Alcohol Recovery Blog... Well, not so much any more. I've lost all of my support over the last several years obviously. Nobody wants to go head to head with the Anti/XAers anymore. Seems that most have jumped off of the A.A. "bandwagon" all together. I've lost my resolve as well. Still sober 20+ years though. So there is that.
The more I listen to what the DC (Disease Concept) people have to say about the issue, the more I agree with them. The more I listen to the DC critics, the more I think they're just a bunch of h8ers... aka anti/XAers. I disagree with some of the precepts of the DC and how they are presented. Bill Wilson, would be a critic of the disease concept, but wouldn't go so far as to make these claims made by DC critics;
Drinking for the alcoholic is a choice
The term "alcoholic" is bullshit to begin with
Anybody can quit drinking by just stopping and it's safer to moderate for most drinkers
A.A. is a religious cult and is scientifically indefensible
DC advocates strip the alcohol abuser of responsibility and freedom
The DC model does not work and is harmful for hard drinkers and communities
DC misappropriates public resources in the area of research
There is no physical component to chronic drinking but is rather a symptom of an underlying emotional disorder or a failed attempt at self-cure of that disorder.
Alcoholism and addiction do not exist but are empty words used by well-intentioned but misguided people to medicalize socially deviant behavior.
The behavior of excessive drinking can, over time, become a deeply engrained habit, like smoking. But like smoking, one can just quit. Most problem drinkers "mature out" and quit on their own.
The focus should be on finding a way to alter the drinking behavior that becomes socially harmful.
The concepts of craving and loss of control of drinking lack scientific credence, so they are also empy words. Craving is merely memory and loss of control is learned and can merely be discarded. Moderated patterns of use can be relearned.
Treatment is a failed social experiment that has turned into a multibillion dollar fraud. "Most alcoholics recover because they heal themselves."
12 Step groups are little more than religious cults. Coercing someone to A.A. is a violation of human rights and professional ethics.
The disease concept has taken freedom and responsibility from the individual and replaced it with professional power and governmental coercion.
The stigma of alcoholism needs to be increased and any effort to reduce it does a disservice to the alcoholic *(even though there is no such word) by reducing pressures to moderate consumption and could have the additional unintended effect of increasing the prevalence of addiction.
I, like Bill W., don't like the word disease as it relates to the behaviors of the alcoholic. But some of the claims by the DC critics sound like they are coming up against the Alcoholism Industry... rather than the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. But some of these claims are in direct opposition to what Alcholics Anonymous proclaims.
I will try to respond to some of these claims with my personal experience and interpretation of my own... personal experiences in the utilization of Alcoholics Anonymous as an alcohol abstinence and spiritual program and recovery method;
Drinking booze for me is not a choice. That is a fact for me and one that pisses off not-like-minded- nor like-experienced people for some reason. Here are some other terms that get their goat for some reason; real alcoholic, recovered alcoholic.
Alcoholic very well describes me. You could say that I drank with little regard for myself and others from the get-go, despite consequences of my personal health, freedoms, success in life, ability to socialize and fit in to society in the short and long term, etc. This is totally inconsistent with my behavior in most all other matters. I didn't want to be a pubic failure nor a risk to my personal well being and standing in the community, much less a risk to those around me... until I started to drink.
Anybody can quit drinking and it's safer to moderate? Speak for your damned self. Why don't they offer Schlitz Malt Liquor in prison btw? Another yummy topic for another day. Go to bed with a Schlitz, wake up with the Schitz.
A.A. is a religious cult blahblahblah? Not so fast, skippy. I didn't go to a meeting today and nobody missed me. I sort of wanted to go, but have work to do. I cannot afford the luxury to go just for the heck of it. I'd like to have gone for mere social reasons, but don't need a meeting today. I do have a report to get done and I'll finish it today on time... while writing this piece as well. So take your "cult" claim back to your own cult-ridden den and observe your own anti/XAer tendencies. What are you thinking about today besides how much you hate A.A. and proAAers? See, dickhead? Who's the victim of the cult now?
Some of the most extreme DC advocates may want to show a bit of compassion for us, but how can somebody strip me of responsibility and freedom? How exactly? I've been sober 6.5+ years and am now going through my 7th set of steps sober. How exactly does the belief in a disease concept strip me of responsibility? Do people from Disease Concept Central call me daily and guilt me into going to a meeting? Do they get their frothy emotional appeal on my collar? Do they pat me on the back and say, "There there McGowdoggie... it's gonna be ok. You just sit down and have a nice banana split. DCC is gonna take care of you today. You just go to meetings and call us when you get out." You dickheads wouldn't know a 3rd Step if it slapped you in the puss. We DO appeal to God to take away our difficulties. We DO appeal to God to guide our lives. But that doesn't mean that we are not responsible for doing steps and fitting ourselves to be useful and whole in the society about us... in more ways than you would ever give us credit. This is an obvious knock to the A.A. program and a poorly conceived one at that.
