just wondering who may have and what they thought of it.
thanks orbi
who here has gone to /going to AA
by orbison11 31 Replies latest jw friends
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truthseeker1
Doesn't the second A stand for anonomous?
And no, I haven't
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Big Tex
My last therapist was a recovered alcoholic and drug addict and still attended meetings years later. She used the 12 steps in her treatment of abuse victims so I picked up a lot of the philosphy and terminology.
I never attended an AA meeting, but I do like what they do.
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Satanus
I went to two of them, not as an alchaholic, but as a christian seeking converts. I think they are a good thing, although there can be just a hint of cultism. Still, it does a real lot of good. It leaves people in a much better place than they were. They cover a lot of bases, introducing people to a broad range of spiritual type methods, as well as practical. I would recommend it. But try not to be a life time member.
S
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HappyDad
Orbison,
I started going to AA in 1989 when I was an elder. My drinking progressed from a moderate pleasure to wanting it constantly after I became an elder and saw too much bs in the cong. and how those in position throughout the circuit were more concerned about their positions than in shepherding the flock. I drank to try to stifle everything about being a JW.
AA saved me and my marriage. And because I now saw that there were good people who were not JW's, I started thinking even more. Guess it worked because in 1991 I resigned as an elder and it took another 9 years to start fading.
I think the concept of AA is great but too many in it look to it as a sort of religion (even though they don't see it that way.) Some people who are court ordered to attend meetings get a little scared about the God stuff that is talked about. Myself.......I feel that I learned what spirituality really is by associating with people there and learning that God loved me and I don't have to go knocking on doors for my salvation. I still stay in touch with AA and attend a few meetings now and then. The friendships that were made with AA people are the strongest friendships I have. It seems that AAers accept friends unconditionally. Even if you do 'slip up' you are always welcomed back.
Even though meeting formats vary throughout the country, the same 12 steps and 12 traditions are followed. I have seen a lot of people turn their lives around once they got help and became sober. This is not to say that AA is the only way to get sober. Some people don't want any connection with the "higher power" concept and there are other recovery groups where people have also had successin getting and staying sober. Just like us xjw's.......some want nothing to do with God and others have found churches that meet their spiritual need. It's what the person wants!
I also believe that recovery from anything has a lot to do with the mind. If a person wants to drink again......no amount of AA meetiings will keep him/her from doing so.
In my area is a coffee shop run by an AA friend of mine and there are meetings there throughout the week. Since the coffee shop is mainly a labor of love by him and his family, there isn't much profit generated. Some of us besides his family try to volunteer time behind the counter once in awhile. It is a place for anyone who has or thinks they have a drinking problem to come and hang out or attend the meetings in the beautiful remodeled basement. But any and all are welcome to come in. The place is called the 514 Club.....and a neon sign in the window says....."Friends of Bill and Bob"......(the founders of AA.) Another neon sign is the triangle in the circle symbol of AA.
In fact........that is where I am going as soon as I get off the computer. It's time for my afternoon coffee and I have to pick up a key for the front door since I am opening the place up tomorrow and working behind the counter.
Ok........I'm going on and on.........so it's time to shut up.
I don't have all the answers but if I can help, I will.
HappyDad
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Billygoat
I attended AA for a couple years after my exit from the bOrg. It saved my life. Not so much because of keeping me from drinking - although I was a terrible binge drinker the last year of being a JW - but because it taught me that spirituality has nothing to do with religion. The God stuff didn't scare me - it saved me. Like Happy Dad, it taught me that I had worth without the elders or the guidance of the JWs. It also taught me that "worldly" people were not the mean, evil, selfish and vindictive people that the bOrg wanted you to believe. To that point, I had been working at getting reinstated. AA was really the turning point of where I realized The Truth? was Not. I quit going to the KH meetings and stopped working at getting reinstated.
For the couple years after that I joined Al-Anon. (Every guy I dated back then was an alcoholic or addict of some type.) It was within those walls that I truly began to grow personally. Back then, my issue wasn't so much obsessing about drinking, but obsessing about my partner drinking. Although I haven't attended an Al-Anon meeting in about 3 years, I still consider myself an Al-Anon member. I will attempt to live by many of their beliefs for the rest of my life.
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StinkyPantz
Even if I had a drinking problem I wouldn't go to AA. There are other groups for Alcoholics that do not stress the God aspect. They focus more on self-empowerment via your own strength, not some supernatural strength.
Just a statistic for you.. only about 5% of people that go through AA successfully stay away from alcohol. The same is true (5%) of people that quit alcohol w/o AA..
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NeonMadman
The only time I ever went to an AA meeting was as a requirement for my Introduction to Psychology course in college. It was pretty interesting, but drinking was never a problem for me.
Eating on the other hand...I did go to Overeaters Anonymous for a while when I was a JW, but my mindset was too legalistic to make it work. I was more concerned about rules as to what I should and shouldn't eat than trying to work the twelve steps. Also, I was uncomfortable with the spiritual aspects of the program. I always thought that people referring to their "Higher Power, whom I choose to call God" sounded like they were saying that God was just something they had made up to help with their program rather than an outside source of spiritual power. Saying the Lord's Prayer or the Serenity Prayer at the end of the meetings kinda freaked me out too.
What finally did help was getting out of the JWs and my first marriage (to a JW). I remarried to my high school sweetheart about 3 years ago, and over the past year have lost about 160 pounds using the Weight Watchers program.
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ballistic
What does the Automobile Association know about drinking anyway?
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Ratboy
I actually started a thread about AA on a different board. You may want to research AA from opposing views of the organization. Some autorities on Cultic Studies actually classify it as a cult. Specificly, try reading Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse - Micheal Langone.
Interesting stuff.