Here’s a helpful list of ways to make sure you never solve your substance use problem.
1) Believe that you are powerless over drugs and alcohol.
2) Kick things off with 90 days or more in rehab, so you can get used to being there.
3) Think of all the things that will trigger you to use drugs again, and keep an eye out for them.
4) Make a plan on how to deal with your next slip or relapse.
5) Commiserate with others about how great drugs are and how much you miss getting high.
6) Don’t try to manage your life, sit back and pray to a higher power such as a doorknob, tree, or group of alcoholics to do that for you.
7) Build your entire social life around other people with substance use problems.
8) Remind yourself that you can only stay sober for one day at a time.
9) Refer to yourself as an addict or alcoholic every day for the rest of your life.
10) Believe that an incurable disease “hijacks your free will” and causes you to use drugs and alcohol.
This list obviously isn’t funny, it’s appallingly tragic.
Apparently AA or NA didn’t work for him, therefore it must not work for anyone, right??? My guess is he went to AA/NA for a small period of time and couldn’t stand it and was very close minded. And he probably is shooting dope, drinking and smoking right now as we speak. I’ll pray for him (her).
Thanks for your concern GSD, but I’m doing great, so there’s no need to pray for me.
NA/AA have absolutely terrible rates of recovery, on par with simply quitting on your own and much lower than with other (less radical) programs. It is, in fact, the people putting all of their faith in AA/NA who are backsliding and failing to quit.
Weird! I follow that TOP 10 list to a tee, and I have solved my substance use problems. Who would of thought? Thank God for your TOP 10 list, Steven Slate.
And thank God for good people who stay in the rooms to be a light to those struggling for help. People like Pappy. We need them too.
That Top 10 list reminds me that I don’t have to be in those rooms,unless I choose to be. There is freedom and growth outside the confines of the rooms. For me personally, the philosophy in the rooms is fear based, and it has given me immense freedom to discover myself and move on.
Still, I think of all the wonderful old-timers in the rooms who showed me that I don’t want to be an old-timer too. I don’t want what they have.
I was in AA/NA for 30 years. The only way I ever got well was to become open minded to concepts AA will not allow. When you finally achieve complete recovery and no longer have to depend on a program that keeps you dependent on it to stay sober then you can understand how damaging it is to people to believe they have a disease that is incurable. It needs to be addressed because many people only stay sober but never get well. I know because I used to be one of them. You say it works for you but what you mean is it keeps you sober. The reason people are angry at AA is because it stops people from finding the cure. I want to be cured not just going over and over for a treatment I would no longer need if I knew there was a cure. The disease model is supported by a multi billion dollar industry that makes its money by keeping people sick. If you cure them they would be out of business. AA people are the ones that need to be more open minded. Staying sober is good but getting cured is even better.