Alcoholics Anonymous and Drug Addiction

[Aractus]

Well, AA didn't work for me because I don't believe in god. That is really the main requirement for any success there. Otherwise, it's frankly just a waste of time. I also found there's a lot of time wasted in every single meeting having to blindly follow the structure of the welcome, the introductions ("I'm so-and-so, I'm an alcoholic""), the reading of the Preamble, The 12 Traditions, and "How it Works." This would take sometimes 15 minutes of an hour long meeting. I know this is nitpicky, but I just can't stand following traditions and structures just because this is the way it's always been done.

Yep, I hear you. There was a small amount of the program that seemed relevant and useful to you, and a lot that wasn't. As I said before, a program that hasn't changed in 60 or 70 years is hardly likely to be the ideal program and that's one of the biggest problems I have with it. Also, you're right that belief in a "higher power" is a problem for anyone who doesn't believe in a deity, the program was designed at a time when most people believed in a deity.

I also don't like having to announce myself everytime as an alcoholic. I mean, I was also a son, a husband, a writer, a good cook, a book-lover, a freethinker, and much, much more. It's about time addicts thought something good of themselves instead of the constant self-degrading which addicts do anyway.

I agree 100%, as per my comments in the last thread about perhaps you'd like to join a hobby group or something which shares one of your passions.

Sobriety dates are of great importance in AA, even though people will tell you they aren't. I find it ridiculous to punish some guy who had 20 years sober go out for a week and drink and have to go in and get another "desire chip" as if he had just blown away 20 years of sobriety. That 20 years is still there, but to AA he is now just a newcomer again. It's a sad and degrading way of doing things.

It's also not the right way for every "addiction" that 12-step programs look at. It probably is the best way for some alcoholics - to never touch alcohol, and indeed for other drug users. For gamblers on the other hand, research shows that it is better to help gamblers manage their gambling so that it doesn't harm them, whereas GA teaches abstinence.

Why do I want to meet other alcoholics again? Because the image of my wife's body lying face down in a parking lot in the snow and ice is indelibly ingrained on my mind. In my daytime hours, and in my nightmares. And yet I remain alive. I would like to make it my mission in life to help the homeless without "jesus saves" or "god loves you" or any sort of spiritual based 12-step nonsense. There are no secular-based groups like SMART or SOS here but I would be interested in starting one. Unfortunately, I don't have anything to get me started right now. No car, no money, no job, just a passion and time.

All the church-run programs I know of here, i.e. in Canberra, for the homeless do not proselytise, and you have to understand the churches are an effective point of contact. Ie people do approach churches, whether they have any programs or not to help people, for assistance. And it happens all the time. Churches do support secular-based community intervention programs. So I wouldn't rule out working with a church to start and build a secular-based program if I were you.