You take care of the hard drinkers and give A.A. a shot at the alcoholic. If those who are lead to A.A. are given the dignity to find out for themselves whether they belong or not and if they're willing to do the 12 proposals in their entirety, we can approach and surpass the 36% recovery rate that A.A. enjoys. That's right. Loran Archer cancels out Agent Orange and all you anti/XAer dorks with your spontaneous remission bullshit. The 64% of failures must be non-alcoholics or alcoholics who aren't done drinking yet.*
Misappropriations of public resources may be something the DC community is guilty of, but not near as guilty as you anti/XA hacks. A.A. is exempt from this discussion due to its own traditions and non-control of the treatment community. That's right. If A.A. had control of the treatment facilities, it would look something like the program of recovery as outlined in the A.A. book and it's no where near that. A.A. oriented treatment is what you would call "empty words". If treatment did their job, they'd release the problem drinkers after they detoxed and sent them on their way to the recovery of their choice, be it A.A., RR, LF, SMART, MM, or whatever recovery they want. I'm getting off topic to the mention of treatment methods here, but there's plenty of DC advocates that have done wonderful research and you anti/XAers would just dispell it as bunk out of one side of your mealy-mouths, while blathering on and on about how nobody in the A.A. cult will hear your loud and inane claims for your treatment method, "Not-A.A.". Meanwhile, those DC Advocates merely verify what they have been saying in the 164 of the A.A. book since 1939.
No physical component? My own experience debunks that myth. How about yours? Tell me about YOUR drinking for a minute. And yes, I will by using MY definition of alcoholic, thankyouverymuch. Since I am one, I'm fucking qualified. Fuckin' A right.
Medicalize socially deviant behavior? Well whatever works for you... do it. I'll do it my way. You take the high road and I'll take the low road. I've solved the drink problem and the "socially deviant behavior" problem... and the "Disease Concept" pro nor con didn't weigh in the method that got me there. If you want to argue for the sake of argument, call it what ever the hell you want to. Get back to me when you've tried to help a drunk by merely showing them what you yourself do.
Alcoholism is like smoking? Stick your cigarette up your ass. The grown-ups are talking about booze now. Here's a penny. Now go pound it into a dollar and go play on the freeway.
You want to alter drinking behavior? Good luck with that. How's Audrey Kishline doin' these days? How'd that work for her? Oh, that's right. Blame her behavior on A.A., when it suits your claim. She had no illusions whatsoever that she could ever moderate and control her drinking, and she can drive well at 0.26. She was never a member, much less a founder, of a program that condones "Moderation Management", aka MM, A.A. forces you to drive to meetings when you're drunk. A woman can do most anything at 0.26. That's not even a buzz for a battleaxe like her, right? Being over 3 times the state limit for DUI is not her decision because A.A., er... Bill W... er... somebody who advocates A.A. said it's a disease and she's neither responsible nor does she have the freedom to choose whether to drive or not. BTW, was she headed to an A.A. meeting when she killed that poor guy and his 12 year old daughter? What does Stanton Peele say about this? He never advocated moderation for those in alcoholism recovery, right? Anything, so long as it's not A.A. That A.A. will make your drinking worse.*
Concept of craving lacks scientific credence. What does Wiki say about the Disease theory of alcoholism these days? What does Wiki say about A.A. these days? Hmmm... it's good to hear both sides of the issue once in a while. My experience says that once I start, I cannot predict the outcome, unless I planned on getting trashed and destructive on the front end. I do that sometimes. I like to get drunk and fuck things up... sometimes. Not always. I'm very good at it, btw. Tell me about your experience with cravings now. I'm listening...
Treatment is a failed social experiment. Amen to that, brotha. Most alcoholics recover because they heal themselves? Hmmm... I have an opinion about that one.
