| What is your opinion on/impression of Alcoholics
Anonymous? Posted to
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/EFTCoaa/
What is your opinion on/impression of Alcoholics
Anonymous?
I know some people see it as a cult of sorts. Also, have you ever
been to a
meeting?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080608002241AAkptki&r=w&pa\
=FZptHWf.BGRX3OFPgDZcVA48ZSEt2vO84QH7eA0QRA1vLfddqpJJ1LCSo_.yPr1yD6.D6pG8sFeemTV\
NMw--&paid=answered#FcZ4W2O6AznxLk53UTn6lsLwEazL84lkeo83WQB8Bs39XEsgNTMr
Not favorable. I've attended hundreds of meetings in 5 states since
1982.
(They're about as different as different MacDonalds.) If they are
not a cult,
they are at least cult-like. Of course, I'd say that about any
organization that
promised me that if I left the fold, I'd die.
For years I was told that AA was the only way to quit drinking. I
was repelled
by the religious aspects of the program and all the people running
around
claiming that AA is "spiritual, not religious" doesn't change the
fact that a
6-year old would call it religious.
People kept telling me that I must have gotten it wrong, or gone to
a few bad
meetings, that anyone regardless of religious beliefs is welcomed
with open
arms.
Page 77 of the Big Book states, "Our real purpose is to fit
ourselves to be of
maximum service to God and the people about us." How can anyone
claim that this
is not religious? Every time the question has been put before a
higher court,
the final decision is that AA is at least "religious in nature".
Some will claim you can choose any god you want, but in practice,
your god must
be a deity with the same micro-managing attributes as everyone elses.
AA evolved
out of a Christian sect, the Oxford Group.
The Religious Roots of Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Steps
http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-religiousroots.html
But even if you can accept the bastardized Christianity of AA, with
no Free
Will, miracles on demand, and the idea that alcohol is so powerful
that even God
can't fix it, only grant a daily reprieve, the powerless concept is
another
story and perhaps the most damaging aspect of 12step treatment. It
is contrary
to most therapies where a person is empowered in order to make
positive changes
in their lives. How powerlessness affects alcoholics:
"In a sophisticated controlled study of A.A.'s effectiveness (Brandsma
et. al.),
court-mandated offenders who had been sent to Alcoholics Anonymous
for several
months were engaging in FIVE TIMES as much binge drinking as another
group of
alcoholics who got no treatment at all, and the A.A. group was doing
NINE TIMES
as much binge drinking as another group of alcoholics who got
rational behavior
therapy.
"Those results are almost unbelievable, but are easy to understand
-- when you
are drunk, it's easy to rationalize drinking some more by saying,
" "Oh well, A.A. says that I'm powerless over alcohol. I can't
control it, so
there is no sense in trying. I'm doomed, because I already took a
drink. I'm
screwed, because I already lost all of my sober time. Might as well
just relax
and enjoy it. Pass that bottle over here, buddy." "
http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Brandsma
And that's not as disturbing as the Vaillant study
(
http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html#Vaillant
)\
which showed that the success rate of AA was the same as no
treatment at all
(5%) but had a mortality rate SIX times higher (3% vs. 0.5%, mostly
from
suicide).
As an atheist, I was told that it was impossible to get sober
without God, that
I was going to end up dead and drunk in a gutter. As a human being,
I was told
that I was powerless and unless God chose to grant me a daily
reprieve, I was
doomed.
AA wouldn't be so bad if they would admit they are religious, and
they did not
actively persue new members by petitioning the courts:
http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/en_pdfs/mg-05_coopwithcourt.pdf
Over 60% of people who join AA do so due to mandates of the courts,
other
government agencies or employee assistance programs. Considering
this is a
violation of the Establishment Clause, this practice should be
illegal and has
been declared so in at least 16 states; yet, it still occurs.
Forcing people
into inappropriate treatment that doesn't work is self-defeating. AA
has a 95%
dropout rate in the first year. Because of their practices, they are
creating a
new sub-class of people, the ex-AA member. And some of us are
unhappy with the
experience.
Nope, don't think much of the program.
(sources)
Orange Papers
http://www.orange-papers.org/
More Revealed
http://www.morerevealed.com/
BlameDenial
http://www.blamedenial.co.uk/welcomehome.html
AA Deprogramming
http://www.aadeprogramming.org/index_frames.html
Danger Thin Ice
http://www.dangerthinice.org/aa.htm
Stanton Peele on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Dr.+Stanton+Peele&search_type=&a\
mp;aq=-1&oq=
Penn & Teller 12-Stepping on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Penn+%26+Teller+12+step&search_t\
ype=&aq=f
|