AA Is A High Control Group. The Secret Dark Side Of AA Cult. What Defines AA As A Cult.

I have declared many times that I believe Alcoholics Anonymous is a cult. I think its long-time members are the cult leaders. I contend that the newly sober are in their weakest state when they walk through the doors of the rooms, which makes them prey for these cult leaders. Once one is indoctrinated and years pass, the cult is very difficult to leave. It is difficult to leave because of the tactics used by the other members on those trying to escape.

The AA member will snarl at this contention. They claim there are no leaders, they are simply alcoholics serving other alcoholics. Some will state that they don’t care how one stays sober as long as he does. The rebuttal is anyone can leave at any time, no one is forced to stay.

This is true, no one puts a gun to your head and makes you come to meetings. But there is coercion for sure for the ones who have dissenting opinions about the inner workings of the circle. And there definitely is if one takes a step further and exits from the rooms altogether.

But how can I say it is a cult? What basis do I have for that grand assumption? Well, any basic search will give a plethora of articles listing the characteristics of a cult. On my channel that debunks the tenets of Christian fundamentalism, I posted a video explaining why the methods of their particular churches resemble exactly those used by a cult, which I crossed with several sources. Let’s see if AA method also matches these traits that are listed, which describe cults.

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The first major sign is absolute authoritarianism. Now AA claims they have no official leaders. Sure, no one is designated officially. But the sponsors are the leaders and usually there is a long-time sober member who still goes to AA almost every night, initiates circle groups and is the bullhorn of the AA tenets. Any of us who have been to a meeting know this. I am critiqued by AA members because I only went to two. But after I announced I was a former alcoholic, the leader emerged and attempted to correct me in which I shut him down. I was eleven months sober before I entered the rooms so wasn’t quite as programmable. He walked away enraged that someone defied the mantra.

But you only went to two meetings so how can you possibly make this global assessment, Charles?

First, I have a family member who was a long-time participant of the rooms before he left them as well. I was well versed in AA philosophy. It was the same cult-like atmosphere in two meetings in two weeks at two different locations. And two of my internet compadres, Quackaholics Anonymous and Sobriety Bestie, were in the rooms for a decade or so. We are all saying the same thing. Everyone who escaped AA has identical tales. You are expected to follow the mantra without question. That is the first characteristic that AA owns, which resembles a cult.

The second characteristic of a cult rides on the back of the first. Criticism and dissenting opinions are not tolerated. This is the atmosphere of AA. I said I was a former alcoholic in my second meeting at the second location. The snarl was immediate. Never mind I had already been sober longer than most of the other members sitting in the circle. Never mind I was on a highly charged fitness program and they were smoking and guzzling coffee instead of being in the gym. Never mind that I noted far less anxiety about social events involving alcohol than the guy sitting next to me, with twice as much time sober, who told his story of being anxiety ridden before a simple party at a neighbor’s house. I was not repeating the mantra in lockstep march. It angered them greatly I wasn’t following the program yet succeeding in not only sobriety but in creating a far better life than them. If they weren’t a cult, they wouldn’t have had this outrage.

The next two signs largely go together. Instilling a fear of the outside world and that former members were wrong to leave. Really, AA, I would like for you to attempt to defend this. I see it in my comments all the time. They will condescendingly state: not to worry, AA will be there when you relapse. I’m seventeen years sober. I think if I was going to relapse, I would have done it by now. It is really easy not to drink after almost two decades as cravings are now very infrequent, minor and transient. They would like to assume that if you leave the rooms, you are destined to return to alcoholism. Trust me, the choice to drink or not isn’t made by going to an hour meeting in the evenings.

Then they use fear tactics and coercion to try to bring you back. Go to the two other channels besides mine and they will tell you the same thing. They will tell you they were sponsors and one-time leaders in the circle, mouthing the same mantra before they had their revelations that they existed in a cult.

Another major sign of a cult is instilling in the followers that they will never be good enough. That is point on the AA philosophy, whether they acknowledge it or not. First, they tell you that you are always an addict, always diseased and recovery will never end. That is their premise and it is total garbage. Just because long deceased founder, Bill Wilson, established this tenet doesn’t make it true. I’m not diseased, I’m involved in constant advancement of Self on all of my planes; the physical, emotional and career, which together advance my spiritual sphere. I’m not an addict, I just don’t drink anymore.

Here's another one that describes AA. Belief that the leaders are all knowing in the exclusive truth and are right at all times. You will see this trait in a fundamentalist church with the pastor at the pulpit and the senior members of the congregation and you will see the same with AA’s sponsors and the few long-time members. Right before I announced that I was a former alcoholic to the circle, the leader of it stated with emphatic and complete authority that AA was the only way to stay sober. The newer members believe he must be right or else he wouldn’t be twenty years sober. Well, he’s not right. At all. The program of AA has at least an eighty percent failure rate and that number is being gracious. The reason AA has survived so long is because up until recently it was the only game in town for those who wanted to get sober and stay that way.

This would explain why I will get that snarl in my comment section as well as in Quackaholics Anonymous and Sobriety Bestie’s feed. Those of us who regained our emotional health and are sober are a threat to their truth. If we take away their truth, we take away their authority. And the premise of all cults is to maintain that authority.

AA can argue this point and can tell me I have it all wrong. The problem is Bestie interviews many people who were former AA members. They all say the same thing and I’m saying the same thing. Everyone who leaves AA says the same thing. Coercion, emotional manipulation and fear tactics were attempted on Victor and Kirsten, creators of these noted channels above. All of Bestie’s interviewees report sponsors harassing them once they exit the doors of AA. They tell the escapee that his or her life will fall to shambles if they don’t come back. This is what a cult does.

The longer one is in a cult, the harder it is to leave. It begs the question why this veteran AA member even wanted to confront me. People who progress their lives will use tools from a variety of sources to continue to advance their beings. They don’t dig in their heels and understand what works for them may be altered by someone else. And they don’t get angry when they hear of others’ success in whatever endeavor they are pursuing whether it be sobriety or anything else that enhances their lives.

But a cult doesn’t want its members to advance themselves. They certainly don’t want individuality or original thought. Alcoholics Anonymous operates exactly like the Christian fundamentalist churches I described in that long ago video. Both are cults. They are known as high control groups. Their overall mission isn’t support but lies in that very control of their members. The huge travesty for AA is they are dealing with people who want to be sober. If they weren’t so cult-like, they would have advanced out of the dark ages of Bill and Bob’s world and adjusted their program to help alcoholics instead of establishing an iron fist over them.

For the few who actually stay sober in AA, they may be sober but how much the rooms helped them is a matter of great debate. These poor souls are trapped in the meetings, afraid to live life on their own. They are truly afraid to be cured and free from the addiction. Their master status is now revolved around a horrific past that keeps being regurgitated in every meeting. They aren’t spending their time with physical fitness or advancement of Self. Their life is now a circle of chaos that the cult leaders say can never be left.

The fact is you can leave. You can leave anytime you want, AA member. You do not need the rooms to stay sober. You can be free from the status of addict. You can rejoin the world, you just do it with a soda water and two limes. Life is waiting for you to return. Don’t let the AA cult keep you imprisoned from it.

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John Barleycorn: taken from Jack London's memoir of his alcoholism. John Barleycorn: First published, 1913