A.A.? No Way! Alternatives to the status quo programs that fail Charles Delaney pot

One is the basic lie that it's a "spiritual program" when it's really a christian religious program that uses christian prayers, terms, and philosophy.. That way when the person relapses

A.A.? No Way!

(Alternatives to the status quo programs that fail)

Charles Delaney Copyright 2012 by Charles Delaney

Smashwords Edition

Prologue

Alright, I'm sure someone will take exception to my negative view of A.A and it's clones, such

as NA/CA/EA/SA/etc But let me say I see nothing at all wrong with the idea of it However the application is one of the most horrid ones I've ever seen Any contact I've had with A.A.'s have been almost exclusively negative As a group A.A.'s are closed minded and willfully ignorant because the organization has a classic cult mentality My first serious contact with the

organization was when I went seeking information on addiction Now, years later, I'm still

waiting for them to produce some They'd rather think holding hands while chanting the Barney Song and grabbing their ankles for Jesus is the cure for their woes As such I went seeking the information elsewhere What I found was at odds with the organization's 19th century imaginings, mainly because it was based in 21st century research When I brought this information back to the organization the reactions of the A.A members were negative The information was disregarded and I was censored, screamed at, even threatened verbally and physically As such I tried to bring this information to folks independently Unfortunately, being a lone person, I couldn't reach far enough or to enough folks that it might benefit So I'm trying this e-book in the hopes it'll reach more folks than I could otherwise What follows is the distillation of my research as well as personal observations Am I an expert on the topic? Anything but! I'm just an ordinary cuss that cannot sit idly by when there might be the chance to help someone Especially when the alternative is causing more harm than good A.A has a 95% failure rate while other programs, such as Rational Recovery, can have a far higher percentage Even going it completely alone grants a success rate twice that of A.A Yes, the group cuts one's chances in half That's called harming people and I cannot abide with that without trying to offset it if I can!

You'll notice this is also free I see no reason to profit in any way on someone's misery Take this information and see if it fits for your situation If it does, use it If not, it's cost you nothing

If you disagree with any of this I invite you to do the research to refute that If there's an error that I've missed I want to know about it so I can correct it! Feel free to contact me at

falsdoon@yahoo.com for anything relating to this topic Now get to reading the rest of this and see if it can help someone

Table of Contents

Why People Drop Out

2nd Opinion Recovery Pamphlet

Satori Sobriety AAsimilation Pagan View of the 12 Steps Theologian Commentaries on the 12 Steps

Asatruar 9-Steps The Solitary's Steps

A.Q

A.Q II

Of the “Rational Recovery” program

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Harvard University: Why People Drop Out of AA

According to AA's 1989 Triennial Membership Survey 5% of newcomers continue past the

first year, 50% drop out within 30 days Here is why:

ABSTRACT:

(1992) Ceane Willis, Ph.D., and David Gastfriend, M.D., "Alternatives in Self-Help: Reasons for Discontinuation of AA by Problem Drinkers," Harvard Medical School at Massachusetts General Hospital) analysis of 223 questionnaires submitted by readers of a Rational Recovery book, The

Small Book 89% were abstinent, 89% were AA dropouts for the following reasons: religious content (51%), were unhelped (18%), social conflict (16%), powerlessness idea (12%), lifelong dependency on AA (19%), mistreated in the program (7%), depressing (15%) 39%

held mainstream religious beliefs

This was probably the first serious inquiry into the recidivism that characterizes the recovery group movement The group typically interprets rejection of the 12-step program as symptoms of addictive disease, i.e., "in denial," "just want's to drink some more," "angry," "dry drunk,"

"constitutionally incapable," "a poor unfortunate," or explained away with, "Some are sicker than others." When people leave AA, as the large majority do, it is with the grim prediction that they will inevitably drink self-destructively and disintegrate The thousands who call Rational

Recovery, however, do not present the lack of motivation or other pathology attributed by the recovery group Indeed, when they got fed up and left AA, they continued seeking a solution to the problem by contacting RR Very significantly, they were not on a downward trajectory, but upward bound In this limited study of self-selected respondents, 89% were abstinent Coupled with the fact that 95% of AA newcomers drop out within one year, 50% within 30 days, we can

see that the prospects for recovery are greatly improved by dissociating from addiction recovery groups and accepting personal responsibility for permanent abstinence Whatever positive outcomes the recovery group movement reports, they are dwarfed by the success of individuals who recover on their own.

The 95% first-year dropout rate is bothersome to many who doubt that such figures exist Alas, they were obtained from AA's 1989 Triennial Membership Survey The 1996 TMS

flyer, however, makes no mention of membership attrition Interestingly, the only requirement for membership in AA is set forth, " the desire to stop drinking." While the desire to stop is very important, the desire to quit seems more suited to the vexing problem of alcohol or drug addiction Anyone can stop, but stop signs rarely result in the end of a journey

* * * * * * *

2nd Opinion Recovery

Let's get right to the point If you're one of the 5% that AA and it's clones (NA, CA, SA, etc.) helps, put this down and leave it for one of the 95% that those programs have failed If you're one of those 95% and are still struggling with your particular problem, give a listen What's there

to lose but the time reading this?

