear when AA fails.
* Also the things homeopathy "cures" tend to be in a completely different class and severity than chronic substance abuse