In December I was interviewed by Lisa Godfrey, an audio documentarian with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for a CBC Ideas podcast episode on group therapy, both the history and the practice of it. While doing research for the episode, she’d come across my essay “How AA Helped Me Recover from a Mental Breakdown—Even Though I’m Not an Alcoholic” (The Temper, February 2020). The essay was about how and why I’d found 12-step groups more useful than traditional group therapy in the aftermath of my breakdown.

InterviewsHeather L. HughesMarch 4, 2024Mental Health, Therapy, 12 Steps

12-Step Groups vs. Group Therapy

My name is Heather, and I am not an alcoholic.

That may sound like the punch line to a hackneyed joke mocking 12-step groups and the people who attend them, but it’s actually the introduction I made with all seriousness — and initially with more than a little trepidation — at the Alcoholic Anonymous meetings I attended shortly after my discharge from a psychiatric facility. I didn’t have a drinking problem but I did need a place where I could go for an hour or more a day and not feel judged or pitied, one where I was free to talk or to remain silent, one where I didn’t have to put on a performance that I was doing better.

Personal EssaysHeather L. HughesFebruary 28, 2020Depression, Mental Health, Therapy, 12 Steps, Addiction