I second that this is not a question that can be definitively answered. IMHO my response to the OP is : sometimes. I have a friend who has remained sober for several years with the help of AA. I also have a family member for which AA did not help at all - but found relief though one on one counseling. Like anything else, its what the individual puts into it.
I’ve seen it work for Xians as well as athiests and pagans.
My father got sober through AA when I was 14. He had 27 years of sobriety when he died two months ago. It is possible that he was just ready to get sober, and anything he tried at that time would have done the trick. I don’t know. I do know that he tried all kinds of things for years before that (including a couple of bouts of AA begore the one that “took”), and AA is where he finally found the help he needed. Does AA work? Well, inside the rooms they say “it works if you work it!”
I certainly wouldn’t say it’s the only road to sobriety any more than I’d say that Weight Watchers is the only road to weight control. Each individual who is struggling must find the path that, for whatever reason, works for them.
It worked for me, or at least it has for the last nine years. It did not work for my aunt, who died on skid row. On the other hand, an uncle of mine who was a complete and total drunk quit drinking absolutely cold turkey and managed to stay sober for thirty years. After the death of his wife, he went back to drinking and eventually killed himself.
Works for any religion. Some people return to drinking after AA & some don’t.
I don’t know why this is a general question, it might be more IMHO (Does AA work for you?) because there are already plenty of stats that it works to keep people off the bottle.
I have a friend who couldn’t hack AA because of the religion thing. He spent a month at a “dryout camp” and dried out. After about ten years he tried social drinking and it worked! We shared a vacation apartment in Barbados for about ten days last February and I watched carefully. He would have one glass of wine or one beer with dinner and then we could have a couple diaquiris a piece after dinner. Nothing during the day. Used to be he would visit and buy a fifth at the duty free and two days later it was empty. He drank a half fifth every day starting when he woke up and stopping when he went to bed. No more.
Well, nobidy else has shared those stats and I am unaware of them. Could you reference them.
From: http://www.promis.co.uk/content/research/sam_phd/chap1.html
Basically there aren’t any good studies for or against its effectiveness, given the difficult nature of the study population.
But I will say unreservedly that AA sure saved my ass.
QtM, MD
I once tried to attend OA meeting (Overeaters Anonymous for those who don’t know). I was completely desperate for help and really, REALLY hoping this was the answer and the place to get some support. OA uses the same 12 steps, the same literature EXACTLY as AA.
At about my third meeting a man spoke who said he’d been going to OA meetings for more than ten years. He claimed to way 468 pounds. Clearly, it wasn’t working for him.
I didn’t realize this when I began attending, but there’s NO ONE in attendance at 12 step meetings who isn’t just as “sick” as you are. There are no certified experts on the subject matter – be it recovery from alcoholism, healthy weight control, or whatever – to lead discussions, to give help, hints, or proper support.
In fact, as each person is allowed to speak without cross discussion, without questions or interruption, you could end up sitting in an OA meeting, desperate for help with an eating disorder listening to someone complain about her divorce for an hour and a half. There’s no “agenda” that outlines what she has to talk about, or even…in most cases…when she has to shut the hell up. You may very well look around and find yourself to be the healthiest fool there.
Everyone else, however, will sadly shake their heads and talk about how you “just don’t get it” when you question them about having a higher power. They will act like you’re a poor misguided person who just doesn’t understand that theirs is the ONLY way. They will be excessively condescending and rude while doing so.
I know this isn’t exactly a GQ answer, but it was very REAL information for me. And a rather horrible experience, since I was pretty desperate for help at the time.
L
Just let me add that Emricks’ data (cited in the above quote) correspond with my own impression of the success rate observed anecdotally by me among my fellows in over 19 years of meeting attendance.
If you live in a city of half a million people you could easily find a thousand people to personally tell you that AA does work for them and has for years. The statistics are not impressive, but the anecdotes are. AA was founded by and originally included only the most confirmed and desperate alcoholics, people who had dried out many times and were unable to prevent themselves from going back to drinking due (they believe) to deep underlying spiritual maladies. These were people who needed a tumbler full of liquor in order to get out of bed - they literally could not function “normally” unless they were loaded to the gills.
Bill W. found that the only way he could stay sober was to try and help other people stay sober (this was before he helped develop the 12 steps and the more formal system) and although they believe the 12 steps are necessary to recover from the deep spiritual problems, the most basic thing that prevents them taking the deadly first drink is the group reinforcement and one drunk helping another.
Other folks have mentioned Rational Recovery. I read their web page before I quit smoking and found their perspective helpful. I don’t know if it would be as successful applied to a more serious life-altering addiction because I’ve never had one.
AA works well enough that dozens of other 12 Step Programs (NA, CA, OA, etc.) have been started that follow it’s format.
As far as statistics go, AA’s Big Book gives some in the “Foreword To The Second Edition”(1955).
Notice the phrase “and really tried”.
The stats today are much lower for a number of reasons:[ul][li]Many of the people who try out AA today aren’t as desperate as the early members. They haven’t hit bottom.[]They are only going to meetings to please someone else (Boss, SO, Friend).[]They have been sentenced by the Court.[/ul] I have to agree with those that feel there isn’t a factual answer to this question. IMHO, AA will only work for you only if you want it to. You have to want to get sober and stay sober. [/li]I spent 12 years bouncing in and out of AA trying to stay sober my way and it didn’t work. I would go to meetings for a while, but I didn’t feel a need for the steps and wouldn’t listen to any advice. Those AAers may need that sh-t, but I didn’t. Kept getting drunk again.
Only when I felt the situation was hopeless, did I start “following a little simple direction”. I’ve been sober now for over 10 years and still go to meetings some. I agree with norinew, “it only works if you work it”. Once I started working it my success rate has been 100%.
AA is not a religious, but a spiritual program. There is a difference. I started using the successful people in “the group” as my higher power (figuring if it worked for them, it could work for me) and moved on, over time, from there. I have my own concept of a “God” that works for me. I don’t try to push my “God” onto others. The 12 Steps just outline a decent “code for living”.
Going on 13 years sober here.
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People who do not want to be sober will not be sober.
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If a person can’t be sober and happy, what is the point?
Why do people want a sober person to quit doing what keeps them sober because the person of the first part does not like or understand it? Why do they want to kill people?
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There are many paths to the grocery store.
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I know that I have been sober today.
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If I die sober, I was successful at staying sober by the method I used. If not, I wasn’t.
UII have been to a lot of “A” meetings, AA,OA, NA, CA, SA… and others. The same questions are asked in all of them.
One of the important things I learned was that no matter who told me I was alcoholic, it did not mean anything and I would not stay sober UNTIL I self diagnosed that I was truly an alcoholic. Then I became TREATABLE so long as I was WILLING to do the treatment. ALL of it…
Does AA work? It did for me and no one can make me quit.
The only way an outside force can guarantee that I will not drink is to kill me. Or seal me in a rock hole in total isolation. I don’t think anybody is that interested in me.
I guess I’ll just do what works for me.
By all means, yes, AA works. I drive for The Senior Services here and I have a client that has been clean and sober for 27 years.
Yes, if you want to stop, it does work, but you have to make the committment to do it, it won’t work if you are not ready to stop using and or drinking.
Committment and dedication is what will work and yes, it does work!