12 Steps are cults? Hmmm... maybe some of them. The ones you go to. Not the ones I go to. Bitch. Coercing someone to A.A. is a violation of their human rights and professional ethics. Amen to that, brotha. I went to A.A. because I thought it was a good idea. It was my goal coming out of high school and college. I graduated 3rd in my hs class. Had I graduated 2nd or 1st, I'd have included it into my Valedictorian or Salutatorian Speech; I want to become a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and I'm well on my way... just 7 more months and my goal will become complete! Yay to me! Fuck you all and die! Stupid dickheads. I didn't want to go to A.A. nor do A.A. But I did it and I stopped getting harassed by the professional community and the court systems. I don't even see Probation Officers anymore... for the purpose of fullfilling my legal obligations... er Violations of my Human fucking Rights! Professional ethics! You punished those poor alcoholics to seek help! You should be ashamed and disbarred!
Disease concept = government coersion! Oh, the government that you voted into office? Go have a fucking drink. Have a martini and a Red Bull.
The alcoholic, of which there's no such word, needs more stigma. Engrave the A letter to their forehead! A for AAnarcy, AAsshole, AAssoholic, AAssinine, AAntimony, etc.
*You anti/XAer dickheads. The alcoholics' prognosis gets better, not worse (see his August 30, 2010 article), when they drink more and crash harder. You got it ass-fucking-backwards. Moderate your drinking though. Get down. I support you on your drinking. Drink away. Drink em if you got em. I'll buy you your first one. But if you don't drink it, I'll make sure you at least wear it.
Another blog is running a thread about whether or not A.A. is the culprit for so many suicides and not the nature of the "fatal malady" itself.
"I think that some people might find that the connection isn’t between AA and suicide, but between alcoholism and suicide, and that highlighting the correlation is specious. What is your take on that?" Specious; having a false look of truth, deceptive attraction. The writer claims to not know much about the topic of "suicide" but wants to learn more about it by opening the topic up to the predominantly anti/XAers... see if they can't form an outline of sorts. Yeah right. She cites the Vaillant Surveys; Now we're going to see some personal testimonies and comments on the topic;
_ says I’d bet it’s both. Sure, alcoholism is dangerous and depressing and can lead to suicide. But the 12 steps are depressing and defeating and seem to facilitate “benders,” so I’d say they exacerbate the suicide rate. Hmmm. Not my experience in the steps. I've found them to be very freeing actually. I have seen a lot of people in A.A. who do everything but steps and repeat the same drunkalogues over and over again. I wouldn't say their total life is a waste. I would say they could do better in a spiritual sense and I wonder why they stay in A.A., but who knows? Maybe I'll be in their shoes one day. I could see myself just walking away from A.A. at any given time. But right now, I see a bunch of hope and a bunch of cool folks enjoying themselves in A.A. For most, it's not a death sentence.
A reference to a blamethenile vid... _ says, "This is undoubtedly the worst problem of the AA faith, and their promotion of the concept of “powerlessness” which when combined with the AA faith’s promotion of telling people they have a progressive, incurable, and terminal disease, leads people to hopelessness. This misinformation is promoted by people that have NO credibility."I'm not even going to watch that stupid video. I can imagine how they manipulate the data and the goings on at meetings. Which is it, a religion, a cult, a place to get 13th stepped, or a place to commit suicide? Get real for just a minute. Not my experience. If it was, it would make me look pretty bad for just being a part of it. That's exactly what you will jump on next; McGowdog... bad dawg!
_says, "In October of 2000, I attempted suicide. I was drunk and took a whole bottle of tranquilizers. I knew what I was doing–I wasn’t in a blackout. I grew up in AA. My first meeting was at age 15. I would relapse and leave about every six years, thinking my only way out of the program was to drink, just like the group told me. I was a naive and impressionable girl. The women who 1st-stepped me–all I can remember now (I have blocked out most of my early days in AA) is they said something like, “Listen to these people and learn.” So I did listen. I was indoctrinated young. Eventually I started thinking, day and night in cult-speak. It made its way into my creative writing; my conversations with non-program people; and it dominated my thinking for over 20 years. I was desperate–with that one little shred of my mind I wouldn’t let them have–to get away from these people, but I was so afraid that I would relapse (which would happen anyway) that I kept coming back for more brainwashing. I have finally gotten away from the program to the havens of this blog and the orange papers and Rational Recovery. I truly have only begun to deprogram my mind from this lifeblood-sucking cult. Had ONE person in treatment or a therapist in all of my years of therapy told me there are options, I might have been spared so many wasted years. But in the 80s, I don’t know that there were too many other options. Anyway, in 2000, as I was desperately trying to stay sober for thirty days while going to the program, I relapsed again. Obviously something (I do believe it was not me) was “honestly” not working. As I contemplated my choices of jails, institutions and death or AA, I became increasingly suicidal. I have depressive tendencies anyway, but I felt the walls were closing in on me, in terms of the either/or rhetoric that was fed me. After three days I woke up in a hospital bed, and as soon as I was stable: one guess as to where I was sent. Yet more brainwashing. I had been around for a long time by then, had seen some pretty amazingly unhealthy and downright twisted behavior, and just couldn’t believe I was destined to mix with crazy people in a crazy cult. All I wanted was out. I had been through graduate school by then, majoring in English and having acquired critical thinking skills. I have finally gotten sober. I haven’t been sober long and am some days barely hanging on. I am inspired by this site, and inspired seems a funny word since many of you are atheists. It doesn’t matter to me. Many of you are sane and make sense, and I can’t thank “Mr. Orange” enough for what his online book has done for me. I am new here, and wonder if you all have any non-12 step suggestions for a fledgling former cult-er who is trying very hard to stay away from the all-too-seductive lure of AA and /or booze. Peace." You... are a certified nutjob. You are/were socialized in A.A. You are a drama queen and should seek outside help.
