Originally Posted by
tomsteve 
after the jack alexander article about AA was published in the Saturday evening post, a flood of requests for the big book came in. there were many,many people that got sober with nothing more than the big book. no other people in AA around them to take them through the steps.
although I encourage anyone who feels AA will help to go to meetings and get a sponsor, it is possible for a person to get sober without someone taking them through the steps. it happens quite often.
Yeah, that didn't come out exactly the way I would have liked...
I'm aware that people get sober in different ways. In my experience, people who go through the steps seem to do better than those who don't. I've also known a few people who've stayed sober with no program at all.
Though it does not work for me, I've come to embrace harm reduction models of treatment for many people in my professional life, but that's a topic for another thread.