Bill and Bob's Excellent Adventure! (contd)

A wildly imaginative dianoetic rambling concerning the the “basic text” of Alcoholics Anonymous (viz. the Big Book) (our comments in red print)

Chapter 2 There Is A Solution (pp. 22-26)

“Why does he behave like this? If hundreds of experiences have shown him that one drink means another debacle with all its attendant suffering and humiliation, why is it he takes that one drink? Why can’t he stay on the water wagon? What has become of the common sense and will power that he still sometimes displays with respect to other matters? [this suggests that drink-free the alcoholic is quite capable of making decisions on his or her own behalf, and quite without recourse to a 'special advisor' ….]

Perhaps there never will be a full answer to these questions. Opinions vary considerably as to why the alcoholic reacts differently from normal people [but see Links and downloads for research articles on this area]. We are not sure why, once a certain point is reached, little can be done for him. We cannot answer the riddle.

We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men [again it is clear from this statement that drink-free alcoholics are quite capable of organising their own lives - and exercising their own judgement - without the intervention of the aforementioned 'special advisor' ie. sponsor]. We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible [note the qualification: “virtually”] for him to stop. The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this.

These observations would be academic and pointless if our friend never took the first drink, thereby setting the terrible cycle in motion. Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centres in his mind, rather than in his body [a 'feedback loop' - as the physical addiction strengthens so does the psychological dependency and so on. Body and mind are after all interdependent]. If you ask him why he started on that last bender, the chances are he will offer you any one of a hundred alibis. Sometimes these excuses have a certain plausibility, but none of them really makes sense in the light of the havoc an alcoholic’s drinking bout creates. They sound like the philosophy of the man who, having a headache, beats himself on the head with a hammer so that he can’t feel the ache. If you draw this fallacious reasoning to the attention of an alcoholic, he will laugh it off, or become irritated and refuse to talk.

Once in a while he may tell the truth. And the truth, strange to say, is usually that he has no more idea why he took that first drink than you have. Some drinkers have excuses with which they are satisfied part of the time. But in their hearts they really do not know why they do it. Once this malady has a real hold, they are a baffled lot. There is the obsession that somehow, someday, they will beat the game. But they often suspect they are down for the count.

How true this is, few realize. In a vague way their families and friends sense that these drinkers are abnormal, but everybody hopefully awaits the day when the sufferer will rouse himself from his lethargy and assert his power of will.

The tragic truth is that if the man be a real alcoholic, the happy day may not arrive. He has lost control. At a certain point in the drinking of every alcoholic, he passes into a state where the most powerful desire to stop drinking is of absolutely no avail [ie. the desire to stop cannot override the desire to continue]. This tragic situation has already arrived in practically every case long before it is suspected.

The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent.. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defence against the first drink.

The almost certain [again a qualified statement – see above] consequences that follow taking even a glass of beer do not crowd into the mind to deter us. If these thoughts occur, they are hazy and readily supplanted with the old threadbare idea that this time we shall handle ourselves like other people. There is a complete failure of the kind of defence that keeps one from putting his hand on a hot stove.

The alcoholic may say to himself in the most casual way, “It won’t burn me this time, so here’s how!’’ Or perhaps he doesn’t think at all. How often have some of us begun to drink in this nonchalant way, and after the third or fourth, pounded on the bar and said to ourselves, “For God’s sake, how did I ever get started again?’’ Only to have that thought supplanted by “Well, I’ll stop with the sixth drink.’’ Or “What’s the use anyhow?’’

When this sort of thinking is fully established in an individual with alcoholic tendencies, he has probably placed himself beyond human aid, and unless locked up, may die or go permanently insane. These stark and ugly facts have been confirmed by legions of alcoholics throughout history. But for the grace of God [or otherwise], there would have been thousands more convincing demonstrations. So many want to stop but cannot [ie. an insufficiency of will-power].

There is a solution. Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the levelling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the process requires for its successful consummation. But we saw that it really worked in others, and we had come to believe in the hopelessness and futility of life as we had been living it. When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet [Note: the choice to pick up the 'tool kit' remains with the newcomer. They are NOT thrust down his throat]. We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed [Don't worry: this is called hyperbole. Nobody's going to be 'rocketed' anywhere. See reference below to Appendix II – Spiritual Experience].