_ says "I have lost several friends to AA’s self fulfilling prophecy of death. One hung himself with chain after a meeting, another drank himself to death in front of a steak and glass of wine like in the big book story, and another took some pills and went to bed. All these and many more were my favorite people to hang out with. They were uncommonly fun, enjoyed road trips, eating out, etc. They all went to AA, accepted the indoctrination, and died due to a modified belief system. This is what I hate about AA. AA’s need to teach others that there are many ways to quit or moderate drinking instead of teaching they have the only cure." You know... I think that the removal of all the MOTR and slogan shit would go a long way to resolving a lot of problems in A.A. When stuff gets added in and people try to hustle others into A.A. just because it worked for them... I could see where it could cause problems. Hope I don't partake in such BS. If I was harming people inside or outside of A.A., my life would suffer. Why would I want that? I do have a conscience, you know? Most of us do. We are not the Hells Angels and meth dealers and puppy killers.
_ says, "I saw one friend die in a similar fashion, though I don’t believe he actually meant to commit suicide. He had been forced into the 12 steps and just couldn’t get it……..and was told the fault was his. Whilst he “moderated” his alcohol to a degree, his guilt made him him look elsewhere and he died injecting heroin. I’m sure from speaking to him just before he died that his failure to work the steps was the main factor, in his mind though certainly not mine. I always told him to “get out more”………..live life, see people and stop the self pity, but he had too many people from within AA telling him he was weak, diseased and going to die. It’s a disgusting programme for some folks who don’t need bullying. I would love to take issue with this guy and the way he was “abuse works on most everyone – being vulnerable to it is not a character defect or the result of a dysfunctional background. Isn’t there some recovery program based on having more fun in life, instead of on becoming sober and gloomy? pushed” to his death but there’s no point in AA." Bullying? Really? If someone tries to force you into doing something ... inside of A.A. ... a person ought to be able to stand up for themselves and just say "No". It may get you "fired" as a sponsee, but who gives a fuck? I give thou personal power to not be victims and to run your own life... inside and outside of A.A. It works for me. And I really really want it to work for you too. I hate the slogan, "But for the grace of God there go I." I hated it before you stupifucks brought it up. I was told to not cuss so much. Oops.
_ says, "Yes, well, it’s like being sent to one of those Khmer Rouge style reeducation camps, at the level of the mindfuck. Of course it drives people off the cliff. And I’m not joking!" A.A. drives people off the cliff? That's believable.
_ says, "... and I think that you can use your experience in AA as a springboard to help a lot of people deprogram from AA and find an exit strategy." Exit strategy... "What are you doing tonight? Going to an A.A. meeting?" Hmmm. No. Not ever again. They kill people and entice them into suicide. Think I'll watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer instead."
_ says, "AA can pour huge amounts of shit on people. None of it is worth dying for." Lots of shit... Shit happens, but it usually doesn't get poured on people. No?
_ says, " Sure, suicide is selfish, AA is a selfish program. Those that I have known who did it did so because there was no hope. They believed they were bodily and mentally different from their fellows as AA teaches. AA had taught them that there were no other options for serenity other than an AA recovery. They kept coming back even though it didn’t work for them. They killed themselves because they could not take the pain any more. I did hear this one good platitude about suicide in AA: Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Tell it to someone who can’t take the pain anymore, they probably can’t even hear you?" You know enough about A.A. to be dangerous. Ever heard that one? I've heard some nasty mean shit in A.A. come to think of it. I usually laugh. But I'm twisted. And a lot of people know me, so... they are not threatened by me! Hell, I know most of the people in A.A. meetings. If there was a new person, I/we certainly wouldn't want to run them off or run them off a cliff or run them into suicide! You fucksticks are amusing yourselves at our expense, no?
