Do you believe in AA?

Question

1,000's of meetings haven't helped me permanantly stop drinking although I've been able to go without drinking for long periods of time.

Answer 1

I will not say anything bad about it, it has helped too many people, in fact it has been the only thing to help many. Those who it has not helped are those who do not want to quit drinking. I am one of those. In my late sixties now I have mellowed out a great deal. Beer has helped me more than the prescribed pills, I tell the doctors this too. Looking back though, I can see that things would have been better and I would have had more had I followed the 12 steps and AA back when I was in my teens or even twenties. So yes I do believe in it.

Answer 2

I believe AA helps many people. It helped me to some degree in the first few months of my sobriety, but after someone at a meeting tore into me in a very cultish, group-think manner, telling me how I should live my life, I stopped going to meetings. The last thing that person said to me was, "You'll drink again!!!" Ten years down the road, I'm still sober.

My take on AA is that while it can help people stop drinking, it never lets them move beyond the phenomenon of addiction. I am fully aware of my body's relationship to alcohol, and I don't ever want to go back to the hell of drinking. But, I'm not living on the edge of taking that next drink. I think AA tends to keep people in addiction mode, on the edge of taking that next drink, but with drinking replaced with meetings, and sobriety approached one day at a time. If that's what it takes for some people, so be it. But, for me, I don't drink now, and I'm never going to drink again. I'm over it.

Answer 3

I know people it has helped, my father just got his 3 year chip in September and a good friend got his 7 year chip. My Dad' sponsor has his 20 year chip.

Reasons I understand the program doesn't always work is if either you aren't following the steps and working on them all the time, you are hanging out with people from the program that are only there because they have to be, so afterwords you have a new drinking buddy, sometimes you quit for everyone but yourself so you set yourself up for failure because your the drive needs to be you wanting change and help, not to impress others.

Most important you have to remember if you slip and fall, pick yourself up and start again. After all you are human and we all falter from time to time. After you have gotten up dusted yourself off and decided to try again, work the program, go every day as many times as you have to, use your sponsor you nee a drink tell your sponsor before you get one, can't find your sponsor, find a meeting, follow the steps. Don't give up on yourself, the only true failures in life are the ones that don't keep trying.

One of my favorite movies is Clean and Sober staring Michael Keaton, watch it see if it moves you at all

Good Luck!

Answer 4

Haven't had drink in 12 years, but that doesn't mean I won't ever again. If you've been to the meetings, then you know that you never recover, you are always recovering. The program works for many, but not everyone. For me, its not a matter in believing in the program, its a matter of keeping away from that first drink. Perhaps AA isn't for you and you might look for other alternatives.

Answer 5

AA does work if you want it to. It does not work for some people alone, there has to be support, a willingness and a desire to stay sober. Oh yea and for me a bit of stubborness when it comes to not taking that first drink. I still get cravings after 18 months but I just get busy with something until the craving stops.

Answer 6

Going to meetings is not going to stop you from drinking. It takes YOU to want to stop. The meetings and people are only a support group to offer encouragement and a network of non-drinking friends. You need to evaluate your lifestyle and avoid the drinking situations.

Answer 7

Yes I Do Believe In AA.You Said It Help You.I Think It Would Help Other People Too.

Answer 8

i think over drinking is a choice...my belief is that I am an adult...i KNOW when to stop drinking when I start feeling a certain way. if you want to stop drinking take a certain amount of money in cash...once it's gone, it's gone, go home. i know that i have too much to lose if i get caught with a DUI or whatever

Answer 9

What if you're forced to drink just THIS...
do you think you can stop drinking?

Answer 10

Dont drink.
Even social drinking leads to worse stuff...