You learned that your defective, obsessive, and diseased mind is bent on its own destruction: that is simply the nature of alcoholism, your newly diagnosed affliction. Ruin is inevitable.
They exploited the desires, fears and sins you revealed during “Step Work” to exact obedience and stifle doubt.
Then they sent you out into the world to proselytize for them: to convince others they are similarly defective and obsessed even if they don’t realize it, insisting that their claim to drink just because they want to is a lie, even as you deny trying to convince anyone they are alcoholic. And you do it, because it’s an essential part of the only known cure.
Now they sit back and laugh, waiting for you to self-destruct because one day you you wake up in a good mood and forget to beseech your Higher Power for protection from your own mind’s lethal obsessions and at the end of the day when you suddenly remember and reach for the phone to call your sponsor, it’s too late because the combination of vodka you picked up on the way home to commemorate a successful day (an old habit you assumed was long since broken), and a nearly full prescription of vicodin left over from a previous surgery (whose longevity you and your sponsor recently agreed was sure proof of progress even while you wondered why she didn’t demand that you flush it immediately), has already shut down the nerve signalling pathways controlling the muscles in your extremities, thereby rendering a maligned and abused but normal brain truly and hopelessly powerless, for the first time ever.
That’s the most common modus operandi of Alcoholics Anonymous, the brainwashing cult of powerlessness that doubles as a drinking club (oh you thought AA was a treatment for alcoholism? Gotcha haha!), and it happens many times every day in this country. They thirst for your blood because it makes them stronger; your expiration increments the obscene statistic that stands as this year’s testament to the fearsome power of the same affliction that now threatens the life of tonight’s featured speaker even as he stands here before us: a humble Christian, and at one time not so long ago another certain victim of the disease, were it not for his discovery of a simple but powerful program, which worked when nothing else did, and which not only rescued his poor and admittedly imperfect soul from certain death but offered it abundant life; the initiation of which requiring only a willingness to admit the power of an undeniably deadly disease; and for its maintenance his continuous vigilance lest it return. The disease withered as he advanced in the program in which he learned to exercise rigorous honesty in all his affairs; and finally the infernal malady receded, though it left behind in its wake a shameful trail of sin, which he regrets and for which he has made amends, as our program requires. He then proceeds to recount the harrowing details. We listen and much to our surprise he is laughing and we are laughing! The recovery from our condition has strengthened us and made us resilient, and we are able to find humor in the midst of the suffering and hardship it created for us and the ones we care about most. Indeed, we are not a glum lot.
You chuckle along with the group at the stories of mischief, unaware of the high cost the cult has incurred for them, or that this obligation can be satisfied only by the blood of its members. Who will die for this man’s sins? That question never occurs to you. For now you are focused on your recovery, while you relish the warm welcome of the fellowship. Their eager hugs and knowing smiles suggest a genuine appreciation of your suffering, even if the repeated demands for ‘rigorous honesty’ about past mistakes left you demoralized. They say you’re making progress.
You recommit yourself to the Steps as our speaker advised and wait your turn for the promised miracle, wondering if you really have admitted utter powerlessness to your disease as he did, and trying to remember what he even said about that.
___________________
The Real Alcoholics of AA pour their drinks and take their seats, laughing about their new disciples. Who will be first to attain true knowledge? The bets are placed and the curtain is lifted. The demons settle in to watch an eloquent apostle of our “cunning and baffling” condition start her day in a good mood and conclude it in silent vindication. The curtain falls and the room erupts in raucous cheers: the old prank remains as young as the blood that affords it. The winner of the pool soaks in the accolades and starts to plan her merry escapade, which will only wax more lurid in its retelling. Brew sloshes and spills from a goblet raised jubilantly in its own honor.
___________________
My advice is to get out now and don’t look back. Maybe stop by your local church on the way home and see if they have any openings for service work.
And for gosh sakes, don’t mix alcohol and drugs!
AddictionMyth gratefully acknowledges the contribution of Dr. Drew Pinsky for this article.
Read more:
- Powerlessness as Religion – Only the good die young
- The Problem of the Jews: a Lesson in Brainwashing Propaganda – How AA bamboozled a country
- The Drinking Club – Watch what they do, not what they say
- Cory Monteith: The Cult of Powerlessness Claims Another Victim – Fresh from a role as a drug addict
- AA is a Pagan Cult – You got a problem with that?
- School for Scoundrels – What you actually learn in the rooms
- The Little Psychopath Could: How the Addiction Myth creates new Drug Addicts
- Addict Science – A rising Tower of Babel
I may be wrong.
Maybe someone you know was not helped with AA. or maybe you’re still drinking and in denial. Either way. It works. Were all a bunch of drunks learning how to live life and cope without alcohol. And yes, Life Does Get Better.
I don’t have much to say because I have not been going to meetings for a few months and I am feeling nuts, uncomfortable in my own skin.