_ says, "The thing is, AA would teach you that there is no hope – but that doesn’t mean it’s true. Things will get better (especially if you leave AA and get some real help for your addiction and/or suicidal feelings). For the record, I know a person who attempted suicide as a direct result of steppers telling her that she was powerless and defective and would inevitably die a miserable alcoholic death as the result of one lapse. AA teaches despair to vulnerable people who need real help. That is why they should be stopped, or at least be made publicly accountable. Or at the very least be required by law to get some proper qualifications before they are allowed to “counsel” impressionable addicted people and foist their misanthropic and hopeless world view upon them." There again... you know enough about A.A. to be dangerous to yourself and others. Accountable? People in A.A. are accountable for everything they say and do.
_ says, " I am older and wiser now, and I have recognized the AA program for what it is: a cult that lures people in with its false promises of a better life. I really do believe it is a cult, but how could I have known any better as an impressionable young teen?" Back to the professional and institutionalized XA member.
k says, "The main reason why I am a critic if AA is based on my observations of 2 people sharing in a meeting their suicidal thoughts, one of which actually attempted suicide the other I am not sure about. Their shares incuded the blanket derogatory name calling of themselves as alcoholics about them being selfishness, egotitsical etc. straight out of the big book. They wondered why other people, like their guru sponsor could get it and they couldn’t. They didn’t have any of these traits, the big book had convinced them they had and because of the promises hadn’t come true and they were still depressed they felt like a failure aswell, probably dishonest as thats what the big book says of people who fail the program. The modern perspective on treating the majority of people with depression is to raise self esteeem and not try and smash it like the big book of AA does. I repeatedly posted similar stuff on SR until I got banned (woohoo). The AAers response was that it was an outside matter, they must be spiritually unfit."(oh k! Join the club! Except the rest of us are and will continue to be sober. You're not.)They fail to grasp that becasue AA believes people are suffering alcoholism even years after not drinking!What are its symptoms, well for a start the promises describe a person going from being depressed to being happy. So understanbly people think their depression and desire to drink to self medicate is alcoholism, rather than depression. Alcoholism involes drinking alcohol it can cause depression and depression can cause alcoholism but they are different things The AA program, the big book seems aimed at narcissists and people of a deviant nature. Not all people who drink alcoholically fit into these stereotypes of alcoholics. Hello K. I saw that one coming. It's too bad too. Some of the folks from the Sober Recovery 12 Step Subforum fillet'd you like a fish and skinned you like a dear whenever you went stumbling into there. You've found a good home. Hope you can maintain that sobriety and keep that victim card handy.
That "Quote of the Day" where tiburon88 was being called out by an SR poster. I've got a tiburon88 post in here somewhere, if you want to see where that troll is coming from.A postback here to tiburon88 from SR. He's the one who says he walked into an A.A. meeting... sober, and said, "I hope you all relapse in here." Part of me think that's funny, but part of me would have been shoving my boot up part of tiburon's ass if he'd have said that in my meeting. Don't commit suicide though. Just go away.
_ says, "The other problem is that AA as a baseline encourages thinking that is extremely conducive to feelings of intense shame and moralizing. Someone I know actually hung himself after he got clean. It was after really having time to think about it and his behavior on meth, that he felt irredeemably evil. Suffice it to say, he was most certainly not.Suicide is complicated without addiction thrown into the mix. Throw in addiction and it gets exponentially moreso." A.A. does not teach shame, you idiots! It teaches surrender, courage, acceptance, forgiveness, reason, love, joy... Suicide is about apathy! Shit! If you're gonna kill yourself, go fucking drink instead. How many times have I said, "I'd rather have a bottle infrontofme than a frontal lobatomy"?
_ says, "Actually, I would guess that AA suicides are not usually “selfish” at all. The program is designed to instill fear, hopelessness and powerlessness – and often involves a huge amount of psychological bullying too. Sometimes the only control over his or her life that a person feels they have is the decision to end it." Surrender is the path to integrity. With surrender comes power. It's a mere matter of changing course. When people come into A.A., they aren't usually looking for suicide prevention. They are looking for help on getting sober. Duh!
