Even medical people are treating you like a second-class citizen. Is this really about ringworm or is this reminding you of what it’s like to be a person with addiction?
Tag: AA
Alone in Sobriety: How I Deal with Dark Thoughts, Cravings, and the Urge to Isolate
In the beginning of my sobriety, I went to meetings as simply a way of getting out of the house and not being alone. However, a cherished bonus—and one I was not expecting—was the feeling of being loved.
The Ugly Side of Dating in 12-Step Programs
When someone acts perfectly, their best selves, when that’s what they present to us, we often fall for it. I wasn’t special or not special. I was typical.
How Does AA Work? A Review of the Evidence
AA is cloaked in misconceptions and mysticism: a society of “former drunks” who tout spirituality as a means to cure the chronic, genetic, and life-threatening disease of alcoholism.
12-Step vs SMART Recovery: Are You Powerless or Making a Choice?
The problem with powerlessness is that it becomes all-encompassing and paralyzing. But the idea that addiction is a choice fails to consider many people’s experiences. Maybe there’s a middle ground.
Why You Should Embrace AA Groupthink and Shed Your Terminal Uniqueness
AA encouraged me, a sauced snowflake loaded on liquor and individualistic narcissism, to put aside enough of myself to embrace two traits required to curb my alcoholism: discipline and structure.
There's Nothing Wrong With You If AA Doesn’t Work
It isn’t that you’re incapable of being honest with yourself, or that you’re not working a “program” well enough. You are not too broken, or too far gone.
Does Everything Actually Happen for a Reason?
“Everything happens for a reason” conflicts with AA principles: it misleads recovering alcoholics into thinking they are special—that they are somehow more worthy of salvation than the addict or alcoholic who perished. “Because genocide.” That was me, in my typically understated fashion, explaining to a newly recovering alcoholic why he shouldn’t heed the single silliest… Continue reading Does Everything Actually Happen for a Reason?
Is AA Too Religious for Generation Z?
“What I try to teach is: if you don’t buy into any kind of a supernatural higher power, navigate the 12-step world, filtering the god-stuff out, working the program in your own way; there is lots that really works.” Are today’s mutual-aid recovery groups ready to satisfy Generation-next? “More than any other generation before them,… Continue reading Is AA Too Religious for Generation Z?
Alcoholics Anonymous: A Different Perspective
Rather than seeking knowledge through scientific methodology to gather more and more evidence regarding the factual attributes of successful recovery, AA emphasizes scripture, tradition, and the word of authority figures. I recently read an essay on another recovery-oriented site, a site whose focus is on people in 12-step recovery yet who are disinclined to religion.… Continue reading Alcoholics Anonymous: A Different Perspective