Questions and Answers on Sponsorship (contd)

The AA (General Service conference approved) booklet: Questions and Answers on Sponsorship 

Extract: 

“Should a sponsor recommend hospitalization? 

The important thing to remember is that hospitalization is not part of the A.A. program and that a doctor, not a sponsor, is the person who should say whether it is required. Experienced sponsors are careful not to set themselves up as substitutes for doctors in dealing with any phase of alcoholism.

An A.A. oldtimer offers this reminder: Hospitalization or other professional care given to a newcomer “does not in any way lessen the responsibility of the A.A. member to carry the message in the best way possible, and to furnish good sponsorship. It is not good A.A. simply to dump an alcoholic into the lap of others because we do not have enough time, or because the alcoholic is troublesome and demanding. Most of us recall with gratitude the enduring patience and great kindness older members showed us when we were new ourselves.””

(our emphases)

Comment: Again AA's advice runs directly contrary to that given by cult sponsors who will generally endeavour to interfere in EVERY aspect of their victims' (sponsees') lives. Pressure is frequently exerted upon new members to stop using prescribed medication and withdraw from other forms of therapy (counselling etc) under the guise that the former represents “Alcohol in solid form” whilst the latter approach may focus on purely psychological grounds rather than 'spiritual', the two apparently being necessarily mutually exclusive (?). The cult's approach in this area (as in many others) entirely ignores the advice on the subject given in the book 'Alcoholics Anonymous' (and elsewhere in AA conference approved literature. See The AA Member – Medications and other Drugs. For the sometimes fatal consequences of cult advice see Dual Recovery Anonymous' section on Medications and Recovery and also here): 

“Now about health: A body badly burned by alcohol does not often recover overnight nor do twisted thinking and depression vanish in a twinkling. We are convinced that a spiritual mode of living is a most powerful health restorative. We, who have recovered from serious drinking, are miracles of mental health. But we have seen remarkable transformations in our bodies. Hardly one of our crowd now shows any mark of dissipation. 

But this does not mean that we disregard human health measures. God has abundantly supplied this world with fine doctors, psychologists, and practitioners of various kinds. Do not hesitate to take your health problems to such persons. Most of them give freely of themselves, that their fellows may enjoy sound minds and bodies. Try to remember that though God has wrought miracles among us, we should never belittle a good doctor or psychiatrist. Their services are often indispensable in treating a newcomer and in following his case afterward.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, Ch 9, The Family Afterward, p. 133)

(our emphases)

Remember: a sponsor is NOT ESSENTIAL to recovery. And NO sponsorship is better by far than BAD sponsorship!

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

(to be continued)