For those who have attended AA meetings what did they teach you and was this treatment effective?

Answer 1

AA has taught me that I am not a bad person trying to get good, I am a sick person trying to get well. The worst part of the disease was the loneliness. I have so many friends in AA now it is mind boggling. I always thought that I was the only one in the world that had problems like mine but being the black sheep I finally found my flock. Helping others is so rewarding and in turn I help myself. I have found that whatever happens I don't have to live like that anymore. What a relief.
T

Answer 2

AA and treatment are only as effective as I am willing. My treatment facility was and is great. I have over 4 1/2 yrs. sober today and I do volunteer meeting at the local treatment facility. AA has taught me a new way of life and my acceptance level is so much better today. Thus far I haven't had to drink or drug. It has taught me that is OK to have emotions and feel them. It has shown my to have faith in a Higher Power(not always God). It has given me a life!! I work full time and I am happily married, own our car, I have regained custody of my son. It has taught me I am a good person that has made bad choices.

Answer 3

They taught me many things that were detrimental to my getting sober: that I was powerless, that I had a disease, that I couldn't do it without them, and that AA was the only way to stay sober.

When I realized that the religious nature of the program was incompatible with my beliefs ("Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God" BB, pg. 77), I thought that I would have to spend my remaining days as a drunk.

I bounced in and out of the program for almost two decades, only managing months of sobriety at a time. They tried to teach me that if I just worked the program hard enough, all my problems would magically disappear, but I was suffering from major depression, which only got worse in the rooms. I was told that drinking caused the depression, despite being diagnosed with it BEFORE I started drinking, and that if I worked a good program, there was no need of therapy or medication.

A few months into AA and I always became suicidal. Finally I turned my back on the program, took responsibility for my actions, and got the help I needed. I haven't had a drink now in five years and have been working as a peer advocate for people with mental health and substance abuse issues.

Answer 4

I attended AA meetings for about a year and they helped me by teaching me the basics about how the mind of an alcoholic works when it's seeking to return to the addiction. They impressed upon me the truth that someone who has been addicted to alcohol always has a tendency to think that they can be the exception to the rule and start drinking again as long as they do it in moderation and exercise self control but that this never works for very long.

I haven't attended in years and I've stayed sober because I found that the key to my drinking problem lay in the fact that I didn't have Jesus in my life. Now instead of trying to fill the hole in my life in with the deceptive comforts of alcohol, I let the Lord fill it with his love and with the other members of the body of Christ who have become my new friends and family.

However, I wouldn't recommend that anyone else stop going to AA because they "found God". I didn't stop for that reason. I'm just sold out on Christ and I'm always looking to serve Him in my daily life and so I don't have time to go to meetings and besides which I don't want to expose myself any longer to people who lack the hope that He gives to me.

I'm not putting them down or anything, it's just no longer compatible with my new life for me to hang around with people who use foul language as a matter of course and who are always afraid that they are just one slip away from total disaster. Instead I hang around with people of faith and we encourage each other in our upward journey for the high calling of Christ on our lives, may His name be praised forever, Amen!

Answer 5

I've always thought that AA is really good if you are 100% willing to stop hanging around with all your old friends that you normally drink with.

Even with AA, if you are going to continue putting yourself in social situations where you would normally drink, you are going to eventually drink again.

Answer 6

The main thing they teach is, It's up to you.

Answer 7

They taught me that there are people more ****** up than me so I quit and went back to drinking.