The basic idea of those programs are the best of ideas Unfortunately they're put to the worst of applications Standard "AA based" recovery programs set most people up for failure for several big reasons One is the basic lie that it's a "spiritual program" when it's really a christian religious program that uses christian prayers, terms, and philosophy That philosophy encourages a feeling

of "powerlessness" and removing personal responsibility (because you need God to cure all your ills) That way when the person relapses it's because they're not responsible, they were

"powerless" over their problem That's a basic negative self imagery that any first year psych student would recognize and know fosters failure Compound that with a program that rejects 21st century research findings in favor of intuitive imaginings that are 7+ decades out of date Finally, the programs foster a "cower in the corner" mindset of constantly going to meetings, where these negatives are reinforced, rather than learning the tools and habits that could bring things under control

So what's 2nd Opinion? Just that, a 2nd opinion It's not a program, rather it's a place to find information and maybe some ideas that might work for someone struggling with their particular problem Part research findings, so the person has real information to work with Such as proven basic behavior modification techniques anyone can do Part morality/philosophy, for such things CAN help some people as they work their way through to a solution And, finally, part

community, for so many problems start with someone feeling left out and trying to fill that emptiness Also, community lets you know that you are not alone in this!

Although this is being brought to the pagan community primarily, this is for EVERYONE in need with no restrictions It's not a “spiritual program” like the rest, no one will preach at you It's for everyone that's been to a standard AA style meeting and thought it a pile of BS It's for everyone that's still looking for well a 2nd opinion!

One more thing, there's no failures There is only the failure to try To try a 2nd opinion, start with below:

falsdoon@yahoo.com

* * * * * * *

AA - Satori Sobriety

First, a quick FYI so all understand the term "satori" It's a zen term that refers to the "flash insight" that's a primary goal of the practitioner of that path It's where logic fails and the mind makes an intuitive leap to solve the puzzle faced with The term is used very purposely here because AA does the same thing with sobriety Unfortunately "satori" almost always requires

being in an extreme mental state to attain, even then success is not a sure bet by any means Such can explain why all speakers at an AA meeting are only extreme "crash and burn" cases rather than the average person with a drinking problem who relapses 90+% of the time because there's less relevance for them

This is not to say AA is a bad thing, it's not But it is insufficient for many when it doesn't have

to be Part of that insufficiency is that it's still using concepts that are 70 years old and do not take into account new information that has surfaced The intuitive approach of the past covered the basic problem without really knowing why Without knowing the "why" it's a lot harder to solve the "why nots", if not impossible Modern research is starting to uncover the reason for the

"whys" and, far more importantly, the why of the "why nots" This information could be used to augment AA's effectiveness tremendously so many more could be helped

Examples? I thought you'd never ask

In AA's "Big Book", the venerable boozer's bible, it cites that good intent isn't enough It cites examples of people who had the fullest and truest intent to stop drinking, then turned right around for no apparent reason and got totally trashed Well, there is a reason But the intuitive

"satori" method can't do it It took modern research and even MRI brain scans to start to shed light on such things

There's several things that happen which sets the wrong behavior in motion The first is the triggering stimuli, such as a visual image, happens very quickly It's measured in milliseconds and under the level of conscious awareness This means the person doesn't even know things have begun The next thing is that the triggering stimuli reaches the more primitive part of the brain that functions instinctively and much faster than the part of the brain that deals with

conscious decision making If something triggers the instinctual part of the brain things can be off and running before the conscious part of the brain has a chance to put the brakes on Guess what happens in addictive personalities? Yep, the addictive substances have overridden the instinctual part of the brain, sometimes being 5 times stronger than what the brain is was meant

to respond to, such as food, danger, sex, etc So when the trigger come along the instincts kick in and off the person goes on the wrong road It also explains the extreme, and often "insane", behaviors an addict will have to make sure their need for the drug is met Without something to break this cycle, once established, the only hope for some will be the "satori sobriety" intuitive way

Fortunately modern research is also starting to provide answers to this dilemma There are some drugs that have been found that are able to suppress the the runaway activity of the instinctual part of the brain, allowing the cognitive brain a chance to get it's say in what's going on Drugs of this type, teamed with behavior modification techniques, can let a person change their lives around for the better Best of all is that the sooner a person gets into such a program the easier and better the recovery will be There's no reason to wait for the "satori sobriety" with all the misery and bother that comes from that path

AA could play a major role in such a regime because it is a large established support group based on the idea of not drinking By it's very existence it's a behavior modification program and

a place one can learn the new habits needed to bring things under control

Who know? Perhaps if something like this gets instituted someday the normal speaker at an AA meeting will start with "I'm John Doe, and I'm just an ordinary cuss "

* * * * * * *

AAssimilation

Ever wonder why people in AA, or any other recovery program for that matter, all being clones

of AA, all sound alike? They say the same things in the same way over and over like a broken

record Like someone in a cult Well, AA is decidedly cult-like, but that's a different discussion