I know that my encounter with AA is a God inspired experience. As I also believe in Jesus Christ as MY Higher Power I can see the entire program in its essence is nearly a carbon copy of TRUE Christanity as I can see, as a seminary educated person in a “I believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God” upbringing and experienced my powerful “conscious contact” and salvation at age ten! I “met the Master” of my soul. Later I found the vocabulary to describe my experience as I felt an “aura” about me that I now describe as a “love that is out of this world!” I later backslid or relapsed a number of times but my AA experience was a powerful return to the God of my youth! Not all persons in AA believe in God and even athiests and agnostics do recover from alcohol and some eventually state “I did not believe in God before AA!” AA, according to many negative comments about it I beleve is by persons who do not fully understand the full spiritual contant of the program. Some go to Bible believing churches as a result of coming into AA. The truth, as I understand it, is that God can and will make Himself known to the ones who are truly open minded and admit that noone can actually prove the existance or non existance of God. I believe this is by supernatural revelation and only God can prove His existance to those who are willing! God bless all the faithful and lovingly guide others to His saving Grace!
LOL if you were Christian you’d be teaching the 10 Commandments not the 12 Steps. And you wouldn’t refer to anonymous anal sex while drunk as ‘backsliding’.
I’m praying for you!
Addiction myth, you come across as a very bitter, sarcastic and mean spirited person. I feel kind of sorry for you. I wonder what causes you to attack and try to hurt others?
How did AA harm you? What happened to you? I sincerely wish that you can overcome your difficulties and find a measure of tranquility. That is all that most of us want. It’s not easy to attain, you might try therapy or fellowship in other organizations, but it that does not work, you can try with the help of the 12 step program of AA.
The 12 steps of AA are saving my life. A lot of addictive thinking has gone into this site.
Addiction is by NO means a myth. Those like me and other AA’s describe alcoholism as a disease and one that needs intervention and treatment to recover. The medical people also hold that addiction to any drug is not a myth. I have met hundreds of AA’s who believe this. The only harm coming to anyone in AA I believe is a mistaken understanding. Some claim AA did not work for them but the truth I believe is that they did NOT work the program. One day by the Grace of God they will return!
I drank and drugged for 28 years and ended up broke and homeless. Not knowing how to live life without drugs and alcohol but not know how I could survive any longer with them. I walked into AA 8 years ago and never used again. I needed a new to live. I needed some direction. And I didn’t have a dime to go to any rehabs or for any miracle drug that could help me. Thank God AA was there with the doors open and for no cost. Cult? Your dumb. I know people in AA that follow many different religions and lots that don,t. It’s my experience that the people who find something bad to say about AA are the ones that can’t handle it.
I usually don’t debate this kind of outspoken non-sense.
I am a recovering person. AA has saved my life plain and simple.
I never had any boundaries and now I have the 12 steps that set up the boundaries I needed to learn how to be a decent person.
If it works for you then use it. If it doesn’t then keep looking for something that may help you. It is a shame that people are so angry and alone, that they strike out at anything and anybody that does not agree with them. Scott Wagner
AA is not a cult or even a religion. If it were, we would have an identifiable “Grand Poobah” of some sort. An ultimate authority on everything like you! The head of the main AA office in NYC is not even an Alcoholic. Even if he “edictified”, which he never would, no one would pay attention to him anyhow.
The meetings are not ritualistic. Each group is autonomous as long as what they do does not interfere with other groups or AA as a whole . There is a whole gamut of meeting types. Most are satisfied with reading the “Preamble” and starting the meeting. Prayers are optional by Group Conscience.
God is as we, and really I, understand him. That god can be anything from a light bulb to a monster with multiple legs and breathing fire out of all its anatomical orifices to humanity itself.
The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. No one has to stop and many don’t for long periods and some never stop. If they say they are members, though, they are! No one has to promise anything, accept any tenets or do anything.
AA is not a “Treatment”. It does have some steps that can be helpful but are not required. The main idea is that we find out who the problem is for ourself and learn to accept help from others. The “Fellowship” is then there for us all to help with that. We do a pretty good job at that.
AA does Work! Perhaps other method do too and more power to them!
AA is a suicide cult. Any group that requires you to pray daily to your ‘lightbulb’ or ‘Group of Drunks’ to relieve you of a deadly affliction is a cult. And any group that says you will kill yourself if you don’t is a suicide cult. AA is a drinking club as well, and has been shown to increase binge drinking. Of course AA doesn’t require you to do or believe anything. All you have to do is convince the newcomer that they are ‘powerless to alcohol’ (Step 1). After that point they are putty in your hands. Get them to admit their sins and insecurities with ‘rigorous honesty’ and you have the keys to the kingdom. You then proceed to abuse and exploit them for fun and profit and call it ‘learning to accept help from others’. No wonder you defend the cult so tenaciously. How many of your sponsees are you still on speaking terms with?
You sell alcohol for the weak-minded fools along with prescription drugs. You teach our kids Left-brain methods of education totally ignoring the right brain. You give us one God fits which is the cause of painful unbalance psychic mind in which your alcohol & prescription drugs does the trick to elevate the pain which makes us the victum of our own extinction. AA is just a matrix where truth and spiritually is to be found where truth will set you FREE, its so simple as brushing your teeth or you drink alcohol take prescription eat shit and die mauda fucker
I wonder why anyone would need to attack AA? It’s not an organization, it has no leaders, it requires nothing from it’s “members” and the AA 12 step program works wonders to help people get sober and stay sober. What is wrong with that? The above article offers a totally twisted view of AA. I’ve been sober and drug free for almost 30 years and I have never see anyone being coerced or abused or used in AA. Surely there are bad people in AA as in any other part of life and surely they can victimize others. But the likelyhood of this is far less than in any other situation.