The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences* which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God’s universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty ['absolute certainties' tend to be rather thin on the ground, some would argue even non-existent - although we can't be absolutely certain of that! Contrast this emphasis with the previously cautious tone of the section] that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous [or NOT ie. according to an individual's belief system]. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves [alternatively it might be said that certain psychological transformations have occurred quite spontaneously without the intervention of any such deity. Take your pick according to your own perspective! Both might be equally valid – or then again ….. neither]

If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were, we believe [belief: a mental representation of a sentient being's attitude toward the likelihood or truth of something] there is no middle-of-the-road solution. We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid [but AA is composed of humans?], we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help. This we did because we honestly wanted to, and were willing to make the effort [Note: again the initiative remains with the newcomer – NOT with anyone else].

________________

* Fully explained—Appendix II.”

(our emphases)

Coming next – Chapter 2 There Is A Solution (contd)

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Alcohol research – National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)

nihr.ac.uk

“The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is funded through the Department of Health to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. It is a large, multi-faceted and nationally distributed organisation. Together, NIHR people, facilities and systems represent the most integrated clinical research system in the world, driving research from bench to bedside for the benefit of patients and the economy.

Since its establishment, the NIHR has transformed research in the NHS. It has increased the volume of applied health research for the benefit of patients and the public, driven faster translation of basic science discoveries into tangible benefits for patients and the economy, and developed and supported the people who conduct and contribute to applied health research.”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

See also Links and downloads

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Alcohol research – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

samhsa.gov

“The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation. SAMHSA's mission is to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America's communities.”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

See also Links and downloads

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

The Synanon cult infiltration of AA (Grapevine articles 1968-1979)

Extracts from the aacultwatch forum (old)

“Winds of Change” AA Grapevine March 1968 Vol. 24 No. 10 http://da.aagrapevine.org/

New kinds of AA meetings

THIRTY-THREE years ago, when AA's co-founders, Bill and Dr. Bob, met, it was an Oxford Group member who put them in touch. The earliest meetings of what was later to be called Alcoholics Anonymous were intimately connected with the meetings of the Oxford Group, religious pioneers of the day, who stressed honest disclosure about oneself to one's peers in the "group" as an essential step toward change of character and correction of troublesome behavior patterns.

As AA grew, it became more independent of the Oxford Group influence (although, as Bill W. has acknowledged, the influence on AA of an Oxford Group leader, the Rev. Canon Samuel Shoemaker, continued to be deep and pervasive for years). AA meetings as we know them today began to take shape. Since then, it has been traditional that in AA talks and at discussion meetings certain kinds of self-revelation are out of bounds. Evidently, in the early days of the Fellowship, among the small groups of members who knew each other intimately, the need for complete honesty with at least some others was fulfilled by private conversations. This remains true for some AAs in some circumstances today. But there has grown up a tendency, even allowing for the Fifth Step, for many AAs to attempt a spiritual life based on new principles without anything like adequate elimination of "old ideas" and the behavior that resulted from them.

Understandably, then, there is within AA growing pressure to discover new ways to resolve those emotional and spiritual problems which result from hanging on to old ideas and from continued entrapment in habitual misbehavior. Three articles in this issue, on the next eight pages, illustrate that pressure. We predict that there will be more such articles in future Grapevines. There is exciting ferment today in the fields of psychology and psychiatry; in more than one center of learning and research there is a new willingness to study and adopt methods of character change based on the spiritual principles of rigorous honesty and full responsibility for one's life and behavior. AA's thirty-three years' experience is proving a vital model for these studies. The AA demonstration is incontrovertible: Hundreds of thousands of alcoholics have found a way out of deadly addiction through spiritual action. Turnabout, AA is certain to gain--is already gaining--new vigor and insight as it proves willing to learn from those workers in related disciplines who are exploring and extending the techniques of spiritual recovery and regeneration as they apply to many different kinds of psychophysical inadequacy.

The Editors”

“40-hour Marathon Meetings” AA Grapevine March 1968 Vol. 24 No. 10 http://da.aagrapevine.org/

". . .The long hours in marathon bid fair to open the heart. . .

