Cited by 73Substance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorOpioid Use Disorder Treatment

The Molecular Neurobiology of Twelve Steps Program & Fellowship: Connecting the Dots for Recovery

Open access
Blum, Kenneth, Thompson, Benjamin, Demotrovics, Zsolt, Femino, John, Giordano, John, Oscar-Berman, Marlene, Teitelbaum, Scott, Smith, David E +5 more·2015·Journal of Reward Deficiency Syndrome

Abstract

," may not be obtaining the important benefits afforded by adopting 12-step doctrines. Are we better off with coupling medical assisted treatment (MAT) that favors combining dopamine agonist modalities (DAM) as possible histone-deacetylase activators with the 12 steps followed by a program that embraces either one or the other? While there are many unanswered questions, at least we have reached a time when "science meets recovery," and in doing so, can further redeem joy in recovery.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.17756/jrds.2015-008

Cites

278 of 278 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Resilience is deeply woven into the ethos and practice of Alcoholics Anonymous, even predating formal scientific inquiry into the concept.

    “Resilience is deeply woven into the ethos and practice of Alcoholics Anonymous, even predating formal scientific inquiry into the concept.”

    From Beyond Stigma–Integrating Neurobiology, Genetics, and Awareness Integration Theory in Addiction Recovery (2026) · cites this paper as [1]

    The Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous section describes AA’s practices of mutual aid, sobriety, and spiritual and character development. The Introduction says its founders developed the Twelve Steps empirically, before modern neuroscience could explain them. Neither passage establishes that resilience was central to AA or that AA predated formal scientific inquiry into resilience; the paper’s mention of resilience in “Beyound Vaillant” concerns vulnerability to addiction, not AA’s founding. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The Big Book, the Twelve Steps, and the Twelve Traditions emphasize resilience in spiritual, emotional, and communal dimensions, especially in the context of overcoming shame, stigma, and relapse.

    “The Big Book, the Twelve Steps, and the Twelve Traditions emphasize resilience in spiritual, emotional, and communal dimensions, especially in the context of overcoming shame, stigma, and relapse.”

    From Beyond Stigma–Integrating Neurobiology, Genetics, and Awareness Integration Theory in Addiction Recovery (2026) · cites this paper as [1]

    The Step 4 section quotes the Big Book on spiritual growth, Step 12 describes sharing emotions through fellowship, and Step 7 describes the Twelve Steps and Traditions as encouraging hope in the face of difficulty. The paper also discusses relapse, but the cited passages do not connect these teachings to overcoming shame or stigma. The claim is therefore supported in its spiritual, emotional, and communal aspects, but not in its full stated context. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • In AA, self-worth is rebuilt not through perfection, but through daily acts of connection, contribution, and self-reflection.

    “In AA, self-worth is rebuilt not through perfection, but through daily acts of connection, contribution, and self-reflection.1”

    From Beyond Stigma–Integrating Neurobiology, Genetics, and Awareness Integration Theory in Addiction Recovery (2026) · cites this paper as [1]

    The AA/NA section describes helping other alcoholics, Step 12 describes sharing with and connecting to others, and Step 10 describes daily personal inventory. These support the cited sentence’s account of contribution, connection, and self-reflection. The paper does not say that these acts rebuild self-worth or contrast them with pursuing perfection; page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • AA members are encouraged to maintain hope while accepting reality, embracing personal growth, humility, and healing within a supportive community.

    “Members are encouraged to maintain hope while accepting reality, embracing personal growth, humility, and healing within a supportive community.”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 8

  1. [46]Blum K Femino J Teitlebaum S Giordano J Oscar-Berman M Molecular Neurobiology of Addiction Recovery: The 12 Steps Program & Fellowship 2013 New York, USA Springer
  2. [48]Blum K Alcohol and the Addictive Brain 1991 New York, USA The Free Press
  3. [109]Greene W Gold MS Bope ET Kellerman RD Drug Abuse Conn’s Current Therapy 2012 Philadelphia, PA, USA Saunders, Inc 946 951
  4. [112]Herkov MJ Nias MF Gold MS Bruce Jennings Addiction and Dependence Encyclopedia of Bioethics-4th edition 2013 Farmington Hills, MI, USA Macmillan Reference
  5. [138]McNamara P The Neuroscience of Religious Experience 2009 Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press
  6. [143]Comings DE Did Man Create God? Is Your Spiritual Brain in Peace with Your Thinking Brain? 2008 Durate, California, USA Hope Press
  7. [213]Homiak M Zalta EN Moral character The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall Edition) 2008
  8. [277]Bowirrat A Chen TJ Oscar-Berman M Madigan M Chen AL Neuropsychopharmacology and neurogenetic aspects of executive functioning: should reward gene polymorphisms constitute a diagnostic tool to identify individuals at risk for impaired judgment? Mol Neurobiol 2012 45 2 298 313 22371275 PMC3681950

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Blum, K., Thompson, B., Demotrovics, Z., Femino, J., Giordano, J., Oscar-Berman, M., Teitelbaum, S., Smith, D. E., Roy, A. K., Agan, G., Fratantonio, J., Badgaiyan, R. D., & Gold, M. S.
Affiliations
  • University of Florida Health (US)
  • Eötvös Loránd University (HU)
  • Dominion Diagnostics (United States) (US)
  • University of Florida (US)
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
  • University of Minnesota (US)
  • University of Southern California (US)
Venue
Journal of Reward Deficiency Syndrome
Published
2015
Volume
01
Issue
01
Pages
46-64
ISSN
2379-111X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2096833663
Cited by
73
References
277
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1
FWCI
2.35
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Reward Deficiency Syndrome (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • ELTE Digital Institutional Repository (EDIT) (Eötvös Loránd University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (I01 CX000479)
  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01AA007112, K05AA000219)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R21MH073624)
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS073884)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
Keywords
12-step programs, addiction recovery, dopamine agonists, reward deficiency syndrome, substance use disorders

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review