AAs are not likely to allow a predator in their midst as the people are as honest as they can be and being alcoholics and drug users, they are very wise to liars and posers. Predators would stick out as a sore thumb and be exposed immediately by their own words….
AA does not align itself with any religion, organization or institution. It requires nothing for membership. In order to get sober one would need a desire to stop drinking, but even that is not necessary to attend AA meetings. No one will ask you for anything and you need not even give your first name. There is no compulsion to do anything.
AA gave me a good shot at a better life. I’m much better for having put the drink and drugs down. All I have given AA is some of my time and a few dollars (which are not required). In return, AA has given me a good life and a good way to deal with life’s problems and joys. Attacking AA is a very foolish pastime that will gain nothing and might cost someone their life.
Wow. Spoken like a true predator. Thanks for demonstrating exactly what to watch out for!
my name is david b. i am an alcoholic ,i am 49 years old and have used alcohol since the age of seven .Iam very stupid when i get drunk ,i have a lifelong history of trouble due to this.im am done drinking because i am tired of all the trouble .i am the only one who can make me stop drinking.i am court ordered to attend aa meetings .i have attended 15 meetings so far ,and at my last meeting made the mistake of telling them i feel good today and am early in recovery .from that moment on the topic or discussion was directed at me .thirty peaple spoke to me in a very negitive way .a member of the meeting who i felt was going to be my sponsor came up to me to shake my hand .i looked at him and said you know what i really feel like a piece a crap now ,thanks.all the guys who smiled outside the doors of the chucrh and wanted to shake my hand and welcome me only to throw me under the buss.this will never happen again .i will attend the required meetings for the law.but if this is how it works ,i will share with god as i understand him .i have lost all faith and trust in them .if i ever had a bigger trigger as they call it to drink it was at this meeting ,they dont make me want to get well ,they make me sick .nuff said DAVID B.
Yes that is exactly ‘how it works’ and thank you for that explanation. But now you know so take it easy and don’t let the turkeys get you down and maybe even have a little fun next time and make up a drinking story like the rest of them.
http://addictionmyth.com/lie-like-the-wind/
If you read the AA Big Book, it says nothing about praying to a lightbulb! It says that, at first, the group can be your Higher Power, but in “We Agnostics” it clearly discusses how that spiritual connection must grow and ultimately become a connection with God.
Right and the group tells you to pray to a doorknob or a lightbulb if you don’t want to pray to God. Sounds a bit satanic to me to be honest.
For profit? Get your facts straight. AA saved my life and asks nothing in return. My choice. My higher power. My recovery. My responsibility.
Unbelievable. You have no idea what a cult is. Look it up dumbshit
Cult: An organization that instructs its members that they are ‘happy joyous and free’ and anyone who challenges this sacred doctrine is ignorant and needs to get educated (aka ‘dumbshit’).
You don’t know any recovered alcoholic ?
Are you just attempting to cause others to dislike you ?
And why AA . . .why not Scientology or Budhism or Judaism?
You must be enjoying the attention. . .and like to make others squirm ?
I know many recovered alcoholics. I’ve made many good friends from my work. I don’t know much about Scientology other than what I’ve seen on South Park. I studied Budhism and enjoy it but criticize it as I see fit. Same for Judaism. Good luck and I’ll pray for you and hope you find the answers you are looking for.
lol!
you should work the 12 steps and get the flaws in your character fixed I’m speaking to you with the 185 IQ a college education in physicsand obviously you still are sitting underneath your rock
AA is for saving your Ass not your soul,I now have the peace in my life only a drink use to bring,the racket is my head has slowed,obviously you are on the I-5 at rush hour,out of gas,flat tire,in the hammer lane.you remind me of a guy at an auto parts store that tried to do a holly roller witness in public to me,and got upset when I told him I was there for parts.
AA works period.
I have been in and out of aa for14 yrs. I thought i could drink like a lady… I thought i could have a little bit of this drug or a little bit of that drug or / and alcohol and just put it down and not think about it!….bull Shit! I’ve tried & tried & tried! A. A.has helped me to understand that one is two many for me, & a 1000 Will never be enough for me! So I now go to A.A.every day. And if you want to stay sober and / or clean this can work for you too. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!!! Are you? Coming from saint Louis mo. North county. Member of the . Olive branch.
So AA helped you recognize your fading appeal as a drunkard. And it only took 14 years. Will wonders never cease.
I lost a close friend to AA. Her life became AA. It was like a cult. Suddenly someone I had stood by for years while she was dealing with her boyfriend drinking, became cold and distant in the name of detachment. I was dropped like a hot potato, as she became absorbed like a zombie into this group think. No room for thought or opinions. The AA world can isolate people from previous friends, and it is not pretty.
