The anonymous feature of support group based treatments was absolutely critical at the time those groups started precisely because of the view that the addictions were a sign of moral failure. The first organization, in fact, to view alcoholism as a disease rather than as a moral failure was Alcoholics Anonymous. AA is absolutely not a religious based program which uses shame as a motivator. That’s just not how it works. AA isn’t perfect. Far from it. But your characterization of it isn’t accurate.
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