Possibly true in some cases, but in my experience, it’s nice to be able to benefit from the experience of people who had gone through some version of what I went through, which is sommething that no academic credential can provide (although that’s not to say that some people can’t have both). My one experience with a “professional” involved me going to her office, looking for tools to cope with my problems, and her repeatedly (over the course of several sessions) pushing psychoactive drugs that I neither needed nor wanted, in spite of my protests.

I sympathize with those who have had negative experiences with AA, and I applaud you for finding a way that works for you. AA is, by definition, populated by unwell people, but I have always been able to find some people in meetings who seemed to have their shit together more than I, and who were willing and able to help, in a nonjudgemental way.

And as for predatory men in AA meetings, I think it’s more appropriate to Blame the Patriarchy (yay!) than AA. Sick-and-not-getting-better jerkwads preying on women who they know are emotionally vulnerable should be strung up by their balls, in my opinion.

Unfortunately, my own experience suggests that altruism was not generally the driving force for why so many “stayed behind.” Many of them had some pretty intense emotional and mental obstacles that kept them around for more sinister reasons. Not every problem dries up with the alcohol, and those who ARE sober longer head on up the AA hierarchy, gaining respect from others for no other reason. All the while, they carry and spill their other and sometimes more destructive baggage along the way. To quote a phrase often used among AA: “I can only share my own experience.”

I left AA four years ago and haven’t had a drink since, no thanks to them. I got myself some good therapy, which addressed the problems that made me feel that drinking myself stupid was the only answer. I gave up drinking because I couldn’t stand myself anymore and didn’t want to die. Willpower and common sense worked where getting god never could. Thanks Twisty for reminding me of what a lucky escape I had. I’m not an arsehole today, I try to take responsibility for my own actions, simple really, when you think about it.

AA is the chiropractor of addiction therapy.

Flame away, you crazy chiropractors!

;-)

I really want to agree with you, but the logical side of me sees group therapy as the blind leading the blind into deeper dependence of a different element. I do tip the hat to anyone who is trying to improve. [And, if it worked for you, please don't flame me. I'm criticizing the concept, not your life.]

I’ve done individual therapy… you know, the kind with a trained professional in the room and nobody else. I got a lot out of it (like, mostly how if I stopped bullshitting myself, I could see the elephant in the room). She got a lot out of it, too. $80/hr.

In a group, who knows what motivates the people to be there. And, in the case of AA, anybody who wants to show up can do so. That just creeps me out. And, maybe I’m crass for saying so, but I have a tendency to think that real help comes from someone who has the academic credentials and who wouldn’t be there if you weren’t paying them. At least that way you know the motivation.

AA is JUST FOLKS. Folks doing their best to help each other whatever ways they know how. Bless their hearts for trying! The ones who managed to sober up could have walked away from the AA scene, but they didn’t. They stayed behind to help the next influx of messed-up folk trying to change their lives.

Just imagine the scene: 10-20 people, each up to their neck in their own shit, their coping toolkits near empty, in a bunch of chairs in a circle with coffee and lotsa cigarrettes and . . .

. . . jeez, what do you expect? It’s a crapshoot what kind of group a person will walk into. It could be a functioning group or not. Recovery is a crapshoot too.

(I’ve never been in recovery myself but a close family member of mine has. He’s still sober today.)

I have a friend who is part of a group like that and she uses AA phrases like psychological AK 47’s to blast all of us lesser folks. Sees alcoholic demons in every doorknob.

I still contend there may be something better than the 12 steps, but probably nothing better than support on a consistent basis. Since I only worked on them and wrote an alternative, but never tested them, I cannot attest to their effectiveness.

Since drugs and alcohol are not my thing, I am not a good candidate to test that. But, I can tell you that what I wrote were steps that I took to work on my emotional addictions.

I certainly would not want to wrench from someone something that worked for them. But, I have seen enough good and bad to come from AA that I really do not think it warrants treatment as if it were a sacred cow of sorts.