IT'S EASY to assume that we aren't going to see much change in the AA way of doing business in years to come. There are signs this is much too easy an assumption.

From the East Coast and the West Coast come separate reports[1] of a new kind of small, intense AA meeting, not confined to AA members, but including anyone who will abide by the rules of the meeting. The purpose of these meetings is self-inventory: how I am doing now. They are either Fifth Step or Tenth Step meetings, or both, and they are designed to furnish a place for in-depth disclosure of the difficulties members may be having in working the program--practicing these AA principles in all our affairs. Frank talk by others at the meeting helps me to take my inventory. I'm expected to come out of the meeting with a commitment to shape up, to change my behavior, or to do something about one or more Steps of the program where I'm remiss.

The main emphasis is on truth--the whole truth, not the abridged version which has become expected and appropriate at AA open meetings. Ah, you say, that's all very well, but you surely don't mean the whole truth, do you? Sex, perversions included. Thefts. Slanders. The really nasty stuff?

Evidently those proposing the new meetings do mean just that: the whole truth, including all the etceteras, as corrective for an AA which is tending to become conventional, even evasive. They propose the whole truth as a resource especially for those with a terrible burden of guilt which they can no longer lay down in public in AA.

As one reads the history of AA, it seems evident that in the beginning, among the close, small groups of the first days, any guilt could be unloaded. The price for freedom from the guilt was willingness to change, willingness to stop doing whatever was producing the guilt--starting with stopping drinking. As time has gone on, AA members have laid down the guilts associated with drinking in their open-meeting tales. They have laid down the guilts of the rest of their lives in the Fifth Step--if they have taken the Fifth Step. Many AAs haven't really taken it--ever. People who slip a lot show up deficient in this area especially, it seems. And all too often, those who have taken a solitary Fifth Step with AA sponsor or spiritual adviser have returned to a former pattern of guilt-making behavior. They have not used the AA group to help them keep from that return. After all, the group doesn't know about the misbehavior, so how could it in any way help?

The new meetings are designed to put all those participating in them in a position to furnish real help to a member wanting to change. The group is going to ask him for a commitment to stop whatever he is doing wrong, and it will expect him to report back regularly to the group on progress--admitting failure, without breast-beating, when he has failed. You're alarmed, you say? This is much too much invasion of privacy by the group? Not so. Remember, one is a member of the group by free choice. One is in the group precisely to get the help the group offers. One wants to change. One wants to be shut of, say, a sex hang-up, or a crippling anxiety. But solo efforts have failed. Now we try the group.

These truth-centered Fifth/Tenth Step meetings can furnish real help. The whole program is involved: Greater Power in the Third, Seventh, and Eleventh Steps; help from others in the sharing of experience, strength, and hope; self-help in the willingness to go into the meetings prepared to tell the truth about myself, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

The quintessence of the new kind of meetings is the "marathon." Evidently the idea for these comes most directly and recently from the programs for narcotics addicts called Synanon and Daytop. Both of these came out of AA, as a matter of historical development, but they are changed in important ways from the original AA program. The parentage is still evident, however, and nowhere more so than in the appeal to rigorous honesty. The climate of Synanon and Daytop, as best one can tell from reports and from minimal direct exposure, is much closer to the tone and intention of the fifth chapter of AA's Big Book than are most AA meetings today. While AA has waxed genteel, and eager to avoid discussion of unpleasant truths, drug addicts are willing--indeed obliged--to go to any lengths of honesty to be rid of their sociopathic or psychopathic behavior patterns.

Thus the marathon--forty hours of continuous meeting with a five-hour sleep-break halfway through. In two experiences of mine--one in a non-AA and one in an AA setting--thirty-five hours has proved barely sufficient for the "Fifth Steps" of some sixteen people assembled for the adventure. Marathons, unexpectedly, do not prove physically exhausting. One gets a second wind after eight or ten hours. (Food is provided at regular mealtimes.)

You get out of a marathon what you put in. If you put in the truth about your hang-ups, you get out relief and insight, and new power, through God, to do something about what is most troublesome in your own behavior. If you block, and conceal, and choose to talk trivialities and generalities, instead of the truth of past and present feelings and deeds, you get little enough, although perhaps it is impossible not to gain something from so intensive a sharing by at least some of the others.

