Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), with its twelve basic principles for changing behavior, was founded in 1936. Twelve-step programs have become the most popular addiction treatment method in the United States. With groups to combat everything from gambling to the use of narcotics to overeating, the formula that was developed to help alcoholics fight their addiction has become the model for changing all sorts of behavior. Some critics claim that twelve-step programs themselves become a sort of addiction and that members feel helpless to live their lives without the help of their twelve-step group. Many others, however, insist that their attendance at twelve-step groups has saved their lives and given them back their self-respect.

The twelve-step idea was created by a Vermont man named William Griffith Wilson (1895–1971). Wilson was a successful businessman who lost everything because he could not control his drinking. Inspired by the teachings of a British...