Posted on 02/13/2014 10:34:24 AM PST by Responsibility2nd
The key is “God as we understand him”.
God could be Nature,The Moon,or a tree.
.
What is the track record for AA?
(Anecdotal evidence does not count.)
The author needs to do some basic research. An anti-alcohol pill called "Antabuse" has been around for decades.
even causes cigarettes to taste worse
Not sure how that's possible.
No. AA has no opinion on outside matters. In any case, it is a bottom up structure. You could not impose dictates from the top down, no matter how hard you tried.
The very nature of the fellowship precludes record keeping. Any track record is speculation.
The author claims AA is “religious based” ? I stopped reading right there. I have no opinion on this outside issue. - - My philosophy is “do whatever works for you” - I choose to keep going to my meetings and practicing these principals in all my affairs. Now they can just leave me alone! Is no place safe?
That would require removing eleven of the twelve steps.
Yes. and BTW . . who would want to go to NA anyway? :-)
“What is the track record for AA?”
Since it is an anonymous, voluntary program nobody really knows.
My guess is that it is no worse than any other program.
Regardless of anything else one might like/love/or hate about it, the anonymity and voluntary nature is its greatest strength.
It is free, it is widely available, nobody keeps records of your attendance, it is people helping one another.
It certainly doesn’t work for everyone, it might not even work for most people, but I have no doubt it helps many people who otherwise wouldn’t/couldn’t get any help at all.
The courts can not order anyone to AA because AA told them to go pound sand decades ago.
AA believes that being sober is something the person has to want and to place unwilling people in the group will cause harm.
They are right.
The courts can order you into treatment. You may choose to use AA as part of that treatment but you can not be ordered to attend AA meetings.
There is a lady in Birmingham, AL who runs a 9-12 month women’s recovery center. She started with six paroled convicts and brought them into her home.
She had counselors from NA and AA come in with the original 6 convicts and after sitting in on a few sessions, she kicked them out because she felt like NA and AA gave these folks no hope to ever fully recover.And her vision was that they be fully recovered.
She now houses on average 400 women & 150 children on any given day in a facility housed in a former hospital. Not all of them are addicts or alcoholics, but a large portion of them are. They use the Celebrate Recovery program.
I’m not advocating or attacking either program. My philosophy is that human nature being what is it, people will succeed and fail with both. But I thought she was very interesting as a person. ( I just read her book.)
http://www.loveladycenter.org/Miss_Brenda_and_the_Loveladies.html
Estimates are 30 million alcoholics in the US. 1.3 million AA members in US (estimate)
Anecdotal evidence points to a 5% chance the newcomer see 5 years continuous sobriety but if the newcomer makes it to 5 years, the odds keep going up steadily after that that he or she can maintain sobriety for the rest of their lives if they choose to.
I saw that! See post 20. I was suprised.
IMO - its just a matter of time befoe the ACLU sues the crap outta them and some idiot judge rules they violate the rights of the unreligous.
Indeed. It can not be stated with any measurable accuracy that AA is more (or less!) successful than any other method, including individual initiative.
Thats what NA is for
They are no longer victims and dependent on the government or others and hence useless to the Democrats.
Happy, healthy, self-sufficient people have no use for liberals, liberalism and hence no reason to vote Democrat. This strikes at their very existence.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
It's record is enough that it has attracted millions and millions of members who swear by it as the key to their recovery. And I don't know why anecdotal evidence wouldn't count when annonymity is a key componant of the program. In any event, the millions of sober people who swear by AA is documented and not anecdotal.
You know I couldn’t care less if normies get the program all that is important is that we do See ya at a meeting . Al Baby alcoholic
How do we know they wouldn't have recovered on their own, or with some other program? We don't. We can't. Any claims of success for AA is pure Blue Sky, with nothing to back it up.
This world would be a far better place if dam near everyone worked the steps the don’t just apply to drinking
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.