There is much more to be said about these marathon Fifth Steps, but my own experience indicates that it is best not to attempt a travelogue, but to settle for urging others merely to try the trip. Somewhere in the area of the marathon, a vital new tool for sobriety and real sanity is being forged. (Or perhaps it would be better to say that an old tool is being restored to us?) The most promising purpose for marathons which has turned up so far is in trying to blast loose the ice that has formed at the heart of the long-term slipper, the seasoned AA failure, whose hope for himself has congealed, and whose idea of himself is layered over with self-deception. For this chap, as for so many with extra, major hang-ups beyond alcohol (sex is the most obvious one that comes to mind), the long hours in marathon bid fair to open the heart in a flood of powerful emotion. One can come very near to God under these circumstances as one comes near to one's fellow human beings in trusting and honest self-revelation.

1*See Pages 6 and 9 --Ed.

Anonymous"

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS To use “comment” system simply click on the relevant tab below this article and sign in. All comments go through a moderation stage

PPS Join us on Diaspora* here

Alcohol research – National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence

ncadd.org

“Recovery is possible.  In fact, we estimate that almost 20 millions individuals and families are living life in recovery!  We know.  Your visit to the NCADD website has brought you to the right place.

 

For nearly 70 years, NCADD has been a valuable resource for millions of people struggling with addiction.  Our founder, Marty Mann, was a true pioneer.  Marty got sober in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).  When AA was just getting started in 1935, Marty’s sponsor was AA Co-founder, Bill Wilson.  Marty exuded courage and unwavering belief in the dignity of all people.  She worked tirelessly to provide education to raise the awareness of addiction across our society.

Marty made two important policy decisions when she first started NCADD:

1. For NCADD to be a credible agent for changing people’s attitude and understanding of alcoholism, it would need the involvement and support of the medical scientific community; and
2. To change people’s attitude and understanding meant changing people’s behavior, so NCADD must offer professionally trained counseling services at the local level where people live and need help.”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

See also Links and downloads

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Alcohol research – Health Promotion Agency (New Zealand)

alcohol.org.nz

“The Health Promotion Agency (HPA) is a Crown entity established under the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Amendment Act 2000.

We have a Board that is appointed by the Minister of Health.

HPA has an overall statutory function to lead and support activities for the following purposes:

• promoting health and wellbeing and encouraging healthy lifestyles
• preventing disease, illness and injury
• enabling environments that support health and wellbeing and healthy lifestyles
• reducing personal, social and economic harm.

It also has the following alcohol-specific statutory functions:

• giving advice and making recommendations to government, government agencies, industry, non-government bodies, communities, health professionals, and others on the sale, supply, consumption, misuse and harm of alcohol so far as those matters relate to HPA’s general functions
• undertaking or working with others to research the use of alcohol in New Zealand, public attitudes towards alcohol, and problems associated with, or consequent on, the misuse of alcohol.

In delivering its alcohol-specific functions, HPA must only have regard to government policy if directed to do so by its responsible Minister. As a Crown agent under the Crown Entities Act 2004, HPA is required to give effect to government policy when direct by the responsible Minister for its work on other areas.”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

See also Links and downloads

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (contd)

aacultwatch's perspective on:

The AA (General Service conference approved) book:

“Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions: A co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous tells how members recover and howthe society functions”

(an almost as wildly discursive commentary as our 'take' on the Big Book)

This tome is much reviled in cult circles (especially amongst the Big Book nutters who regard it as almost heretical! (A point of interest: if you're looking for meetings largely free of the aforementioned 'fruitcakes', and for that matter sundry other screwballs, then a Twelve Step meeting following the format of the above text is usually a safe bet). The text we will be using is as indicated above. And now we come to:

Step Three (pp. 34-37)

“Step Three

“Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” [You will note this step does NOT say: “...turn our will and our lives over to the care of our sponsor! In this connection we refer you to AA, Chapter 5, How It Works, p. 60: “ (b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.”]

