Re:Most People With Addiction Grow Out of It (2014)
by thrownaway954 on Monday January 28, 2019 @04:56PM
(#19021473)
"That AA is a religious sobriety program" - exactly that. It is a suggested spiritual sobriety program with an emphasis on "suggestive". It's not a religious program what-so-ever. They use the word God to incubus whatever "higher power" a member chooses (or chooses not to) believe in. I'll give you that God was an EXTREMELY POOR choice for the word, but it's what everyone could relate to at the time. In any case, don't let the fact that God is mentioned in the book confuse you, it's already confused most.
Re:Most People With Addiction Grow Out of It (2014)
by taurath on Monday January 28, 2019 @07:24PM
(#19022562)
This is disingenuous. The entire history of AA up to and including now (literally read any 12 step guide, 8+ steps mention God) is pushing a protestant christian philosophy that man is irreparably fallen and flawed and the only salvation is through a higher power, and that you must give up your self and any semblance of control to that abstraction.
It works for some, but anyone who says its not a christian organization is absolutely lying - its like taking the caramel coloring out of cola - its still cola, it still tastes like cola, you just took away the color that reminds people that its cola.
In any case, the motivation for my comment was to point out that many of these "xA" programs are inspired by the 12-step "AA" program. That program is not scientific, or even amenable to change as new evidence about the efficacy of sobriety comes in.
Rather, it's dogma. Whatever white-washing of AA's mention of "God" over the years as "higher power" doesn't change the fact that it's not science-based.
Does that mean it's completely useless? No, but as others have pointed out studies of its effectiveness are rather damning[1]. It just bears pointing out when treatments for addiction are discussed that AA is a dogma-based therapy, because many people suffering from addiction think AA is just what you're supposed to do.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effectiveness_of_Alcoholics_An...