_ says, " I learned not only to recognize my right to get angry, but the fact that it’s completely normal for people to get angry from time to time.(Like many people, I was brought up to believe that getting angry was always bad.) It’s interesting that AA has an open policy of telling people they are not allowed to feel or display anger – ever – even if they have very good cause. This in itself is almost bound to lead to depression, and that can possibly lead to suicide, because people will continue to feel anger but will repress it and beat themselves up about it. There are plenty of AA-ers posting very angrily all over the internet, though. I wonder if they pretend to be serene when they’re with their AA pals?" Having anger and dealing with resentments are two different things. I can get mad any fucking time I want to bitch! See? I don't act any certain way amongst those in A.A. If I'm in a meeting, I state my current experience on the topic. I tell the fucking truth. If I feel like cussing, I cuss. We cuss. WTFuck?
_ says, "says To find the smoking gun on AA and suicide, you only need to look at conference-approved AA literature. They admit AA members contribute to suicides in their conference approved pamphlet, “The AA Member — Medications & Other Drugs”. Page 13 states “AA members and many of their physicians have described situations in which depressed patients have been told by AAs to throw away the pills, only to have the depression return with all of its difficulties, sometimes resulting in suicide.”http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/p-11_aamembersMedDrug.pdf" Here's one I want to look into further. I think it's possible that these claims are true and are a problem. Don't play fucking doctor in A.A. If I see someone doing it, I'm going to piss in their wheaties and tell the victim of it to not listen to such bullshit. My manic depressive friend is an example of this (the current one whom is still alive). I told him to listen to his doctor, find another meeting, and he did.
_ says, "_ says _, have a look at NICE on AA. And tell me what you think might be done.I think that AA has played a sort of big con trick on everyone, even those who don’t come into contact with it. They are just universally admired for their bravery. Therefore lots of people drink themselves to death rather than submit to it." IDK. Maybe you're right? What do we do about it? Maybe your secular programs will help people from commiting suicide once you get off your XA Cult Blog and go start some meetings for these folks to get some f2f attention... kind of like A.A., but less suicidal.
_ says, " I have struggled with anxiety and depression as far back as age 11. That’s why I drank–to feel better. That’s why I ever drank. I had been through treatment all through my teen years and AA as well. My emotional/mental (not intellectual) growth was severely damaged both by drinking and the brainwashing I got in AA. It really did a number on me. I had been hospitalized for suicidal ideation several times before I actually attempted it. I learned that talking about it=mental hospital and more steps. As I have said, it is or APPEARS to be a selfish act, but when you’re in the other person’s shoes, you can surely understand he or she is not capable of thinking straight. I had one focus in mind. I wanted the whole thing simply to STOP. I wanted to stop drinking; I wanted out of AA; I wanted out of my mental disorder, etc. I wanted my life back from all of these mental health bastards who had their hands all over it. I wasn’t living. I was simply existing, and I wanted out, end of story.It has taken ten years for me to regain control over my life, and while I am still on medication and seeing a therapist, I feel so much better to be free from AA and the sickness it perpetuates. I am soooo glad to have stumbled upon this blog and the orange papers, I can’t tell you how freeing that is. Peace." A.A. is not a babysitting service. Get a shrink.
_ says, "I think your post hilights the vital importance of what is done by this small group of people. People do die, and they die alot, and they kill others in drunk driving accidents, due to the misinformation that is promoted by this industry. People are told, unfortunately by people that are given unearned credibilty, that they have a progressive, incurable, and terminal disease. They also have “powerless” instilled in them. This industry does have the facts against them. They also cannot control the internet, although I am sure they would love to. When I was in the spin dry (2007), there were no phones, TV, internet services, and the only reading material was AA approved literature. As I look back now it said “CULT” all over it. It was in NO way medical treatment. Out of the other “inmates” I was “incarcerated” in the rehab, that I have remained in contact with, I am the only one that actually did stop drinking. I do feel it is vitally important to try to educate others about the con game the recovery industry is. It is great to see sites like this, and see others confront the industry. The industry does not have the facts behind it, and they crumble under intense questioning. That is why sites like Dr. Phil are so highly censored. We can change peoples thinking. It is a massive undertaking, but I am a firm believer that we save lives by what we do. I am just incredibly thankful that Agent Orange took the time to create his masterpiece." So, A.A. causes people to drive drunk too? Wow! Nice to have a scapegoat.