Practising Step Three is like the opening of a door which to all appearances is still closed and locked. All we need is a key, and the decision to swing the door open. There is only one key, and it is called willingness [ie. NOT grudging compliance in accordance with another's instructions or directions]. Once unlocked by willingness, the door opens almost of itself, and looking through it, we shall see a pathway beside which is an inscription. It reads: “This is the way to a faith that works.” In the first two Steps we were engaged in reflection. We saw that we were powerless over alcohol, but we also perceived that faith of some kind, if only in A.A. itself, [or even just in AA itself. It isn't necessary – or even possible - to have faith in something in which you have no belief] is possible to anyone. These conclusions did not require action; they required only acceptance [ie. concepts which you approve – not concepts which someone dictates you should approve].

Like all the remaining Steps, Step Three calls for affirmative action, for it is only by action that we can cut away the self-will which has always blocked the entry of God—or, if you like, a Higher Power [or Higher Powers] —into our lives. Faith, to be sure, is necessary, but faith alone can avail nothing. We can have faith, yet keep God out of our lives. Therefore our problem now becomes just how and by what specific means shall we be able to let Him [or enable whatever concept we approve become operative and effective] in? Step Three represents our first attempt to do this. In fact, the effectiveness of the whole A.A. program will rest upon how well and earnestly we have tried to come to “a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God [ie. not human power] as we understood Him.”

To every worldly and practical-minded beginner, this Step looks hard, even impossible. No matter how much one wishes to try, exactly how can he turn his own will and his own life over to the care of whatever God he thinks there is [or to whatever higher principle he/she has confidence in]? Fortunately, we who have tried it, and with equal misgivings, can testify that anyone, anyone at all, can begin to do it [this ability is not the exclusive preserve of 'experts', 'gurus', Big Book or otherwise]. We can further add that a beginning, even the smallest, is all that is needed. Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more. Though self-will may slam it shut again, as it frequently does, it will always respond the moment we again pick up the key of willingness [ie. there exists a conflict between what might be termed the 'integrated self' – one which acts in accordance with its best (and highest) interests, and the undisciplined, impulsive, divided, appetite-driven self which pursue only immediate gratification]

Maybe this all sounds mysterious and remote, something like Einstein’s theory of relativity or a proposition in nuclear physics. It isn’t at all. Let’s look at how practical it actually is. Every man and woman who has joined A.A. and intends to stick has, without realizing it, made a beginning on Step Three [apparently without the aid of a sponsor!]. Isn’t it true that in all matters touching upon alcohol, each of them has decided to turn his or her life over to the care, protection, and guidance of Alcoholics Anonymous? Already a willingness has been achieved to cast out one’s own will and one’s own ideas about the alcohol problem in favour of those suggested by A.A. Any willing [not merely compliant] newcomer feels sure A.A. is the only safe harbour for the foundering vessel he has become. Now if this is not turning one’s will and life over to a new-found Providence, then what is it?

But suppose that instinct still cries out, as it certainly will, “Yes, respecting alcohol, I guess I have to be dependent upon A.A., but in all other matters I must still maintain my independence. Nothing is going to turn me into a nonentity. If I keep on turning my life and my will over to the care of Something or Somebody else, what will become of me? I’ll look like the hole in the doughnut.” This, of course, is the process by which instinct and logic always seek to bolster egotism, and so frustrate spiritual development. The trouble is that this kind of thinking takes no real account of the facts. And the facts seem to be these: The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually are. Therefore dependence, as A.A. practices it, is really a means of gaining true independence of the spirit.

Let’s examine for a moment this idea of dependence [or more properly “interdependence” especially in the context of AA ie. the recognition that all individuals operate within a context operating both – and simultaneously - as cause and effect. We are not wholly autonomous beings, entirely detached from our environment, free to operate without any regard for or reference to others. But see Narcissistic personality disorder] at the level of everyday living. In this area it is startling to discover how dependent we really are, and how unconscious of that dependence. Every modern house has electric wiring carrying power and light to its interior. We are delighted with this dependence; our main hope is that nothing will ever cut off the supply of current. By so accepting our dependence upon this marvel of science [a science and technology which would not exist but for the ingenuity of men – hence the concept of 'interdependence'], we find ourselves more independent personally. Not only are we more independent, we are even more comfortable and secure. Power flows just where it is needed. Silently and surely, electricity, that strange energy so few people understand, meets our simplest daily needs, and our most desperate ones, too. Ask the polio sufferer confined to an iron lung who depends with complete trust upon a motor [again - a technology devised by men] to keep the breath of life in him.

