AA: Cult or Cure?

An interview with Dr. Stanton Peele. Produced and directed by Patrick and Andrea Bergin. Copyright First Vision Productions 2003.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• Peele
• AA
• Prohibition

[foobarsnow]

very good to see alternae views like this one

[BlatzBeer]

@jadedjungle "...in the field of health and science aa and the 12 steps are found to be the only effective solution in the treatment of alcoholism." Completely FALSE! Numerous medical/sociological studies in the US, Canada and Great Britain have shown that working a 12-step program to be one of the LEAST effective ways to obtain lasting sobriety.

Google:

NIAAA +NESARC

Vaillant +"Core City"

"spontaneous remission" +alcohol

AA: "faith"-based. Medical science: fact-based.

[brobriobri]

As I post this, there are 24 dislikes, and 70 likes on this vid. That's roughly a third of dislikes. If I may be bold enough to say, I would have to guess that most of the "dislikes" are from AA members who stumbled onto this video. If I am correct, then that would certainly prove their closed-mindedness.

[sarlokkin]

Despair is the pathway to cults I think. In a cult people are looking for new guidelines for their lives, which are necessarily irrational, because in rationality you can go everywhere: people want stability. Normally society provides stability, but when that is lost, you will look in other places. AA is easy to find. I recommend to look harder.

It's funny how easy it is to tell someone else what to do, while not being able to convince yourself.

[kevinfirstnamefinn]

It's absolutely a cult. With a 97% failure rate. I wonder how anyone can actually join. So glad I left and don't have to listen to an old timer ramble on and on about his book of garbage.

[Hammersley1967]

@BlatzBeer

Yep...

[BlatzBeer]

@Hammersley1967 Evidence is an important step along the way, but in science, evidence must be *vetted* through a process of peer review and/or experimental confirmation, to approach fact. Evidence can be supported or unsupported. Bill Wilson standing up in front of thousands of people and claiming personal knowledge that the Twelve Steps were the only way to approach alcohol dependence was certainly eye-opening *evidence* (albeit anecdotal). It turned out to be poor evidence.

[auctioneinstein]

You are encouraged to speak truthfully about you condition, finally. The first true words they have spoken in a long time for some.

[Hammersley1967]

@BlatzBeer

"Numerous medical/sociological studies in the US, Canada and Great Britain have shown that working a 12-step program to be one of the LEAST effective ways to obtain lasting sobriety."

Nope, the body of research shows that TREATMENT is no more effective than NO TREATMENT at all (including AA, SMART, aversion therapy, etc). That is, natural remission rate = treatment remission rate.

"Medical science: fact-based."

Nope. Medical Science = EVIDENCE BASED (big difference)...

[andreasheinz]

@BlatzBeer The first year seems to be crucial for long-term renission and relapse rates:

ncbi (dot) nlm (dot) nih (dot) gov/pmc/articles/PMC1976118/

[MrBillyBunks]

There is so much stuff they were doing in 1935 that you would never dream of doing today. Has their system been updated at all? Why would you use anything from 1935 today, besides nostalgia?

Fuck 1935, there's a reason 1935 is extinct, its because it sucked.

[jadedjungle]

Statistics are too loosely thrown around and can commonly lack validity if the research has been unreliable.

If I had to answer your question I would ask you how many people does the 5% represent? And what has happened to the other 95%?

Pleased to hear the Sinclair method worked for you, the more treatments available for alcoholism the better.