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Ripple Ranch Recovery Center provides detoxification services and residential care through evidence-based treatment methods and a holistic approach. According to a recent assessment, Alcoholics Anonymous stay sober without aa may be just as effective as, or even superior to, scientifically validated interventions for aiding alcoholics in quitting. However, not everyone finds success with Alcoholics Anonymous.
And it is not surprising that deep friendship and respect has sprung up between places of worship and those in AA or similar recovery programs. Sometimes it feels like everyone is saying the only way to stay sober is AA and I’m doomed because I don’t go to meetings or have a sponsor. I have tried online meetings but don’t find them helpful, rather they emphasize the sense of isolation. I feel like I really can’t share them with many of the sober people I consider friends, because I get some weird responses–anger, fear, or syrupy sweet “concern” that feels somehow the worst of all. It really, really helps to see that there are other people who left AA and stayed sober. Don’t get me wrong, AA was really helpful for the first many years.
How Often Should You Attend AA Meetings?
He was instrumental in helping me follow my dream to move to Utah and then travel abroad. I started meeting with him some and he brought up the idea of a Heart Circle. I gathered a few of my best friends from all over the country and we began to meet on the phone, once per week, with guidance from him. A couple of friends came and went until we ended up with 5, core members.
When drinking is the furthest thing from someone’s mind, then not drinking is no longer a conscious thought, either. It can be dangerous to lose sight of the principles of recovery because everything is going well. https://ecosoberhouse.com/ More relapses occur when life is going well than when it is not. Stanton Peele argued that some AA groups apply the disease model to all problem drinkers, whether or not they are “full-blown” alcoholics.
Higher Power Concept
But if they do that, they will lose even more of the less religious-oriented to rehabs, therapists, and the no program option. While no official tracking of AA attendance and membership are kept, most agree that attendance has been trending down in the past decade. AA is still is strong with an estimated 1.5-2 million members in the US. But, if AA wants to appeal to those heading off to rehab, the shrink, or Celebrate Recovery, something needs to change. One alcoholic had effectively carried the message to another. Ebby had been enabled to bring me the gift of Grace because he could reach me at depth through the language of the heart.
Can you be sober and still have fun?
Staying away from alcohol or drugs can be tough. However, being sober doesn't mean you have to stop having fun. There are plenty of activities you can do that don't involve substances and can actually be more enjoyable without them.
Everyone was speaking the AA language, using the same book, and working the same steps. Without AA, I don’t know if I would have stayed sober. Without staying sober, I know I wouldn’t have the life I have today. So, why did I not only leave AA, but also find it necessary to write an article about it?
How to Become a Member of AA Meetings
Nowhere in the Big Book of AA does it say to go to meetings and get a sponsor. Neither do I think you should come up with your own program. We need a positive belief system rather than brainwashing guilt fueling propaganda that strips us of any self-empowerment & feeling of self-worth. I think the therapist here has answered your question the best way – “You might try going to fewer meetings before stopping altogether.” That way you can see where you stand with respect to being able to maintain sobriety without the help of AA.
Like-minded peer support online was indespensible. Its hard to find a balanced view of AA out there, but I found online blogs from others in a similar situation to be very useful. RecoveringFromRecovery is a great example of this. AA is a useful tool to separate the alcoholic from the alcohol, but it does that only by replacing one form of denial/insanity with another. I’m sorry to say that I now view AA as a potentially dangerous cult of sobriety based on an outdated methodology. Its apparent “success” has drowned out newer and better ways to survive a devastating and potentially fatal behaviour problem, such as the CBT-based SMART programme.