But the moment our mental or emotional independence is in question, how differently we behave. How persistently we claim the right to decide all by ourselves just what we shall think and just how we shall act. Oh yes, we’ll weigh the pros and cons of every problem. We’ll listen politely to those who would advise us, but all the decisions are to be ours alone [this does not imply that these decisions should necessarily be taken by others on our behalf. After all the final responsibility for the conduct of our lives remains with us, not with someone else]. Nobody is going to meddle with our personal independence in such matters. Besides, we think, there is no one we can surely trust. We are certain that our intelligence, backed by willpower, can rightly control our inner lives and guarantee us success in the world we live in [but see the concept of 'interdependence' above. We may not be able to 'control our inner lives' but we're certainly responsible for the part we play in their quality]. This brave philosophy, wherein each man plays God, sounds good in the speaking, but it still has to meet the acid test: how well does it actually work? One good look in the mirror ought to be answer enough for any alcoholic.

Should his own image in the mirror be too awful to contemplate (and it usually is), he might first take a look at the results normal [??] people are getting from self-sufficiency. Everywhere he sees people filled with anger and fear, society breaking up into warring fragments. Each fragment says to the others, “We are right and you are wrong.” Every such pressure group, if it is strong enough, self-righteously imposes its will upon the rest. And everywhere the same thing is being done on an individual basis [eg. cult groups and members with their emphasis on directive and controlling 'sponsorship'. See our series on the subject]. The sum of all this mighty effort is less peace and less brotherhood than before [this is a rather one-sided presentation of the human condition although clearly adopted to make the point. It might equally be argued that everywhere one sees people growing in confidence, secure in their own abilities, and working with others to serve their mutual interests. It also assumes that all human progress is 'dependent' upon consensus. Conflict of varying degrees has always played a part in the development of human civilisation uncomfortable a truth though this might be to acknowledge] The philosophy of self-sufficiency is not paying off. Plainly enough, it is a bone-crushing juggernaut whose final achievement is ruin.”

(our emphases)(our observations in red print)

Coming next – Step Three (contd)

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Alcohol research – ABMRF – The Foundation for Alcohol Research

abmrf.org

“ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research is the largest, independent, nonprofit foundation in North America devoted solely to supporting research on the effects of alcohol on health and behavior and on the prevention of alcohol-related problems.

The Foundation was established in 1982 as the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation (ABMRF), a 501(c)(3) organization, with the support of the malt beverage industries of the United States and Canada. This important relationship continues today.

Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, the Foundation has supported research projects of more than 570 academic investigators at over 260 universities and research institutions in the United States and Canada. Many of North America's top researchers formed the basis for their groundbreaking work with Foundation grants early in their careers.“

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

See also Links and downloads

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Alcohol research – Psych Central

psychcentral.com/

“Psych Central is the Internet’s largest and oldest independent mental health social network. Since 1995, our award-winning website has been run by mental health professionals offering reliable, trusted information and over 200 support groups to consumers.

We are today’s modern voice for mental health information, emotional support and advocacy. With the broadest online reach and recognition of any mental health network today, we touch the lives of over 6 million people around the world every month. We’re also proud to represent the interests of our membership of over 400,000 people whose lives have been touched by a mental health concern.”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

See also Links and downloads

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

The Bill W - Yale Correspondence, February, 1978, Bill W

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

See also Links and downloads

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Alcohol research – Centre for Alcohol & Addiction Studies (Brown University)

caas.brown.edu

“The Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies (CAAS) is an internationally renowned research center in alcohol research. The mission is twofold: to conduct collaborative research that will lead to more effective treatment for alcohol and drug abuse, and to create a nationwide program in substance abuse, education and training for psychologists, physicians, medical students, and health care professionals.”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

See also Links and downloads 

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

From benign to malign in a few easy steps!

