Quote:
“We've
got a comment system on Mental Help Net, and lately we've been
getting a lot of comments regarding an old essay I wrote concerning
Alcoholics Anonymous. The essay, titled "AA is to shame as a hot knife is to butter",
presents a generally positive view of the Alcoholic's Anonymous
fellowship and twelve step programs in general. The positive view
expressed in that essay came out of my experience working for a year
(during my postdoctoral fellowship) in a partial hospital program
(otherwise known as an IOP or Intensive Outpatient Program) for
dually diagnosed people.....
My
positive impression of AA came out of that year of experience;
watching the patients rise and fall and noting when people were able
to keep it together and when they weren't. You could pretty much tell
who was going to use after a little while. The folks most likely to
use (or never stop using) were those most deeply in denial about
their drug problem; who could not submit to the idea that their drug
use was actually a problem. The ones who could never settle on a
sponsor; who would lie to you saying that they had not used recently,
when you had their positive urine test results in your hand.
My experience with AA was never very much first hand. I have been to exactly two AA meetings in my life. Both were observational in nature, a "field trip" if you will, so that I could see what I was recommending to my patients. What I saw during those two meetings was non-remarkable. People speaking about their drinking issues and receiving support from the group; pretty much what you'd expect. These experiences took the novelty of the thing away from me, but hardly qualify as a good sample of what AA is about. More to the point, my impression of AA's usefulness came from our patients, and from our staff, a few of whom were in recovery themselves. The point was made in my head that addicts are unable at first to control their own behavior, and thus need and benefit from programs like AA that help to set limits on them.
Its no secret that AA's focus on submission to a higher power has broad potential for abuse. That focus on submission and making amends is there for a very important reason - it encourages the growth of empathy and social solidarity in participant addicts; qualities which help them resist the lure of their drugs. And yet, that very submission also comes with a terrible vulnerability. It is important that anyone teaching submission as a way of life also be a kind and loving person, because otherwise, that submission becomes the basis for cult-like cohesion, as the commenter points out. Sociopathic types who also tend to be addicts are very likely to get themselves into AA and then use it for their selfish purposes. At any given moment within AA, there are going to be people who are honestly struggling with remaining sober and people who are using and not admitting it, or not taking the steps necessary to end it; people who understand hurt and who want to help others stop hurting and people who are all too willing to use other people for selfish purposes.
"Stick With The Winners" was the slogan I liked the best. Some meetings are better than others, because there is more beneficial order and kindness available there, and less sociopathy and sickness. If you are an addict in a twelve step situation, and you find that situation abusive (and not simply limiting of your urges), it seems to me that you need to find a better meeting; not quit entirely.
What are your thoughts? There must be some people out there who feel they have benefited from AA and twelve step. There must be other people who feel abused or put off by the process too. Do you have any advice or comments for the person who wrote the above comment? For me (grin!), as a doctor (like so many doctors) willing to write about and recommend things he has not lived or experienced first hand himself? Can there be submission to a higher power without abuse taking place? How do you handle abusive attitudes and individuals within AA and other twelve step programs? What are the merits of twelve step. And if you can't think of any merits, what are the better alternatives?”
Source: MentalHelp.net
(our emphases)
Comment: There then follow some readers' comments (which you may view for yourselves on the above site). We will be publishing a selection of the more cogent over the next few weeks. Perhaps we may learn something from this experience!
Cheerio
The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
