Facts about Addiction Recovery

Hopefully dispelling some myths about 12 step programs like AA, NA, CMA and SLAA

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[Humuculero]

...nice youtube moniker, but you wind up just another stepper apologist. My contentions against the "program" have to do with it having less than ninety percent effectiveness, the lies and distortions it relies upon, and the cultism of the "members". I am glad I left as are MANY others I have spoken with who don't drink the kool-aid or the alcohol...completely abstinent.

[informatist]

@Humuculero - I attained many years clean and sober in the 12-step programs and I was rewarded with their own unique brand of social status. I began to "climb the ranks" in the program but after awhile, I began to notice the "group think" and the outright lies that they tell on a daily basis... I became miserably depressed and decided to leave. Sure, I've had my slip-ups since I left the 12-steps, but I just don't have any regrets and anxieties over my time spent there. Life is better now.

[isegoria1]

1. Studies are not inconclusive. They show a painfully accurate 5% with and 5% without 12 step success ratio. Just ask AAWSO.

2. Long term retention is less that 5%. 50% never return after first meeting. The numbers get worse the long the time goes.

3. No Rational Recovery program will tell you it's ok to drink.

4. Reread the 3rd step section of the book as well as the "We Agnostics", Bill basically said find God or die.

5.Then you quote Bill with his HP comment?

6.Forced att. is illegal

[informatist]

Well, it's a matter of perspective, I guess... I am one of those who stopped going to meetings, but I still owe much of my current sobriety to the clarity I attained in the first year of working a 12-step program.

I'm not an Atheist - but I'm not a Christian Fundie either... So even though Bill W. was a man of faith (supposedly), I have found the 12 steps to be of some benefit even without all the religious hullaballoo attached to them.

[informatist]

@isegoria1 Forced AA attendance is NOT illegal... In fact, it's part of many judgments handed down by the courts as ultimatums in the USA.

[isegoria1]

@informatist It is unconstitutional to be exact but religion has never followed the idea of being constitutional. Sacrosanct organizations are the exact opposite.

[raysny]

"Most addicts and alcoholics who stayed clean and sober for years attribute MOST of their success to the 12 steps of the program."

Bet have heard that one from some true believer in the rooms; your claim is unsupported by facts. 80% of people get clean and sober ON THEIR OWN, with no program or treatment according to The Harvard Mental Health Letter, October 1995. FACTS are NOT a matter of perspective.

"Everybody is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts."

P. Moynahan

[prschuster]

If it is suggested that addicts & alcoholics make the decision to go to meetings themselves, isn't it contradictory to support mandates for going to rehab through the courts or professional organizations when these rehab facilities usually require clients to attend two 12 step meetings a week? I do support a person's right to voluntarily attend meetings though.

[seepferdchens]

You call those facts...

Here is a fact for you: there is alcohol in most non-alcoholic beers (1%).