Great. Spoken, or written like a true believer. I am wide open to happily receive relapased persons back, like the Prodigal. A loving God is the explanation for He certainly loves all of us and is sad when we are misarable and is ready and waiting for us with a “Welcome home pilgrim!” God bless you and keep you sober and in His care.
As a believer in God I accept God as my higher power because a doorknob, chair, tree, etc did not have the power to relieve my alcoholish. I actually have power OVER the above mentioned. The program for some is their higher power. That seems to work for them because, hmm, they are founded on SPIRITUAL PRINCIPALS and following them is like “next door” at least to believing in a spiritual Power. The key here as I believe is faith. A high ranking Roman Soldier once met with Jesus Christ and asked Him to “speak the word and my servant will be healed!” Jesus turned to the crowd and declared “I have not seen such great faith, no not in Israel!” With that the man returned to home and learned that when he asked Jesus in behalf of his servant that at that time his servant began to recover. The belief of the Roman of course was entirely pagan to the Jewish belief but because of his FAITH the miracle happened!
It is also written that “God sends the rain on the just and unjust alike.” This reflects the AA second tradition: “For our group purpose there is one Ultimate Authority, a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. God could and would keep those sober who truly seek Him!
Yo there Myth-buster, your a dumb ass. Perhaps you could recommend a program that works better than A. A.?
If your agenda was to help people surly you would offer a better solution instead of just bull shit.
It is the ONLY program with a proven track record of success. Not all groups are perfect which makes them no different than any other organization but there is a perfect group for everyone.
It is clearly stated at every meeting, take what you can use and leave the rest.
So in conclusion, shut your pie hole. You’re a blight on humanity.
Alcoholics Anonymous told me that they are God. G.O.D. is an acronym that stands for Group Of Drunks. “You may, if you wish, use AA as your higher power”.
You do have a grand “poobah”. AA, alanon, and hamsters worship alcohol as an all powerful entity people are powerless to resist. Individual responsibility and strength are quashed, and only members of the group can help guide. More participation is the only answer. I was in a cult once…these groups use exactly the same tactics. So subtle you hardly notice that you traded the booze (or some of if you are a hammy) for group think and meeting addiction. If you think you were helped by these groups, you are wrong. YOU helped yourself. You wanted to change and your self determination and strength made it happen. Dont give them all the credit.
my name is jeff and im a grateful recovering alcoholic ive been sober for 7.5 years after trying for 17 years. the program you are ridiculing works.the reason the aa philophasy works is there is only one requirement to become member is a desire to stop drinking. that doesn’t mean you have to be sober to join.all you have to do is want to stop drinking. That being said when i finaly gave in to my desire to stop drinking is when it finally started to work. all the one man that i befriended in the program told me to do don’t drink & go to meetings so that is exactly what i do no brainwashing here.the only reason this program works for me i try to take those steps seriously and the only i have to adhere to perfectly is the first one the one i have admitted that i am powerless over alcohol. sobriety isn’t what hoped for but is better than i expected so if you still feel the same way after i you read this response. my suggestion to you is go to a few meetings and talk to some of the old timers about there experience strength&hope they’ll do just that.no sugar coating.
therefore i’m going to say the success rating of this program is about 70% and that’s nothing to shake a stick at i also agree that is NOT the only way to stay sober but it the most recommended way even by the detoxes& alcohol rehab centers all over the world.this program of recovery is free and open to the public whether or not you are an alcoholic or not
When you finally gave into your desire to stop drinking you stopped drinking. Will wonders never cease. Thanks for sharing!
I’m not sure how or why it works…..obviously it didn’t work for you … but it does for me… I go to meetings I adhere to the principals, it works for me one day at a time for about 10,000 days
I swear I won’t impose my beliefs on you I would appreciate it if you would do the same… J New Jersey 12/1986
I swear I will impose my beliefs on you as long as you impose ‘powerlessness’ onto innocent people.
Your scam is disgusting and contemptible! – Chuck M., Freehold, NJ. Sobriety date – 10/15/76.
Critisism is easy…progress is difficult, remembering that opinions are like assholes…as we say in AA, (applies to you I think…)”contempt prior to investigation”. AA saves lives!
Exactly. If you try to think for yourself they call you an asshole. You inoculate the newcomer to the cult’s techniques by demonstrating them.
Where the hell did you encounter that! It sounds to me like denial. – Chuck M., Freehold, NJ Sobriety date – 10/15/76.
My friend suggested to me ” Never argue with an idiot, it confuses anyone who might be listening” I can’t speak for anyone else but I have a big smile on my face. don c
I have never seen or read such closed minded crap. Such contempt. Obviously a person and persons based on the thread that just went to some meetings. If you believe meeting makers make it, then the truth will be painful. Meeting makers just make meetings. That is all. And references to “the leader” such a lack of knowledge regarding real recovery.
Obviously you are someone who is not willing to do the work required to have a psychic change.
Good luck with your way.
We do not have the monopoly on recovery. Other ways do work for many. But AA has changed millions of lives for the better. And I am one.
