[quote=Awoken]Among others, there are two primary reasons why the AA method fails. The first is removal of individual responsibility; “We admit that we were powerless over alcohol”. This is a victim mentality. It says, “I can’t control myself”. If you don’t have control over yourself, who does? This is a recipe for failure.
Second, is that notion that “Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. If you take one drink, you’re doomed”. The world isn’t perfect and no human being is perfect. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; “Well, I slipped and had a drink. Guess I’m screwed. Bartender! Gimme a double!” A sure-fire recipe for failure. I could go on and on.
But whatever you do, DON’T DRINK THE AA BREW! IT’S POISON!
I just saw this and have to wholeheartedly agree!! I've spoken often on this forum about my drinking and researching before quitting on 2/06/06 via Rational Recovery.
AA did not resonate for me because;
-Everything Norm said above -I am not powerless -My life was not unmanageable -I am not insane -I am not diseased -I did NOT buy into"You WILL relapse; it's part of the disease and is to be expected," -I did not like the religiosity of it, even though I am a religious man -I, personally, did not buy the "can only do it one day at a time" theory. If there is an addictive side to my personality, it would just love to hear this: Not today? Okay, I'll getcha tomorrow. - Sloganism doesn't do it for me. -I wanted to stop drinking, not "have God remove all my character defects" a) That is my lifelong path between me and God and has nothing to do with drinking. b)If, say, a womanizer has a drinking problem and he stops drinking but is still a womanizer, guess what? He succeeded. Goal was to stop drinking.
The Psychiatrists DSM IV no longer even recognizes alcoholic or alcoholism anymore. Dependence? Sure. Abuse? Yep. But Alcoholism a stand-alone life-long disease/diagnosis? Nope. Doesn't exist.
I quit after reading Jack Trimpey's The Little Book, his answer to AA's The Big Book and especially Rational Recovery wherein he posits, among other things that alcohol abuse is sometimes little more "than stupid behavior in a non-stupid person". That and the rest of the book resonated I quit 2/06/06 and never had a regret, a temptation, an urge, white knuckle. lip biting moment. I am not "in recovery". I have recovered.
Problem? My wife went to al-anon and bought into it: "That's your disease talking", etc. Even almost 4 years later calls me a "Dry Drunk". I looked it up on google and stopped counting at SEVENTY-FOUR symptoms and characteristics of a Dry Drunk and came to the conclusion that a Dry Drunk is simply anyone who has the temerity to stop drinking without AA!
They've even co-opted the vocabulary When police do a "sobriety check", what is sobriety? Absence of Alcohol.To AA, mere absence of alcohol= Dry Drunk. To AA Sobriety is absence of alcohol only by working their program
Sorry for rambling. I've explained my success through Rational Recovery and counseling before, but refrained from "going off" on AA/Al-Anon. God Bless the 5% that have been helped by AA. God Bless, also, the statistically proven 74% who quit successfully for life on their own! The most successful approach of them all.
Approach it with a healthy skepticism, this AA and Al-Anon and see how many people or their loved ones have been working the program for years and keep "relapsing" but that's okay because "it's expected; it's part of their disease."This is success? This is healthy? I think not.
Sorry, getting off soapbox, now.
Gardener
"My soul, be satisfied with flowers, With fruit, with weeds even; but gather them In the one garden you may call your own." Cyrano deBergerac
