In 1990, the Alcoholics Anonymous General Services Office (the governing organization overseeing all “autonomous” meetings) published an internal memo that was an analysis of a survey period between 1977 and 1989. According to this memo, “After just one month in the Fellowship, 81% of the new members have already dropped out. After three months, 90% have left, and 95% have discontinued attendance inside one year!” (Kolenda, 2003, Golden Text Publishing Company) That means that in less than a year, 95% of the people seeking help from AA leave the program. Regardless of the apparent success rate or cost of the initial 12-step-based treatment program you may be looking at, the 5% success rate of AA after a year eventually becomes the actual program success rate.