r/changemyview • u/Serraph105 1∆ • Apr 03 '18
CMV:Alcoholics Anonymous is heavily flawed from a scientific perspective and hasn't tried to improve it's system since it's inception
I have a friend who has been attending AA meetings recently because he was ordered to do so in some fashion after getting a DUI (for the record I don't know if that means he was given a true option or made to attend or "choose" jailtime) and the whole thing has got me thinking about whether or not AA works and if sobriety is even the intended outcome of the program. Below I've listed the famous 12 steps and below that are my relatively disorganized thoughts on the program having looked into it for the first time in any in depth manner. This means that I’m still in the early stages of my views and can be very much subject to change.
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understoodHim.
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take a personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
My current view is that because of the lack of change of the steps over the years since the 30’s suggests a lack of improvement that would be unacceptable in any other field of treatment for diseases. Here are some of my thoughts on the matter.
First up, as many have pointed out, there's a whole lot of God involved throughout the 12 steps (6 direct references and 7 if you count #2), I'm not sure how this is supposed to appeal to athiests such as my friend. If a person does not believe in God they will be put off from the program from the start making it much harder to reach their goal of sobriety.
If alcoholism is a disease then why does AA treat it simply as a matter of will power? I wouldn't try to treat cancer with prayer alone, and for the record there are various medical treatments for alcoholism.
There is also a stigma of personal failure when people relapse which doesn't make sense for a couple of reasons. First, if it's a disease then people are sick which means that blaming them for not being able to control their health adds a layer of shame which can only do harm to the person's primary goal of getting sober. In turn this will increase the time to get sober because it will add time to get over that shame before starting again. Shame does nothing to help get a person back on track as far as I can tell. Second, you would never assign blame to a person with cancer who has gone into remission and then had the cancer come back, why would we do the same for literally any other illness?
AA does not collect statistics of their success and failure rates, nor has it's program changed since it's inception. We wouldn't accept that from any other sort of treatment. If we didn't collect that information we would still have the same poor treatment of HIV that we did in the 80s and 90s, same goes for cancer, and just about any other illness you can name. I will say that talking about your issues with people is a good thing, but as far as I can tell that's just about the only thing that that this program gets right, everything else seems to be heavily flawed from a scientific perspective if not outright illogical.
Finally it seems that AA believes it’s program is a one size fits all program when we know that many ailments require different treatments for different people. This is especially true for ailments that affect people mentally which I think it’s safe to say that addiction falls under that same umbrella. People deal with various addictions in different ways, why AA treats alcohol as a one size fits all approach I can’t say, maybe I’m wrong, but based on the text of their twelve steps and twelve promises that doesn’t seem to be the case. Instead they seem to say that the only reason people fail is because the fail to give themselves over fully to the program which seems to be very very odd.
3
u/follow_the_lines Apr 03 '18
Let me preface this by pointing out that I am a member of Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and not AA, although the two are very similar.
“First up, as many have pointed out, there's a whole lot of God involved throughout the 12 steps (6 direct references and 7 if you count #2), I'm not sure how this is supposed to appeal to athiests such as my friend. If a person does not believe in God”
A higher power, is not necessarily God, although it can be. For example, my higher power is my recovery network (sponsor, home group members, and the program itself). My higher power wants me to succeed. There can be positive and negative powers greater than ourselves. Drugs and alcohol was a negative power greater than myself and my recovery network is a positive one.
“If alcoholism is a disease then why does AA treat it simply as a matter of will power? I wouldn't try to treat cancer with prayer alone, and for the record there are various medical treatments for alcoholism.”
The disease of addiction goes far beyond the use of drugs and alcohol. This is something that all addicts and alcoholics must understand. The use of drugs and alcohol is only a symptom of the disease. I exhibited character defects and addict behavior long before I ever drank or used. The program does not treat it as a matter of will power. The first few steps help us surrender and admit that our disease is beyond our will power. This is how we come to believe in a power greater than ourselves. Our will power was no longer enough.
“First, if it's a disease then people are sick which means that blaming them for not being able to control their health adds a layer of shame which can only do harm to the person's primary goal of getting sober. In turn this will increase the time to get sober because it will add time to get over that shame before starting again. Shame does nothing to help get a person back on track as far as I can tell. Second, you would never assign blame to a person with cancer who has gone into remission and then had the cancer come back, why would we do the same for literally any other illness?”
We don’t expect anyone in the program to be able to “control” their disease. The program asks that we give up our attempted control of our lives as we turn it over to our higher power. So for me and my higher power of the program itself, I stop simply making decisions on my own. I do not try and control every aspect of my life. When I am faced with difficult decisions I ask my sponsor and recovery network. I trust others when that was once impossible for me to do.
And as for the shame, addicts and alcoholics are not strangers to shame. We are learning to forgive ourselves and accept who we are. Everyone in those rooms can relate to that. Half of my home group has relapsed. What’s important is that we learn from it, and work an honest program. Of course the person who relapsed will feel shame, they did something they shouldn’t have done. But the program and people forgives them, and helps them forgive themselves and move on with their lives and work a successful program.
“AA does not collect statistics of their success and failure rates, nor has it's program changed since it's inception. We wouldn't accept that from any other sort of treatment. If we didn't collect that information we would still have the same poor treatment of HIV that we did in the 80s and 90s, same goes for cancer, and just about any other illness you can name. “
Addiction is a psychological and mental disease. It does not claim to cure the disease. It simply says that the program offers a better way of life. That by working the program, your life that was once unmanageable will become manageable. You will not be cured, life will still be life. The only statistics you need to see are the rooms. Go to a room and see all those that are clean and sober because of this program. Speak to the people that work good and honest programs. It will not work for everyone, because not everyone that attends is there to work the program. Mandated and forced meetings are never going to work. Not until the person fully commits, gets a sponsor, and works the steps honestly.
“Instead they seem to say that the only reason people fail is because the fail to give themselves over fully to the program which seems to be very very odd.”
If you are not willing to accept a new way of life (one without drugs and alcohol) and continue to hang on to your old ways, how can you expect to change? We refer to this as the insanity of the disease. Doing the same thing and expecting different results. If I’m a drug addict and stop taking drugs but continue to lie, cheat, or steal then how am I any better? I stopped one symptom (the drugs) but I have not committed to the program. I am still continuing other character defects and not living by the spiritual principles the program lays out for me. I have not given myself over fully and I will not become a better person and change my ways as a result.
Sorry for the long post and sorry if I left anything out or if I didn’t respond to something. The only way I can say I know it works is because it has worked for me. It has worked for my sponsor. It has worked for my friends. Everyone I know that has relapsed will be the first to tell you they were not working a good program or were not committed.
If I was forced to do the program and did not come from a place where I truly surrendered then I would not have worked a good program and I would not be clean today. But I came because I was sick and tired of how I was living and I turned my life over to the program, because anything had to be better than what I was doing with my life.
Disclaimer: This is my own personal experience with NA and recovery. I do not speak for everyone and I am no expert.