Extracts from the aacultwatch forum (old) 

“Here’s a couple of films about the Synanon Cult. I think the cult’s early stages of development, its historical significance in influencing drug/alcohol rehabilitation from the 1960s to present, its influence in AA (evidenced in the 1968-1975 AA Grapevine articles in my 12^th May post) and AA’s response to the embryo Synanon cult in 1958, might give today’s AA members, and those to come, an important historical insight into the practical application of AA traditions. And, an insight to recognising cultic threats to AA and how to separate these from AA before they become developed. It can be noted from the AA Grapevine articles and in the films below that destructive cults such as Synanon start as benign organisations before they become destructive. When in the apparently benign stage of development, they are at first attractive, welcomed and accepted by many and at the same time not perceived as a threat by the majority. Coercive persuasion (also called thought reform) techniques that modern cults use are so subtle and sophisticated that most people, including professionals, are unable to detect the threat until the cult has evolved to the destructive phase of its development. This may be years after its formation. By then its destructive power has already been felt in the wider society. Maybe if there was more widespread understanding of how cults develop, then newcomers to AA wouldn’t be so attracted to move away from traditional mainstream AA groups to novel groups such as you mention in your 16^th May post and old-timers might not be so complacent. Having said this though, if more AA members took the time to understand AA Traditions, Concepts and responsible leadership, then this would be largely unnecessary, because how to prevent cult formation within AA is already explained in these Traditions and Concepts. – The principles and responsible leadership actively demonstrated by the AA members in Santa Monica 1958 and the Central Office manager in Orange County.

The first film about Synanon is a University of CaliforniaTelevision (UCTV) production:“The Lawyer Synanon Tried to Kill ”  - University of CaliforniaTelevision (UCTV) http://www.uctv.tv/shows/The-Lawyer-Synanon-Tried-to-Kill-Legally-Speaking-24671 

“Los Angeles attorney Paul Morantz has devoted his professional life to fighting cults. But in the late 1970s that life almost came to an abrupt end when one of the cults he litigated against planted a live rattlesnake in his mailbox. Morantz speaks with California Lawyer editor Martin Lasden about his career and the dangers he faced.”

17.05 mins- 18.26 mins into the UCTV film:

Martin Lasden: “You point out in your book that Synanon didn’t start out as a violent cult, it started out as a relatively benign drug rehab program. What was the turning point? Can you identify the turning point?

Paul Morantz: “Very easily, yes. First, Dederich was an AA fanatic who [..?]  been  volunteered for an LSD trip, which made him  think that he saw insights into mankind….. he began to read at the library eastern philosophies and various books….. and the AA speeches which had religious overtones, Dederich was now being philosophical and psychological and developed his own following  who would come to his apartment……. he developed what would later become the game where they would sit in a circle and attack each other’s behaviour with the rude truth, but truth wasn’t required, you could say anything to cause an effect…”

18.39 mins - 19.27 mins:Paul Morantz: “… and the fact is, he wouldn’t keep statistics. And what he really had was, he had a lot of old-timer addicts who had had enough; and if they could get themselves into a home and fed with fellows like themselves and bond as a group they were capable of staying away from drugs. The fact is that the [..?] statistics done by ’66 showed that Synanon had no greater success than Kensington Hospital; and Dederich by ’66 realised that most of the people who left Synanon went back to drugs. So in ’67 he decided that the only cure was that no one ever leaves…”

The second film including clips of TV news film of the time shows Synanon’s benign phase through to the destructive. Synanon Short Film  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THu690d7qJE 

In describing Dederich, note Paul Morantz’s use of the terms: “AA fanatic” “AA speeches which had religious overtones” and reference to old-timer addicts bonding as a group. - A parallel perhaps, with some groups in AA today? And also with what other AA members are saying about them.”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

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Alcohol research – Alcohol Research Centre (UConn)

psychiatry.uchc.edu/research/arc.html

“Established in 1978, the Alcohol Research Center (ARC) at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine remains the longest-funded center both at UConn and at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), a branch of the National Institutes of Health. Funding to the ARC was recently renewed through 2017.

The Center is the first funded by the NIAAA to focus on both the etiology and treatment of alcoholism. Although alcohol research remains the central focus, the ARC now has programs that encompass research on other psychoactive substances (including heroin, marijuana, cocaine), pathological gambling and HIV/AIDS.

