AA--Other Options

Alcoholics Anonymous—Other Options

See The Atlantic magazine, “The False Gospel of Alcoholics Anonymous” by Gabrielle Glaser

My parents were very occasional social drinkers. There friends were not. I saw so many of the families I grew up with split apart by alcohol, their kids left with drinking and family problems of their own. I wonder if this information would have helped them.

AA’s Philosophy

Alcoholics Anonymous teaches that drinking alcohol in excess is a disease that progressively spirals into worse and worse bouts of drinking until one hits rock bottom and seeks treatment, which Ms. Glaser equates to giving a diabetic insulin after he goes into a coma. The only treatment they recommend is the twelve-step program, which is primarily abstinence coupled with faith and prayer to recognize the problem and get help from a higher power to deal with it—a one-size-fits-all approach. One drink will lead to bingeing and set you back to the very beginning of recovery.

Since membership is obviously anonymous and no records are tracked, their claim of a seventy-five percent success rate is impossible to substantiate. Other studies suggest a far less rate. Success stories abound. People for whom the program didn’t work, other than celebrities, are seldom heard from. It is known that none of AA’s precepts have been scientifically backed. Most treatment providers, often recovering addicts, have no other training and no other education beyond a high-school diploma or GED.

Alcohol Addiction as a Symptom of Other Afflictions

Six states require a bachelor’s degree, and one, Vermont, requires a master’s degree to be a treatment counselor. No national guidelines exist. Rehab centers can hire people who struggled with addiction themselves rather than more educated—higher paid—doctors and mental health professionals. No other areas of medicine or counseling allow this.

The problem: people with alcohol problems have a higher-than-normal rate of mental-health issues that AA is not equipped to deal with, yet many rehab treatments consists solely of AA meetings. A certain percent of members attend meetings under court order, usually for driving under the influence and may or may not have a severe disorder. Still, all are treated exactly the same and the ability to learn to become moderate drinkers with therapy is disavowed.

Next week—how America’s treatment philosophy evolved and other treatment options.