I had a friend who went into her car in the garage with her 2 older dogs turn on her car and killed herself and she said because she couldnt do the AA way and felt so much guilt. Then this girl at the furneal said and I quote” she couldnt follow a simple program” wow she blamed her and of course not AA/ AA blames you shames you. Alot of people who relapsed all the time felt like a failure in the rooms and killed thereselves. AA is not a program of thinking on your own. You are not allow to think on yourown remember you best thinking got you there. You are not allow to depend on you own thinking –AA insisted if you leave AA or dont get AA you will DIE. AA kills no doubt about that. AA people do not trust themselves and heavy dependency on there program, endless meetings . Abuse and lots of milious gossip. AA is self-center narrcisstic to the max. Every single person I have met in those rooms was NPD. I get sick when I think about the shame they induce on you. AA is a destructive-abusive… Leaving AA is the best thing that ever happen to me. I am sober and clean because I made a choice to do so. In the 4th step when you have had abuse as a child phycially-sexually you are to look at your part. bullshit. Trauma is not a light matter and a person (sponsor) telling you to see your part. is so FU. AA has been around for a long time due to them using the word God. AA is far away from true God. The enemy is clapping here not God. Dick B will burn in hell for trying to cram AA as christian roots. If he so christian then why not defend the bible and help christians through the bible. AA thinks its the bible. AA is false. Bill or Bob had a mistress-smoke like crazy and left some of his roylaties to her. He was never a christian he was antichrist. His big white light experince was because he was doing LSD. How can AAers overlook that. So many are decieved. The bible is strict that you cannot serve 2 masters nor idiolize or have any gospel you choose. It pisses me off when I hear AA say its christian roots BS. I really think that a book should be wrote more than one on there experinces of horror with AA. The truth will come out again its only a little amount of time. When I have heard in the rooms oh i Church it didnt work BS again. You mean you tried Jesus and didnt work. AA for me was the most fucked up program i have ever attended and that includes the people . SELFISH -extremly easily mind control. " Here we go again with the fucking preaching. Talk to my born-again Southern Baptist brother. You can save each other. We'll all go to hell together too. It'll be fun. So long as you lead the fucking way. I'd rather drink than hear your preaching.
_ says, "Plus they will tell you its divinely inspired and that they still cannot think on there own 20 plus years later.. still having a sponsor to think.. its very sad , very sad that AA kills your spirt and your God given right to think on your own and be empowered. AA is defeat no win they believe there are never to blame" Some of us have found something that works for us. Where should the blame come in? Blame is a weak demonic force that is conquered by Step fucking 1! Merely surrendering to some power greater than yourself will enable you to have a smigeon of hope, or at least seek it... then if followed up some action, you'll be so fucking beyond the forces of death. Now... if you're a certified loon or a chronically depressed individual and need some outside help, get it. In A.A., we're gonna talk about God. Deal. Cope.
_ says, "I remember AA largely as a tawdry melodrama. Sudden deaths of members through drink, drugs or suicide were just grist to the gossip mill or anecdotal illustrations to self-serving 12 step sermons (“There but for the grace of God, blah, blah, blah….”)It doesn’t surprise me that there is a high rate of suicide in AA, given that so many people have co-occurrring mental problems such as depression and they meet with so little understanding from those immersed in the AA dogma. Many, as k mentioned, drank to self-medicate an underlying mental health problem. I did." I didn't. I drank because I rather enjoyed it... the sense of comfort and ease that proceeded a few drinks and all. Call it dogma all you wish. If you want to start another program from the ground up or do something besides A.A., I give you my permission.
_ says, "I remember one guy at a step meeting saying that he wouldn’t go to a funeral of his friend who died alcoholic because he didn’t get the program, he wouldn’t do it.He also said in another meeting calling counsellors, other none AA based help." Well I guess he was a sick fuck. That's not very nice.
_ says, "AA is not interested in underlying and possibly fatal psychological issues that might drive people to drinking in the first place. They really do believe in divine interventionist miracles, and that praying to the god of AA will cure people, not just of alcoholism but of any other ‘spiritual defects’ – which is how they view psychological illnesses or disorders. I think we all have to recognize that we’re dealing with serious fundamentalist lunatics here. How often do convinced steppers stop to consider that other psychological issues might be anything to do with alcohol abuse, and how often do they advise newcomers to get some kind of proper help? (Answer: They don’t.) I even read McGowDog saying on another site that if people prayed more they wouldn’t get cancer (because someone he knows who smokes but prays hasn’t got cancer – yet). Apart from the obvious bollocks this is, it is incredibly insulting for people who have spent their whole life praying, have led a ‘spiritual’ life , and who still get cancer ( people like my mother, for instance. She led a damn sight more of a useful and ‘spiritual’ life than you ever seem destined to do, McDog or whatever your name is). Well, it’s hugely insulting and damaging to anyone at all, believer or non-believer."Who in the fuck are you to say that God isn't all. That God can't take care of other things? You can't tell me that a good doctor won't tell his/her patients to pray for their condition if they are a person of faith.