Our program is guided by three basic scientific questions:

• What is the nature of addiction?
• Why are some individuals more vulnerable to addiction than others?
• What mechanisms account for the efficacy of various treatments for different types of addicted persons?“

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

See also Links and downloads

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Bill and Bob's Excellent Adventure! (contd)

A wildly imaginative dianoetic rambling concerning the the “basic text” of Alcoholics Anonymous (viz. the Big Book) (our comments in red print)

Chapter 2 There Is A Solution (pp. 20-22)

 “You may already have asked yourself why it is that all of us became so very ill from drinking. Doubtless you are curious to discover how and why, in the face of expert opinion to the contrary, we have recovered from a hopeless condition of mind and body. If you are an alcoholic who wants to get over it, you may already be asking—“What do I have to do?’’ [Note: “What do I have to do” - NOT 'What do YOU have to do'. This is an invitation – NOT an instruction]

It is the purpose of this book to answer such questions specifically. We shall tell you what we have done [but NOT necessarily what you should do]. Before going into a detailed discussion, it may be well to summarize some points as we see them [but again this does not imply you should agree with this particular perspective].

How many times people have said to us: “I can take it or leave it alone. Why can’t he?’’ “Why don’t you drink like a gentleman or quit?’’ “That fellow can’t handle his liquor.’’ “Why don’t you try beer and wine?’’ “Lay off the hard stuff.’’ “His will power must be weak.’’ “He could stop if he wanted to.’’ “She’s such a sweet girl, I should think he’d stop for her sake.’’ “The doctor told him that if he ever drank again it would kill him, but there he is all lit up again.’’

Now these are commonplace observations on drinkers which we hear all the time. Back of them is a world of ignorance and misunderstanding. We see that these expressions refer to people whose reactions are very different from ours.

Moderate drinkers have little trouble in giving up liquor entirely if they have good reason for it. They can take it or leave it alone.

Then we have a certain type of hard drinker. He may have the habit badly enough to gradually impair him physically and mentally. It may cause him to die a few years before his time. If a sufficiently strong reason—ill health, falling in love, change of environment, or the warning of a doctor—becomes operative, this man can also stop or moderate [ie. he possesses sufficient will-power], although he may find it difficult and troublesome and may even need medical attention [not all who drink apparently to excess are chronic alcoholics].

But what about the real alcoholic? He may start off as a moderate drinker; he may or may not become a continuous hard drinker; but at some stage of his drinking career he begins to lose all control [ie. insufficient will-power] of his liquor consumption, once he starts to drink.

Here is the fellow who has been puzzling you, especially in his lack of control . He does absurd, incredible, tragic things while drinking. He is a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is seldom mildly intoxicated. He is always more or less insanely drunk. His disposition while drinking resembles his normal nature but little. He may be one of the finest fellows in the world. Yet let him drink for a day, and he frequently becomes disgustingly, and even dangerously anti-social. He has a positive genius for getting tight at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when some important decision must be made or engagement kept. He is often perfectly sensible and well balanced concerning everything except liquor, but in that respect he is incredibly dishonest and selfish. He often possesses special abilities, skills, and aptitudes, and has a promising career ahead of him. He uses his gifts to build up a bright outlook for his family and himself, and then pulls the structure down on his head by a senseless series of sprees. He is the fellow who goes to bed so intoxicated he ought to sleep the clock around. Yet early next morning he searches madly for the bottle he misplaced the night before. If he can afford it, he may have liquor concealed all over his house to be certain no one gets his entire supply away from him to throw down the wastepipe. As matters grow worse, he begins to use a combination of high-powered sedative and liquor to quiet his nerves so he can go to work. Then comes the day when he simply cannot make it and gets drunk all over again. Perhaps he goes to a doctor who gives him morphine or some sedative with which to taper off. Then he begins to appear at hospitals and sanatoriums.

This is by no means a comprehensive picture of the true alcoholic, as our behaviour patterns vary. But this description should identify him roughly. ”

(our emphases)

Coming next – Chapter 2 There Is A Solution (contd)

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)