Comments on: What is the Success Rate of Recovery in AA?

By: paddy

paddy — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:23:03 +0000

for those of you who said aa dosent work ,it didint work because u were not ready to quit ,if you have a serious drinking problem and your life is unmanageble get your self to an aa meeting you wont regret it ,your life wont get perfect but that fear of reality will leave you ,and you will know what freedom really means ,it will be tough a the start but even your bads sober will be better than your best days drunk ,i needed it and its worked for me ,you have to want it ,dont compare with anyone just idientify ,do the steps it ill make u a stronger person ,best of luck to every one who reads

By: chris s

chris s — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:45:20 +0000

aa is a program of honesty. “many people are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. their chances are less than average.” aa works just fine. i am living proof of that. it is nothing more than a fellowship of men and women whose primary purpose is to help the alcoholic who still suffers. you can condemn the program without giving it an honest chance to work in your life-while maintaining your anger and untreated disease of alcoholism, or you can see what it’s all about….they’ll be waiting for you in a meeting near you. i promise.

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:02:01 +0000

A previous contributor wrote:

“Please if you are struggling from alcoholism, go to an AA meeting, find a sponsor, and work the steps with the desperation of a drowning (wo)man.”

If your are an intelligent person who make your own decisions and and prefer to control your own life, I say DON’T! Find a good general practitioner who has not bought into the AA cult, get yourself referred to an appropriate specialist to identify the underlying cause of your alcohol self-medication (“alcoholism” is not a disease, it is a symptom) — it could be an anxiety disorder or it could be an unbearably stressful situation at home or at work, it could be loneliness, it could be many things, but it is not a primary condition. Contrary to the belief spread by pseudo-scientists, there is no such thing as an “alcoholism gene” (there may be a genetic predisposition to anxiety and various other recognised disorders, which is something else). Get to the root of the problem. don’t try to treat the symptom by allowing a cult to get its claws into you. Spending the rest of your life attending AA-meetings is probably not much better than being pickled for the rest of your life.

However, if you are a religious fundamentalist, and a sitting duck for shampoo advertisements on TV, the AA is probably your best option.