181–190 of 366 posts
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My understanding is that they don't even need you to acknowledge a God, just that "there is cosmically something bigger than you and you have no power to govern it" Is that about what you experienced?
even that is just silly. it is true only when the idea devolves into that kind of tautology. I would obviously let it slide if I needed this kind of thing, but it is clearly cruft.
I am 7 years sober via the AA path after trying just about everything else. I really, really didn't want to go into an AA room the first time and even when I mustered the courage to try it I almost drove out of the parking lot :). The decision to walk into the room changed my life. There are many paths to recovery but if you are at a point or have questions you would like to ask privately please reach out to me anony…
https://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/my-name-is-roger-a...
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>The point is surrendering to something "bigger" than yourself. Don't get tied up in militant atheist perspectives. There are people that can just say "from tomorrow I will believe in God/afterlife/spirits etc. It would be so easy to live knowing that your loved ones are not gone or that if you are good enough your problems will be solved soon but for some people(like me) it is like trying to convince me that 2+2=5 a…
And fortunately, you don't have to. People come to AA when their lives have completely fallen to shit. They need something, even if it's something that they have to completely make up for themselves out of whole cloth. They'll believe it because they need to believe it. People who can quit cold turkey, or manage their alcohol consumption, should do so. AA is a last resort, when you're so desperate that even an atheis…
(In my experience).
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After 15yrs of a-abuse, 4 bottles of alcover (sodium oxibate? i believe available - prescription only - only in one country) cured me. I bought 2 cases of xtra-strong beer 'just in case', have had 2 cans on my desk for months now. 0 interest in drinking.
Why in the world would you tempt yourself like that?
Interesting. I was never a fan of AA and I was very critical in the lack of science and rigor in addiction treatment, and actually for mental health in general. I always felt there were better treatments, but CBT-based group therapy / 12-step alternatives are pretty rare. All you really need to start a chapter of AA is to not have one nearby and a place to host it. It's comforting that AA at least doesn't make things…
I found SMART recovery, which is very welcome to atheists and based on CBT. That group helped me quite a bit in my recovery.
I didn’t do AA but did AlAnon for children of alcoholics recovering from trauma. Despite what people think, the 12 step program is super light on the spirituality stuff and very atheist friendly. As a recovery group AlAnon was super useful for getting some closure on the hell my parents dragged me through and just leaving that stuff behind. Edit:I guess I should have qualified that I’ve only done support groups in SF…
My understanding is that they don't even need you to acknowledge a God, just that "there is cosmically something bigger than you and you have no power to govern it" Is that about what you experienced?
No cosmically, nothing about governance.
Should be loving and tolerant.
At least that’s my experience so far working the steps.
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> the 12 step program is super light on the spirituality stuff and very atheist friendly This is highly dependent on where you are. I experienced verbal abuse and was made to feel unwelcome at meetings when people found out I'm an atheist. People have told me, verbatim, "You don't belong here if you're denying God". Needless to say, I am no longer a part of that little cult. I'm doing fine without it.
You know, I've gone to these meetings with a number of people (my mother, who unfortunately lost her battles with it, and other family members/friends). I'll note that I've done this worldwide, to some degree - Japan, USA (east and west coast). I'm saying this to point out that I'm in there as an observer for these people attempting recovery, so this experience is cultivated from multiple viewpoints/locales/etc. I ha…
Instead I read a different book that could be summarized as "There are lots of good reasons to stop drinking and lets go over them." I also used r/stopdrinking as a support group for daily check-ins.
I can't say whether Alcoholics Anonymous would have helped me had I gone to the meetings but the literature was really unattractive. My understanding of SMART is they don't let you refer to yourself as an "alcoholic" or "addict". I feel that framing was much better for me than what I read in the Alcoholics Anonymous pamphlet.
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After 15yrs of a-abuse, 4 bottles of alcover (sodium oxibate? i believe available - prescription only - only in one country) cured me. I bought 2 cases of xtra-strong beer 'just in case', have had 2 cans on my desk for months now. 0 interest in drinking.
Why in the world would you tempt yourself like that?
4 years. Nary a single relapse to speak of.
It’s not for everyone, no. But that’s okay. Few things are.
That doesn't make sense: AA is not very effective at all. "Based on these data, he put AA’s actual success rate somewhere between 5 and 8 percent." https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/04/the-irr...
You can go down multiple paths multiple times before things start to stick. You also have harm minimisation to think about.
How many celebs who go to 'rehab' with the best money can buy then relapse? You don't just write off their rehab, you get them to go again or they might try something different.