What a bitter person you are. You must have been coned, because I belong to AA and at no time was I forced to conform or do any religious type ritual. I am not forced into practicing a religion, I don’t even say the Lord’s Prayer. Bill W. borrowed certain concepts and practices from his religious up bringing that worked for him to stay sober and passed them on to the rest of us. If you ever read the Big Book of AA it states “these are suggestions” . What religious order says to its followers “Believe it if you want, but if you don’t that is fine to?” What religious order says “You can make a donation if you want, but hey if things are tight forget about it?” What churches are DUI offenders court ordered to? Do Churches have contacts for people getting out of treatment to contact? I don’t think so. I have yet to find a clergyman who doesn’t get all read in the face and the veins stick out in their throat when I admit I am ignorant about the teachings of the church and ask questions. But when I admit ignorance in an AA meeting and bring up a topic that is spiritual in nature I hear laughter, because those who were once ignorant about spirituality versus religious know the quandary I am in. No where in any of the literature of AA does it say you can be excommunicated from the organization if you go against its principals. There is no one preaching about the damnation and ruin of mankind in an AA meeting. AA is the most open minded, tolerant organization that I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of. Heck you can even drink before a meeting, after a meeting, show up drunk and still be asked to come back as long as you don’t act out violently or are belligerent. What religious organization would allow this? We know we have a problem that takes more than prayer to solve, or meditation to solve. We know that religion alone will not stop the cycle of addiction, nor will psychological, or medical intervention or just doing some good deeds. But hey why am I writing to someone who doesn’t think they have a perception problem? You won’t even post your first name on here but yet you ask others to state theirs. What a double standard you have. I bet you are a recovering religious fanatic who is pissed off because you can not find a cure for being an asshole.
Nailed it !
OK sounds like you were looking for a religion that lets you drink whenever you want and sounds like you found it. Good for you! My goal is just to show court carders and newcomers what they’re getting into (and that they will be called a ‘religious fanatic’ and lots of worse things if they dare challenge your sacred cult dogma).
this website is by far the dumbest thing i have ever seen in my life, whoever is the creator of this should just shoot themselves now. how sad you are..
Bravo! That was a fantastic reply. Thank you, from another friend of Bill’s.
Opening your comments with a description of the writer whose piece you’re commenting on as “bitter” is a rhetorical technique called “argument ad hominem” – basically it means you’re not giving a legitimate counter argument, just saying the argument should be ignored because of a quality you identify as negative and claim the author has.
This is not only not a legitimate way to show any weaknesses in the argument you are commenting on. In fact, it’s like a giant red banner that says, “I got nothin.”
Dear Mr. Addiction Myth (or Ms.)…You are a very disturbed individual…you brainwashed yourself into thinking you are brilliant and now you are trapped in your own mind…nothing getting in…only diatribe getting out.
You’re wrong but don’t worry you’ll get it eventually. I saved a seat for you in the Red Face Club.
WOW! Well this must have taken months, if not years of dedicated research and writing. Not to mention building a very nice web-site. I do find it interesting that you yourself choose not to share an honest truth about your own experience, and what tragedy you have experienced that has brought you to this level.
I find love, light, enlightenment and raw honesty between the walls of an AA meeting. And while I am a greatful recovering alcoholic, I have gone back out several times. Each time was when I turned my back on my AA Program and stopped working my program/steps.
I too believed I could, as the big book put it “drink like a gentleman” (or in my case lady). It never worked. I came back every time. And you know what? The people didn’t throw statistics and jargon at me. Instead they welcomed me back, helped me get back on my program and just “loved me until I loved myself” again.
IF this is the brainwashing you speak of.. well I will take it. Afterall as an amazing speaker at one of my meetings said, “MY brain NEEDS washing”.
It’s my stinkin’ thinkin’ that often manisfests itself in just such “logic” as your web suggests that gets me into the same ole’ mess.
I really wish you peace in all areas of your life. Nameste.
aa maybe brainwashing but i know many people who have gone on to live the good life thanks to aa, world wide.
You know people worldwide?
Can you give us their names?
AA is a drinking club.
Damn.. I wanna sleep with members… sign me up!
It’s easy: “I was never properly introduced to the Big Book so all I did was drink a lot of coffee, screw a lot of new comers and go to a lot of meetings. don’t get me wrong I had a blast!” – http://addictionmyth.com/lie-like-the-wind/comment-page-2/#comment-113413
I enjoy AA and have for over 33 sober years. I am sorry you have been hurt.
I agree. The person who wrote sounds angry and bitter. AA and many recovery programs work if you want it.
Sure , recovery programs work. I totally agree. But AA is not the answer. Christ and his unselfish will are stronger than the lie of self serving that AA teaches. Obviously you couldn’t do it for yourself in the past, well aren’t your children or family whether married or not, enough a reason to stop lying to yourself and others? How bout your higher power? (God right?) Funny how everyone’s anonymous on the blog even those that responded. MMM…. lets not forget the road of trauma these alchoholic put their family n loved ones through. Yes it sounds bitter and angry, and is, but thats the experience myself and many others that have suffered at the hands of this cult. Lets not forget the old saying ” how do you know when a alchoholic is saying the truth? When their mouth is closed. ” im sure most can change and its a individual process. But as for me and my kids and many, many peers in the same situation,,, it doesnt work. And ill gladly sign my name. Nick N. [no names Email only]
If you found out that your experience in an AA group was not common, and that AA actually caused suffering for most of the people who have joined AA groups, would that change your opinion about AA?
