Is It Time To Kill AA? AA Helped Once . . . But Not Anymore.

In previous articles, I have guided you, the newly sober, how to navigate the first three phases of recovery. How to walk the path to cure. Note, I say cure, not forever diseased like the proponents of AA philosophy state, who continue to indoctrinate its cult members that they are always and evermore an addict. I contend one can become an addict again if he picks up the prior offending substance. But I boldly state that at two years, the approximate time it takes for the neuro programming to rebalance itself, one can claim cure once he has put this time past his last drop of friendship with John Barleycorn.

Cult members? Isn’t that a little harsh, Charles?

Not at all. Any program whose members feel they can never leave is a cult. Plain and simple. The AA members practically chant like the Moonies on the carpet. Work the program. Follow the steps. De-Nile isn’t a river in Egypt. It’s absurd. And that is the primary reason I don’t recommend AA for recovery. Another reason is their mantra that a former addict will never recover but always is recovering. And their “always recovering” members have a dismal success rate. Outside of one Stanford study whose sample of participants I highly question.

But didn’t I say in previous articles, regarding the first three stages of recovery, AA might be a good idea?

Yes, I did. In the initial stages, the first three stages of recovery toward cure, I stated sitting in the rooms might be beneficial as long as you do not adopt their philosophy. Because the cravings are at their worst in that first thirty to forty-five days. The cravings get better with time, but if one feels he can’t resist them, by all means he should sequester himself until these phases pass. I stated it might be beneficial to hear others’ stories that they rehash every night so you can lock down in your brain that you were definitely an alcoholic. I also stated, during the first forty-five days, you might need a ton of coffee, sugar and cigarettes to just get through this vicious period of insatiable cravings.

And that’s where I stop with AA.

The problem is the AA program should have been modified from the days almost a hundred years ago when Bill W. initiated it. I understand why AA was such a refuge for alcoholic men in those days. Because it was practically required for men to drink. Men drank at lunch, after work and during all social activities. If one refused to drink, unless he was the town preacher, he might find his derriere handed to him outside of the pub doors. Jack London, in his memoir, John Barleycorn, whom I reference on this blog, reflects greatly that he might have had a better chance of beating his alcoholism if he wasn’t practically forced to indulge at every corner of his walk. So it made sense that Bill and Bob’s asylum seekers found their safehouses in “the rooms” every night. And no one even acknowledged female alcoholism back then, let alone held support groups. So men and women, knee deep in drink, really only had one avenue of escape. I probably would have followed that route as well in those times.

THE SMALL BOOK: HOW I BEAT ALCOHOLISM AND WHY ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS DOESN'T WORK

But this societal pressure to drink doesn’t exist today. No one is going to threaten a fight outside if I don’t share a pitcher with them. I can go to a party and drink my soda water with two limes and basically no one cares. I can tell them I used to be an alcoholic and no one really cares about that as well.

Programs of all ventures change with time. When I started bodybuilding with weights at fourteen, I had a Gold’s Gym book as my guide, written in the early 1980s. They had professional bodybuilders engaged in exercises that we know today are terrible for the back and shoulders. So we modified those routines. In physical therapy, decades ago, when a stroke victim came to the clinic, we taught him how to use his good leg and arm. In the 1970s, it occurred to my profession that stimulating the affected arm and leg actually promotes recovery. If I were to only facilitate the functional extremities today, other therapists would think I was insane. And I would be for using long outdated techniques. And the methods of AA protocol today fit right in that insanity box. They should have been altered. The fact that AA has such a majority failure rate should have alerted someone in the rooms that things needed to change.

First, the concept that going to AA meetings is for life should never have been a concept—unless you were living in Bill and Bob’s era. And they probably thought their world would remain as so as we do today. But AA should have evolved to be a process not a permanence. And that process should have been a weaning off at the two year mark of cure, not a continuance of constant recovery.

During initial detox, the first five days of sobriety, I walked that path alone. And I thoroughly advise people not to do that. This would be the time to be under medical supervision. I made it, but I could have just as easily not. And I also state that being in a facility that first thirty days following the initial hell of withdrawal would not be a poor idea. But even the rehab mentality itself should be altered. They can start by not telling people to look to the left and right for that is how many in the line won’t make it. There should be an initial rebuilding of the person’s self-esteem, not an indoctrination that they have a “disease” but that it is really an addiction for whatever reason. And since the patients would have anti-anxiety medications, they could start to propagate a healthy dietary lifestyle right there immediately after acute withdrawal concluded.

But the sad fact is most people don’t have the opportunity to sit in a facility for thirty days. And AA is the only avenue that is presented to them. And if AA would adjust their program, they could have a much higher success rate of former addicts who are now cured. And here is how their program should be structured.

They need to have separate meetings for those in second phase to the thirty to forty-five day mark, those under six months and then those under two years. Someone comes out of the acute phase, whether from a detox center or on their own, and they sign up for their group. Everyone in the group would share commonality of lying in the same hammock. Sponsors would be a thing of the past. Instead, you have mentors there from later stages to inform the recently sober what to expect. Role models, so to speak. They could even have a few of the successfully cured come in at times as well.

