The reality is that only a small percentage of those who have addiction problems attend AA. We need to have additional approaches.

Let's say you want some extra boost to your willpower, but you're not interested in getting medicated. You know there is a growing interest in vitamins and dietary supplements for all types of benefits. Shouldn't there be something natural that can help? Perhaps there is.

Because EFT accesses the "stress centers" in your brain on physical and emotional levels simultaneously, EFT may effectively treat conditions like addiction, which often can't be resolved successfully with psychotherapy alone, or with other alternative therapies.

Although we have developed effective technologies to track the epidemiology of alcoholism, nicotine addiction, and other hedonic dependencies, strategies for their prevention and treatment remain sorely inept. We need new ways of managing pleasure that go beyond AA.

In my work with patients, I have seen how the 12-step approach can be very effective. But I have also seen that without dietary change an individual attempting abstinence and recovery is needlessly more vulnerable to relapse.

For those scores of millions of Americans and hundreds of millions of individuals world-wide who suffer the consequences of unchecked compulsive behaviors, there is hope; there are alternatives.

Once established, addictions are tough to overcome, so it makes sense to learn about preventive measures as well as complementary treatments to improve the odds of quitting.

Acupuncture provides a foundation for recovery and psycho-social rehabilitation. It is a supportive component of a substance abuse treatment as well as in enabling job readiness.