Could it possibly be that you stopped behaving badly because you wanted to, and that AA is just willing to take the credit?
AA is a joke! Unfortunately most there members are habitual liers. Go to meetings, have your sponsor, then go home and drink in your private delusional life. They teach selfishness and a twisted view of God . The members put on this show that they are changed and sober” o look at me, im a great person now, and so spiritual”, yet live out there destructive lives in between meetings. They brain wash people into such a self serving attitude that does not fit into any “higher powers” will. They lie to themselves just as they lie to everyone else. They destroy the concept of family. You cant be selfish and still be a productive part of a marriage or even be a parent. O wait, they are all divorced or seperated anyways. What a joke!!
I have been sober in AA for 21 years & have found so much love & understanding. So sorry you are so bitter but I love my sober life & am happy peaceful & productive.
Wow
Afraid to put your name I see…MM
As a professional, I refer people that are struggling with alcohol to AA. Clients need to identify to other alcoholics that have stop drinking. This technique of peer-counseling is very effective and have been use successfully overcoming others areas of addiction. I am concerned that a lot of people are judging before getting illustrated about the 12 Steps of AA and how they work. There is a great difference between wanting to transform a negative attitude and stop drinking. There are different factor and components that make up the negative attitude of an alcoholic, therefore, the existence of the 12 steps. Transforming a negative mind and attitude is essential to in order to live a sober life. Please, learn more about alcoholism, dry alcoholics and sobriety.
If you are wondering why I seem so negative towards AA . My wife was caught drinking and sleeping with several of her “sober , god fearing co-addicts including the leader” and I found letters from her sponsor encouraging this behavior. So yes, it a joke to me. Perhaps someone should look into the practice being taught in the upland California AA meetings? And all this in a church meeting room. hopefully its different elsewhere. Nick.
Yep. People need to know about this stuff before going to AA. Only problem is some will see it as encouragement.
Are you a professional who had to demonstrate having a history of addiction to get hired as an addiction professional?
sounds like this person just couldn’t work the program and wanted to drink anyway
been aa for 30 years, been married for 54 years, believe in asking GOD’S help every day, love my wife completey, enjoy soberity. i bellieve it is a gift from GOD and my do my part to keep it,by saying you know all the answers, means you have no humility.love of life and people are number one goal of this acoholic. BOB K
If sobriety is a gift from God, why would anyone need AA? Haven’t people long had access to establishments that exist for the purpose of communication to/from God?
As in churches?
GOD = “Group of Drunks”
Lest we forget. I sincerely agree with you. It does no one any good to try and deflate a tried & true message inspired divinely to help mankind. I could go on to say more but just stumbling upon this website opened my heart and mind to the true message that I first received from AA back in 1981.
What I still do not understand is why people keep promoting this site by constantly commenting on it. The writer has obviously had either a bad experience with a 12 step or someone they care about deeply(codependent on most likely) left them behind after joining a 12 step. Stop sharing here and promoting it. They are entitled to their opinion but drawing attention to this site, especially if you disagree with it, just spreads the propaganda.
I don’t get it either. It’s like they’re addicted to it.
Thank you for sharing, you have very interesting points of view. Your work here is provocative, passionate & certainly food for thought. One can see that you certainly care for your fellow man by sharing your own life’s experiences, I certainly respect you for that. Keep up the good work & service to your fellow man, I have found that doing “the right things” and helping those in need has provided me with some of my life’s most rewarding experiences. Take care
Sadly, that’s an important thing our society seems to have forgotten – one of the best ways to get over depression is to do something for someone else. Believing that depression – or drinking too much, or any other personal problem – can be cured by sitting around re-telling stories about oneself is a departure from this wisdom that does not seem to have increased the happiness or productivity of members of our society.
And the more we expect the government to set things right for everyone the fewer opportunities we have to do it ourselves. Plus we’ll be waiting a long time.
Government can do many things that make life better – employing air traffic controllers, developing vaccines, inspecting food for contamination/spoilage, employing police & firefighters (in the 19th century, there were private, for-profit fire companies that only put out fires on property of paying customers but Americans socialized fire companies), ran the schools that taught me to read & write & understand the basics of math, science, etc., provide free public libraries (in the 18 & 19th centuries, there were private for-profit libraries in the U.S., but Americans chose to socialize libraries).
Etc., etc.
Wow, Trish, very well said both about addiction AND government.
Thank you, Mike. You’re very kind.
I actually found the concept of powerlessness liberating. It was a relief to realize I wasn’t running the show.
I was / Am ,To smart to get it ( Could Be The Answer Here ?) I Found The Post’s here interesting. . Here’s mine…( I rather spend the rest of my life Believing In A God as I understand Him & be wrong ~ Then Not Believing In One & Being Wrong…. )
Sincerely , Wino Rick .
With almost 36 years clean and sober, I must pray for your health, happiness and prosperity! I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I feel rather sorry for you and thank God I do not walk in your shoes!
By the way…I will let Dr. Drew know that he is attributed to this article.
Keep coming back! It works!
