I’ve seen a number of shows over the years that involve alcoholics or other addicts go through the process of recovery (most recently, Season 2 of The Flight Attendant) and as far as I can remember, all of them involve going to Alcoholics Anonymous or some other Anonymous.
It’s understandable as it’s the most well known org so there’s no need for the writers to explain the steps or chips or other parts of the process. However, I believe there’s some degree of controversy within the alcoholics community about the effectiveness of AA vs other orgs.
Are there any media depictions of recovering addicts that depict them going to a non-AA style group?
AA is a world wide organization that has plenty of self promotion going for it. The McDonald’s of recovery, if you will.
Many other recovery programs are more localized and therefore less popular unless you happen to live in the area and are seeking out recovery options. Or have plenty of money and can travel to a high end private clinic. These options also tend to operate low key by choice, reflecting the privacy wishes of those that attend.
And yes, doing away with AA’s own skewed success statistics, the organization is generally seen as having a poor overall success rate - unless one is willing to totally surrender themselves to the religious aspects of the program. In other words it could be suggested, replacing one vice with another. Many drop out over these religious leanings (AA denies their focus is on Christian religion, which is odd considering the first word one will hear at any meeting is God). That, and the continual prodding to explain to the world what a useless piece of scum you were/are. After a time that takes it’s toll on self esteem.
AA tends not to count these folks in their ‘success’ statistics. They are viewed as not having completed the program.
There’s no shortage of programs available with staff that (unlike AA) have extensive training in health care and recovery rehabilitation. Whichever route one takes, they all require effort & willingness.
The op is looking for media depictions of recovery programs that aren’t AA. If you want to debate the pros and cons of AA, please start a thread in IMHO, or possibly great debates, or the Pit.
But please don’t debate that here. Let’s give posters a chance to respond to the op’s request.
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen movie and TV show depictions of people going to residential recovery centers like the real-life Betty Ford Clinic or Passages Malibu. Is that what you’re looking for?
My memory is definitely hazy, but the characters of Ted and Blake used different methods to handle crystal meth addiction and sex addiction in the USA version of Queer as Folk.
I don’t think the writers really knew what to do with the character of Ted in the later seasons. He just wasn’t believable.
In Rocketman, the 2019 film about Elton John, the main story is bookended by scenes with John in a group therapy session, at such a residential rehab facility.
I think that’s almost undoubtedly why. Because AA, and at least the basics of how their program works, is pretty well-known, the writer doesn’t need to do much more than mention it to get the point across.
I would suspect that, in most cases, the AA sessions are a plot device or background information, rather than being the core of the story itself – and, as such, there’s probably little value, story-wise, in trying to spend time to develop/explain a non-AA-style treatment program.
I’m trying to recall the arc of Bojack Horseman’s recovery. I know he spent some time at a live-in rehab facility, and that it didn’t exactly take. Was it AA that finally got him sober, or something else?
While Elementary’s Sherlock was often seen going to AA or AA-like meetings, with sponsors, in the beginning he had Watson as a live-in “sober companion”. On TV, that’s the only show where I’ve seen that.
Synanon was later proved to be a quasi-cult, and the expose’ that led to its downfall was printed in a small-town newspaper with a circulation of barely 1,000.
Scientology also has its own drug-treatment division.