Tumblertown

The big trick to beating addiction is that there really is no trick at all.  It takes hard work and serious effort regardless of what type of approach you use.

For example, many people will use the 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous in order to stop drinking.  This is fine, and that is certainly a viable method–though it does not work for everyone.  But understand that there is no magic in that program, and that anyone who is attending AA as a means to stay sober is going to have to put in a ton of work on their own personal self.  The program is simply a set of guidelines and helps to provide some structure for personal growth.  But the thing that keeps people sober is the growth, not the program.

Likewise, an alcoholic might want to learn how to stop drinking on your own instead.  This is fine too, or they might also find a religious program of recovery to help them stay sober.  It really does not matter much as the whole key is in the action and the effort, not in the program itself.  People get confused about this all the time, and they have huge bias when it comes to the program that they got clean and sober with.  Many in recovery believe that, because they struggled to get sober for years and nothing worked, that the only viable solution is the one that finally worked for them.  Of course it is plain to see that this is a mistake in logic, because there are many different programs of recovery that work for various people.  No single program of recovery has the market cornered on success, and in fact, all recovery programs have a really high rate of failure.

So ultimately the solution is to find the program that works best for the individual.  Experimentation is the key if you want to quit drinking and stay sober in the long run.