During the second phase, thirty to forty-five days, the participants would have access to all the coffee, cigarettes and cookies needed to make it through those horrendous cravings that are almost continuous in that first month and a half. This group in AA would be telling their past story a lot. So they get that they were indeed addicted to John Barleycorn’s liquid friendship. And they all have the camaraderie of living in this neighborhood a few blocks from their former Hell of acute withdrawal, left behind only shortly ago. And yes, they should be in “the rooms” every night as they won’t be in the mood to go to the gym or yoga studio. This would be an immersion phase. The first level in the AA recovery to cure.

When the newly sober hits day forty-five from the last drop, he ejects into the next group. The month and a half to six month phase. First thing that happens is the meeting frequency drops from every night to three times a week. This is the transition group—from one of unhealthy dietary practice to clean intake and the beginnings of physical fitness. That’s why this level only meets three times a week. Because they are engaged in cardio work and other physical activities on the other days. Largely this is a monitoring phase with mentorship continuing with people from the next level or two year cure mark. Smoking is forbidden in these meetings as well as caffeine and sugar, replaced by plates of donor vegetables and fruits. And like phase one, everyone is going through the same.

At this level, instead of telling your past story, counselors are brought in to find the root cause of why you began your addiction. And many times that is going to go back to trauma in youth. Once you recognize the why, you can resolve it internally. In lieu of talking every night about how you woke up in jail or in someone’s barn during your drinking binges. Also, you are developing drafts of the reinvention of self, as I say in one of my guidebooks. A written structural step by step plan on rebuilding the physical self, the emotional sphere, advancing your career and determining your spiritual place in the universe. There would be weekly updates in the circle on how all participants at this level were progressing. The rooms at this point would just be check ups through the week. Strategies would be updated on coping for the still emotional lows as well as the cravings. And everyone at this level keeps moving forward.

At six months, the ex-alcoholic would advance to the longest but final level. To the two year mark of cure. Meetings are now once or twice a month. Progression charts of self-improvement are discussed in the circle. Everyone shares how they are progressing at work, or even changing careers. Life goals are reviewed. At this point, some may volunteer to periodically speak at the lower level meetings of the more newly sober. For I do agree with the reaching back concept of AA. But at this phase, the meetings are minimal and less frequent check ups of this reinvention of all of your planes. And then it is rinse and repeat all the way to the last day of year two.

At the end of year two, the former addict graduates from the program. The final chip given is the one that has the word cured etched into the coin. Then the former addict simply does nothing but continue his progression in life. And maintain that initial contract uttered on day one of never again.

If AA were to adopt this type of protocol, they would see their success rates dramatically improve. It has already been proven. The group Passages, a nontraditional program, does not adhere to the AA protocol but holistically intervenes with the former alcoholic. They use much of the philosophy I just described. And they have a huge success rate.

But what does AA do? They continue the same madness with the same dismal outcomes. Their participants live unhealthy lifestyles: smoking, guzzling coffee, and consuming sugar at every meeting. They don’t exercise because their off hours are in the rooms most of the time. Whether at year one or twenty. Carolyn Knapp, one of their pundits for her written memoir, Drinking: A Love Story, did stay sober. She died years later of lung cancer from smoking. Well done, AA.

Emotionally, you destroy your inductees. You tell them they are forever an addict, which is awesome for their self-esteem. You will mention that relapse is part of recovery. Also awesome. You have them living in a cauldron of boiling negativity as everyone continuously exists in their story of their screwed up past so they can never mentally leave it. And the very minority who actually stays sober? They never leave your rooms. They are afraid to leave your rooms. They are psychologically addicted to AA, which is now their emotional drug. The minority that stays sober under your cult guidance? They may be sober. How you helped them is a matter of great debate. For they are living in an emotional prison now. And that ward is Alcoholics Anonymous.

I was a heavy, late stage alcoholic who was on the very edge of the abyss in my last drinking days. And I put together the program that has led to now over sixteen years of sobriety. I am physically in tremendous shape, even in my later fifties. I am still progressing my planes of existence. And I did it alone. But I’m offering a way for others to walk the same path I did. And the sad fact is the second I mention to a long time AA member to consider a better alternative, I get the cult snarl. Because that is what AA has become. A cult. The protocol now defeats its own mission. Most who enter AA’s doors fail in sobriety.

Many will ask why I am being so harsh? Why not just do what works for me and mind my own business? Because you, AA, are hurting the very people you claim to help. Whether they achieve sobriety or the majority who won’t. You are robbing them of a chance for a reinvention of life with your methods that do not work for most. And the few others you are stealing their lives.

Non twelve step programs are starting to rise here and there. And they are gaining a success with even their few sites that AA can’t match. I can only hope that eventually we will recognize the current AA philosophy as a broken machine that needs to be scrapped. So people in the grips of addiction will see they can cross over the fence and live in the green pastures in which I exist today.

To begin your reconstruction of Self check out: REINVENTION OF SELF: HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE AND BEING FOREVER

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