Wow 36 years of brainwashing and exploitation. How many of your sponsees are still alive? I hope your record is better than Dr. Drew’s!
With 36 years ckean and sober all I can say is that I am grateful someone brain washed me! I have a life beyond my
wildest expectations…. but I am aware that there others that have come to sobriety from a different direction. I think that is called acceptance and gratitude. I can accept that you have a different path and in time hope you are able to accept mine.
Sorry but I cannot accept a ‘path’ that requires stepping over dead bodies in a quest for ‘acceptance’. And you can tell Dr Drew that his days of brainwashing people into self destruction are numbered.
Who is Dr. Drew?
This is just about the most inflammatory bunch of bullshit I’ve ever seen on the internet. None of it makes one tiny bit of sense, nor does it even attempt to justify or quantify its own arguments. It just rambles its paranoid, delusional, destructive vitriol in odd, childishly drawn circles of non-logic.
Not only is there no “secret” to AA, it’s hard to argue it’s a “cult” when it’s completely free and always has been. Sponsors, meetings, reading material, interventions are at no cost. There is a better chance of the medical industry withholding data and discouraging research regarding a cure for different types of cancer than there is of AA being a self-serving cult.
Wow. Someone needs to stop drinking their Kool Aid mixed with household cleaning products.
AGREED!
Wow to those who sow pillows over the knuckles of My children’s out stretched hands. Wow to those who turn evil into good and good into evil, light into darkness, sweet into bitterness. For their houses shall crumble under them, their timbers shall splinter and fall. Their own iniquities shall become their stumbling blocks.
Your wormwood is your fruit, and ye shall be know by their fruits.
Your venom over flowith like the ephah onto babel.
Amen!!
It works if you work it.
Great Life To All, Just Remember,
THE STOVE WHEN TURNED ON HIGH HEAT, IS HOT.
One more thing;
You can see when you can see, and hear when you hear. ( J.C. )
None are as BLIND, nor as DEAF, as those that REFUSE to SEE, and those that REFUSE to Listen. (B.C.)
It’s “woe” not wow you dumb ass…
It is getting exactly what he wants every time someone post on here. It is just looking for attention and all of you are giving it to it. Lets all quit commenting and let it see that we ,friends of Bill W., could care less what an empty minded brain dead soap box preacher says. May God bless you and keep you, may he shine on you and show you love.
If you think you can avoid commenting here, that’s fine. Just go out and enjoy your life. If you can stay away, my hat’s off to you. But if you find yourself back here, not wanting to post, trying everything you can think of to get away, but then you’re reading more articles and posting again….
You can’t keep going on like this. Admit it: You are powerless to AddictionMyth!
AA made me run over my neighbor! I was told it would work and it did not!!!!
I’m powerless to your sense of humor!
Thanks for keeping up the good fight.
“This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? Save me from being angry… We avoid retaliation or argument. We wouldn’t treat sick people that way.” As people in recovery it is our responsibility to show others patience, love,and tolerance and not push our own beliefs on them. We know that alcoholism is a serious disease ( that’s science, bitch) but if other people want to ignore the facts that’s their business. All we can do is be there to support the people who need and want help. Let’s focus on the positive and forget about the negative. “If we were to live, we had to be free of anger.” Peace.
Yes, thank you!! My ignorance has always been a problem for me. Perhaps you can suggest a higher power who can relieve me of it? Who’s yours?
YES!! A Sick Mind For Sure!
Too many fried green eggs in the punch he/she drank, along with who knows what.
It is a shame I bet he/she makes a great coffee, and could be useful to the ORGANIZATION.
HA ~ There is no “ORGANIZATION” We have no leaders, nor do we rule any one’s lives. But you have to ACTUALLY READ AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS, TO APPLY SAID STEPS IN YOUR LIFE.
Remember, God, loves us all the same, so Bless HE/SHE’s Pea Pickin, Teet Suckin, Wallet Bleedin, HEART.
Praying that She/He get everthing I want and need.
Breathe in,……………………………………………………………………….
Nice to visit but no return trip needed.
Have a fantastic life,
All of You
I have not drank in so many years I forget when I was delivered by Christ. That is one thing that AA cannot do. You have to number the days of your sobriety. It is so darned sad to see those poor pathetic destitute souls who have made it for only one week or one decade stand up for applause. I never got to stay at AA because I would get kicked out because Jeshua is my higher power. AA hates the truth of the word, even ifat the end of the meeting they like to repeat the Lord’s prayer, they don’t understand “thy kingdom come”. I thank God that AA did not like me. I never could follow man. I was made to follow the Lord.
Dear, AdditionMyth.
When I first decided to figure out where to start with my drinking problem I did some “googling” and ran across your site and IT made me feel negative about AA…initially. However, luckly I did find my way to AA shortly after that.
I’m not sure what you are peddling but your website is a disservice to humanity and I can only pray to the Search Engine Gods that your site goes down in it’s relavence on the web. You aren’t helping anyone and I feel sorry for you. Perhaps you should go to meetings and see what AA does for people that seek it. I hope your journey will be one like C.S. Lewis’ where you find the truth in the end and will take your site down. You didn’t do me any favors slowing down my progress of getting into the program.
