31–40 of 92 posts
10 years sober today as a direct result of finally surrendering my ego and walking into the room and giving it a try.
From my "class" I'd say about 25 - 30% of us have made it to this milestone so far.
No two people are built the same is the truth, if you've tried and failed elsewhere don't be dissuaded to try it.
People worship modern psychiatry/psychology as this scientific insight into the human mind that has finally done away with superstition and religion, and can accurately (and repeatably) tell us what's happening with people suffering from various mental ailments, and how to fix it.
But for some reason, every time a shooting spree happens, we all scratch our heads and ponder who could have seen this coming, and bury the fact that the majority of the shooters are on SSRI's and a host of other medication.
What happened to our superior understanding of the human mind? Shouldn't modern psychiatry and psychology be able to identify people at risk of shooting sprees? Or at least point back at the missed signs? Why are they so silent on this?
It's because when you peek behind the curtain, you find they're just a form of culturally acceptable medicine men. "Here, take these pills and it will solve all your issues! No we don't have any idea what 'chemical imbalance' is happening, or even if it's happening, but that's beside the point! Do not question the great and mighty Oz!"
If you ask me, they aren't fixing the problem with young men, they're perpetuating it. Maybe address that before throwing mud on 12 step programs.
After completing the steps the first time, she relapsed after a few months. After the second time, she went a bit longer, but didn't quite make a year.
She's on her 3rd time now. It's been over a year since she last drank. She's made significant positive life changes and this time feels different.
The last two times she constantly talked about fighting the urge to drink. This time she has no urges and nothing to fight.
So I guess she's successful now? We'll never really know until she dies, right? Because she could relapse 10/15/20 years from now. I assume they have some arbitrary cutoff of sobriety as "success", but how many people relapse after that cutoff?
I'm proud of my friend and hope she stays sober forever, but I also check in with her often to make sure she's staying on track (She has asked me to do this). She says this accountability helps.
I'm not sure what my point is, just that "success" when it comes to sobriety is very complicated and not just yes or no.
12-Step Programs have been shown to work within academia. 12-Step Programs are believed to work by most doctors and people in the industry. 12-Step Programs work on a theoretical level, it fits within the frameworks on addiction. 12-Step Program are said to have saved their lives by many people in them (antidotal) The dirty secret why these contrarian articles keep coming out (Or linked back to [2014]) is all addicti…
People pay money, for fiction, that is less interesting than a typical ESH share from the front of a room.
It's quite something, when someone is talking about being shot, then pulls up his shirt, to show you the scars.
I have a friend in AA. I'm not sure how to measure if she's been "successful" or not. After completing the steps the first time, she relapsed after a few months. After the second time, she went a bit longer, but didn't quite make a year. She's on her 3rd time now. It's been over a year since she last drank. She's made significant positive life changes and this time feels different. The last two times she constantly t…
I'm a recovering alcoholic who has worked the 12 steps. To get this out the way, I agree that courts should not be sending people to AA. It's no good for anyone. The reason that the 5 to 10 percent do well in AA actually doesn't have to do with the 12 steps themselves; it has to do with the camaraderie. I agree with the second half of the that sentence, but the reason the reason many people including researchers don'…
I'm in AA at the moment and AA doesn't claim to be a scientific method for staying off alcohol. It's full of religion! TFA is a giant strawman.
I would recommend AA to someone who is already or wants to be religious. It has many or all of the characteristics of a religion in its own right, and the emotional stance of seeking help from god is an explicit prerequisite.
AA itself doesn't even think AA is the only approach that works. The writings are very clear that other ways work for many people, and if one works for you you should prefer it because AA is exhausting, endless, and humiliating. That is part of why it works for those it works for, but if you can find another way you'll have a better time.
Oh, let me hear the psychiatrist who has a new plan to overcome addiction with his bag of tricks. People worship modern psychiatry/psychology as this scientific insight into the human mind that has finally done away with superstition and religion, and can accurately (and repeatably) tell us what's happening with people suffering from various mental ailments, and how to fix it. But for some reason, every time a shooti…
Can you please cite a source for this?
>It's because when you peek behind the curtain, you find they're just a form of culturally acceptable medicine men. "Here, take these pills and it will solve all your issues! No we don't have any idea what 'chemical imbalance' is happening, or even if it's happening, but that's beside the point! Do not question the great and mighty Oz!"
This is an incredibly broad blanket generalization that is not accurate.