There is no evidence AA helps at all and some think it actually harms...as in people who went to AA were 4 time more likely to commit suicide....so what do the masses think about this?
2006-07-26 20:25:32 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Community Service
If it works as well as NA then it is good. It is hard to stay away from drugs after rehab without the meetings. They help you by getting you talk about it without judging you and your sponsor will try to talk you out of relapsing when having a problem of wanting to use again if you open up to him/her. I would think that AA does this also.
2006-07-26 21:15:00 · answer #1 · answered by # one 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
AA is a spiritual approach to a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. And it does not work for everyone, nothing works for everyone. Those of us who have recovered find a whole new outlook upon life. I see miracles everyday in the AA program but I also see people who just don't get it. And the reasons are varied, some don't like the "God" idea. Some are not ready to quit. Some suicide b/c they think that there is no hope for happiness, that the bottle, jar or bag is the only way for them to cope. That is tragic, truly, because there is a better way. One of our main principles is one day at a time. We know that alcohol or other drugs was our best friend and we grieve that we can no longer have the temporary comfort our best friend offered us but we cannont bear to think that we can never have our best friend again, so we just do whatever we have to do not to drink or use just for today.
It is hard for people without the disease of addiction to understand why we celebrate every day we do not drink or use. You cannot understand the grip addictions had on our lives, our bodies and our very souls. And no where in AA do we state that the gates of heaven are going to open up and let you in, but we do know how to get the gates of hell to open up and let you out.
I really don't care if you understand AA and its principles and the countless lives the program has rescued but if you care, or even just want to comment go to an open speaker AA meeting, read the Big Book of AA, listen to the way we used to be like, what happened and what we are like now. And we are as varied as the number of people on this planet, no one has the edge, no one has all the answers but the thearaputic value of one addict helping another is beyond description, Doctors scratch their head and wonder, but they, too, are amazed. And by the way, two of my Doctors are in 12 step programs.
I don't have the space to tell you the miracles the AA program has allowed me to experience. I can tell you that I am free and I am happy. And I finally have a chance to live life as it was meant to be lived, with all the happiness, pain, joy and sorrow experienced by any "normal" human. And I am not perfect, neither is my life, but I am grateful for living one more day without the agony of addiction.
And the greatest miracle of all-When I entered the AA program over 8 years ago I was full of bitterness, resentment and hatred. I hated you, me and God and today I can honestly say, if no one has told you they love you today, I do. Peace.
2006-07-30 00:48:44 · answer #2 · answered by -Tequila17 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
AA and NA hinder rather than help and here's why. The leaders of AA tell the newcomer that they will never succeed in staying sober without them and AA. AA becomes a substitute 'addiction' and the hours spent previously drinking or taking drugs are now spent sitting around in an unhealthy atmosphere of cigarette smoke and black coffee guzzling TALKING ABOUT drinking and using drugs.
No attempt is made to learn how to live a normal life by the AA members, they just wallow in their addiction, even accepting their addiction as the very definition of who they are--Hi! I'm ______ and I'm an alcoholic (drug addict)!
To beat addiction a person must turn within and understand WHY they felt the need to obliterate reality. Addiction is a symptom not the problem. Only the 'addict' can beat their problem by changing their negative attitudes about life. Find JOY in little every day things. Then drugs or drink aren't needed.
2006-07-27 10:29:51 · answer #3 · answered by a_delphic_oracle 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I don't know how well AA works, but I can tell you from personal experience that NA works! Alot of addicts want to get clean but have no encouragement from people who understand addiction. In the rooms of NA you are surrounded by people who hit their bottoms and aren't shocked by another addicts brutal honesty. It's a room of people willing to stick by you until you understand that you're worth more then you're giving yourself with the drugs! They walk you through learning to live clean. It's a process of restructure and IT WORKS if you work it honestly!
I can believe that about the suicide rates. If they're sick enough in their addiction to find their way to the rooms of AA, there's obviously issues there. If they don't want to help themselves even with all the support of the meetings, no one can force them to do it! That's not a fault of 12 step programs! They're free and open to anyone who wants help and full of strangers who are glad to see you! Where else are you going to find that this side of church?
2006-07-27 04:04:34 · answer #4 · answered by Candy 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It obviously hinders sobriety in that it doesn't work, thus wasting the time of participants who could be receiving legitimate assistance for their addiction.
I think it fails to work because it attempts to convince participants that they are powerless to do anything themselves about their own addiction.
2006-07-27 03:30:59 · answer #5 · answered by extton 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