Leaving AA

Oddly, whether you’ve ever attended an AA meeting or not, fixing your misuse of alcohol means “leaving AA.”

How can that be?

AA and the 12 Step mythology, and the rehab industry they have spawned, have become so ingrained in our country – and others – that we have all unconsciously absorbed all of the “Emperor’s New Clothes illusions that block many of us from getting real help. These assumptions include such false beliefs as:”

  • “Alcoholism” is a disease;
  • AA is the only way;
  • The 12 Steps “work;”
  • “You can never drink again;”
  • The “disease” is progressive;
  • “Rehab works;”
  • You must go away for 30 days (or 60 or 90);
  • You must be “in recovery” and attend “meetings” for the rest of your life;
  • You can never recover;
  • You must stay away from normal people;
  • You must let AA do your thinking for you and never trust yourself;
  • And so on and on and on.

All of these are false and have no basis in fact, research, or most people’s experience. Yet these “beliefs” make getting over the misuse of alcohol so repulsive to most people that you don’t even try to consider alternatives, or even know how to go about finding them. Indeed, most people are unaware that effective alternatives – which do “work” – even exist.

As readers, you obviously, have found that there are alternatives and that they would, most likely, work better for you than AA’s 3% – 5 % “success” rate. Yet you hesitate to take the plunge, perhaps, because of your anxiety which comes from still being infected by any or all of the foregoing myths. Perhaps you could use a dose of Find the Courage to Take a Scary Leap?

Additionally, nearly everyone wonders “How Can You Possibly Cure My Years of Alcohol Abuse in Just 5 Days?” Yet, if you read Our Expanded Program Description you’ll see that it’s actually a 13 week program with the individual intensive 5 day portion being the foundation work, work rooted firmly in the research on Ending Alcohol Abuse: What Works – foundation work for implementing the changes in your daily life supported by weekly (or more often) sessions either in person or by phone.

And that’s the difference. AA offers you a way to maintain your alcohol-focused life while pretending to do something about your drinking.

Some alternatives – though not all – offer you a chance to recover, address whatever issues you are self-medicating, and return to, or create, a life unblemished by alcohol.

It seems to us that that should be an easy choice. What do you think?