Your explanation of AA is not the experience that I have had. Bashing something you never really tried is ignorant.
OK thanks I’ll get my HP right on it. “Ignorance” has always been a tricky one for me.
I needed my brain washed !
I think this is goddamn bulls hit
U ain’t in control never will be addiction myth if you think your in control your in denial
i started an a,a, meeting i make good extra income and have all the girls [groupies] i want
I must now wonder why the legal system requires individual with drug and drinking problems to attend AA meetings as part of their debt to society?? I have never heard the courts making the same conditions obligatory to a church or monastery. And by definition they are Cults!! It will be a sad day in the Universe when AA is considered a religion.
Courts send people to AA for 2 main reasons: 1. the War on Drugs has created huge backlogs in courts because legislating people to not enjoy drugs hasn’t stopped people from liking and using drugs (so “drug courts” were created to relieve pressure on the criminal courts) and 2. AA members in their “anonymous” guise influence courts and legislators to believe that there’s a problem in society that AA is uniquely qualified to address.
The reason you don’t see people sent by the courts to a monastery or church is the same reason courts should not be sending people to AA – it’s called Separation of Church and State. At least 3 circuit courts have ruled that people can’t be forced to attend AA/NA because it is religion (apparently in NY State the AAers have gotten around this by just skipping the 12 steps and going ahead to the other parts).
But even if AA were a medical process (which it’s not), it would still not be Constitutional to send people there – adults have a right to refuse medical care if they want to.
AA is a spiritual program, not religious. Very common misperception, though
I never understood why courts sent people to AA who didn’t want to be there. But I guess they have their reasons.
I don’t see AA as a cult. I think there are individual AAs that are really doctrinaire, but nobody has to listen to them because they don’t speak for AA.
If AA has helped people find support for their sobriety, why is it any skin off your nose? AA doesn’t pretend to be the only game in town. All they talk about is their own experience, and what worked for them.
This is a reply to Anonymous who claims AA is “spiritual not religious” – this distinction without a difference was the invention of the founders of AA to facilitate the recruitment of Catholics.
Fortunately, the circuit courts in the U.S. have, at least to some extent, seen thru that ruse.
Wordy windy argument from a left brain wind bag who hasn’t experienced being transformed through 12 steps. Blah blah blah
I’ve seen Doctors, lawyers,Ambassadors, priest, psychiatrist, therapist, agnostics and atheist get sober through AA with years of sobriety, and judges . they all say the same thing. The 12 steps works.
The rhetoric crap is foolish nonsense. Sounds like the ramblings of the Ambassador who also majored in comparative religion and couldn’t stay sober. His spiritual advisor was a maintenance man. You can’t be to dumb for this program but you can be to smart.
“Left brain/right brain” was discredited by the neuroscience community before the year 2000:
http://rense.com/general2/rb.htm
Recent science disconfirming “left brain/right brain”:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0071275
But of course science wont matter to you because you met someone in AA who claimed to have been an ambassador once.
Similar lists of respectable people such as the list you enumerate once thought that phrenology really worked. Turned out it didn’t. That’s the thing about science, it doesn’t conform to popular opinion, only to replicable factual evidence.
Man you have it all wrong and all i can say is i hope you feel gods love one day! Without AA id be dead or in prison. Its the only thing that could have ever taught me how to live life on lifes terms and not have to drink about anything.
I couldn’t agree more. I tried many times by myself with no success. With AA I am sober 21 months. I am very proud, happy and great full.
Forty years and 8mts. sober with AA
Screw you Aholes
Ugh. Have a drink. It won’t kill you.
AddictionMyth is a bitter, resentful attention-seeker who is just trying to justify his own unsolvable issues by tearing down those who have found a solution. He (or she) is behaving just like an organized religion – berating and cajoling…telling you how to act or else. This person wants to blame AA for the deaths of people who would have come to the same end with or without AA.
Addiction Myth is what many would call a douche bag.
Relax. Have a drink. It’s good for your health. Don’t worry you won’t wake up next to a fat chick. Those days are long gone.
You are sick and disgusting.
Yes it would. Those of us with this disease who who would be foolish enough to listen to what you say and continue to use and drink would be participating in our own suicide. Why so angry at AA?
Yes it will
Wow it seems to have made you so happy.
Serenity Now!
AA has many things I diagree with however, parts of it are valid and admitting in front of others that you have a problem with
But AA itself says that you can’t just pick and choose – you have to swallow all of the Koolaid* or you’re engaging in “stinkin thinkin”
*apologies to those killed by People’s Temple, but the metaphor is useful
Tricia, AA says no such thing. There may be individual AAs who think there is only one way to “do AA.” But you don’t have to believe in God, and you don’t have to do the Steps. AA does NOT say you have to do everything that is suggested, or even anything. All you really need to qualify is a desire to stop drinking. There are some zealots, but gravitate instead to the people who are sober, mellow and happy. You will spot them soon enough if you pay attention. And if you don’t see someone like that, find another meeting!
1. My name is not Tricia.
2. You should read the Big Book if you think that it’s ok to not do steps or pick and choose which things from AA to take to heart – the prediction within is that to do so is death, hospitals or jails.