_have been a victim of a con trick. A horrible horrible brainwashing con-trick. It is indeed a version of hell to be an unwilling member says, "As for suicide in AA – I have seen it and I understand. People end up in AA because they can’t cope, and they are treated with methods that don’t help. As of yet, no one has the answer for the emotional agony that some of use used drugs and alcohol to cover up. They can get you clean, but then you’re just raw." Maybe what you were missing was power to live in the world and to have a happy satifying life. A.A. has a method to help you out... if you're a real alcoholic that is. If you've got other issues, you might want to table that and decide if you need/want A.A. or not. You can TRY to do A.A. to solve some problems and to feel good and comfortable and stuff. But you ain't gonna get comfortable is you do what's outlined. If after doing Step 7, you don't find some kind of renewed hope in your ability to have a great life, leave. Do something else or do it again and demand to find out what you missed.
_ says, "_, stick around. You . It is the people who have suffered who drive me to exposeaa. You are one, I am one. I used to read about extreme cults just in order to cheer myself up! I feel lucky that I found Orange before I got a sponsor, did a share, etc etc. Your rejection of aa cult dogma (it is a cult in my house, z!) is in fact incredibly mentally healthy in my humble opinion. " Welcome to your new fucking cult. Now go make vids about how guys want to do their own mother and describe which position he wants to get her in... that's real nice youtube entertainment. You guys are fucking liars and discredit yourselves with your over the top drama.
_ says, "By doing this AA handed me a “one size fits all” list of life problems to solve, taking the focus off of the real problems and creating new ones. I thought that these AA folks were the experts on addiction, and so I believed what they taught me about myself. I adopted all of the AA isms and started to believe that I was an inherently defective misfit who just couldn’t get anything right. The more I got involved in the steps… The deeper my depression became. I was looking at my past through the lense provided by AA and that made my future prospects seem much darker… That’s when I attempted suicide for the first time. I want to be clear… AA did not cause me to attempt suicide… AA did foster feelings of hopelessness and despair that contributed to my irrational decision. It’s pretty simple from my perspective. AA uses mind control and psychological manipulation to recruit new members.A small percentage of those who go to AA for help stick with the cult… A larger percentage never adhere and leave the cult without thinking too much about it… and a small percentage leave the cult in despair due to the self-defeatism they’ve learned as members… Many of these folks lose hope and commit suicide as a result. I can’t prove it, but my personal experience tells me that AA drives people to suicide."
_ says, "I think that kills this thread. Oh well… on to another." Is "one size fits all" the new anti/XAer buzz term?
Well, that solves it then. Anti/XAers pretty much think we in A.A. cause suicide. Bummer. I'd like to take some time going over these claims... treating them separate... considering some of them more carefully.
I didn't want to engage this topic over there. There are 38 of them and 1 of me.
I would like to jump ahead and address the mention of me in there. I don't remember specifically what I said about smoking and getting cancer or not getting cancer. I have been of the belief that people who smoke and don't worry about it seem to do better than those who smoke and worry about it or have a weak life-force. DRH said something about naturally grown tobacco correlated positively and those that use pesticides correlate negatively. IDK. I'm glad I've since quit all forms of tobacco and that my mom, a lung cancer survivor, has quit cigarettes as well. People who smoke stink anyway. Yuck.
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On a personal note; I know three people who commited suicide. My uncle...with booze, who had once committed a vehicular manslaughter and never lived it down, a guy who was manic depressive and I never saw it coming... very sad, and a guy who I used to work with. I'd partied with him at the bar many a time and eventually, after work some times. I saw him leave his family and shack up with women who would do coke with him and stuff. He got back with his family and I thought that was a very happy ending. He got hooked up with meth and soon thereafter, he hung himself. At the funeral, I discovered he had molested his own daughter.
That's what the fucking truth looks like, folks. It's not cause effect. You have to look at the full context of things. If you think that's psychobabble, it's not. I'm just so fucking far over your heads. Learn how to see the truth in stuff and quit blaming others for your miserable lives. Go help someone out. Go volunteer to Meals on Wheels or something. Get outta your negative heads.
Trying to discredit A.A. with this Orange-induced lunacy is... ludacris.