The question here is "why?" What's going on that causes this? At first I personally was at a loss

to discover the reason That was until I came across an article in Discovery magazine that was covering some of the latest research findings that deal with the brain and memory It seems there's a very interesting process that goes on in the brain that AA inadvertently uses It may be considered a form of brain-washing, if you want to call it that, but it would be more accurate to it being a re-writing of the brain's memories

When it comes to memories being stored in the brain, they tend to be very durable Short of some notable physical damage a person's memories aren't going anywhere for the whole of their lives

As long as they remain stored That's the catch, a memory that's called up from storage is no longer in it's stable storage Just like a computer, the brain can call up a file (memory) for

updating When it does that the memory is no longer stable, it can be re-written updated and then gets put back into stable storage It's during that unstable time that, done correctly, a

memory can be completely re-written to bear no relation to the original memory and the brain will treat it as if it was the original memory It will be real to the brain THAT is what's

happening in A.A.!

If you go to an AA meeting where someone is doing a "lead", telling their tale of woe and

redemption, the people listening are calling up their own similar memories and identifying with the speaker In the process they're also calling up their memories into that unstable update mode and re-writing them with components from the speaker's tale As this goes on continuously in

AA, the constant repetition leads to a group consensus to the "reality" of things AA's become carbon copies of each other Anyone not showing the proper mindset is treated like any other outsider to a group structure negatively until such time as the errant person can be brought into line with the group-mind's view of things That's why new people are required to attend meeting after meeting until they are sufficiently re-programmed Those that are resistant to this process, for whatever reason, are considered combative or in denial Since few that come into the

program have sufficiently strong senses of self, having twisted themselves up through substance abuse, some will eventually submit Though the more likely result, rejecting the brain re-write due to finding the whole static group-mind as moronic, is what happens +90% of the time Many unfortunately go back to abusing, for they have not been given an adequate alternative

What of those that have the lone wolf's strong sense of self? That is a truly interesting situation Assuming the person is sincere in finding something that helps them control their problem, and finding the group-mind too limited in scope, thus ineffective, they will look outside the box that

is the group-mind Unfortunately the AA confronted with such a person is not equipt to deal with this dynamic situation and will listen to the group-mind's static decree for such, that the person is combative/in denial because they will not accept the group-mind Were AA a proper religion instead of a "spiritual program" the eventual result would be similar to Catholicism's (another static group-mind) excommunication Ejection from meetings, even threats of physical

violence, have been the result for those that have blasphemed by speaking beyond the accepted script of the group-mind

Is there a solution to this? Probably not The debate between the One and the Many has been going on since our species came down from the trees, if not before (and likely it was some

“maniac/heretic” that first dropped out of the branches) Any individual that steps off the

accepted straight and narrow is going to be ostracized by the group, and because most people prefer the comfort zone and safety of a group and will submit and not stray from it But every

innovation has come from that “insane” person that wandered away and said "Gee, I wonder what's over there?" As mentioned earlier, likely we came down from the trees due to a similar looney So the One then serves the Many, whether either likes it or not

* * * * * * *

Pagans and the 12 steps

If you have a problem getting help/helped can be a tricky thing even when all things line up well

It gets harder when the problem, in this case drinking, is compounded with differences The primary stumbling block here in this case is being a pagan and the most widely accepted

program, AA, is decidedly christian The problem goes deeper than terms, trapping, and how differing faiths do the Hokey Pokey during a service There are intrinsic differences that, if not accounted for, can magnify other points of difference and increase the chance of failure So what

to do? Sometimes the best way to learn is to open mouth and insert foot It brings misconceptions quickly to light and, if it turns out instead to be a valid point, it can be made quickly as well In either case learning happens So let me polish up my size 11 so it slides in easier:

"But AA isn't christian!" Oh really? Maybe not in direct intent, but it is in direct default The one founder of AA was connected with the christian fundamentalist Oxford Group Meetings begin with the christian Serenity Prayer Meetings end with the christian Lord's Prayer When a

specific term is used for the "higher power" it's the christian "God" Not "Allah", "Yahweh",

"Elvis", or "Micheal Jackson" It's the very christian term for the Big-Dude-Up-There I've

known Christians who have left AA because they got sick of the religion getting shoved down

their throats Thus I rest my case on this matter and await a 2nd opinion, knowing that not all groups are created equal and thus some will be truly ecumenical

The religious default shows up again in the 12 Steps, which are decidedly christian in

philosophy As such this might chafe for a Jew, or Muslim, even though their faiths sprung from the same monotheistic sources as Christians So how much greater is the gap going to be for a follower of the older polytheistic faiths of wicca ("witchcraft"), asatru (norse), and, in my case, the Celtic pantheon Not all require the same level or type of submission from their followers as does Christianity And pagans, who have been persecuted for centuries by various christian sects, are a bit more sensitive about entering into anything seen as being in that faith's backyard Thus the message and potential benefits of AA can get lost in the dogmatic defaults

Examples? Okay Slowly we'll turn, Step by Step

1) We admit we're powerless over alcohol

BUNK!!! That might cut it for a christian , where it's taught one can't get into Heaven without help from the Big Dude But, if one is truly powerless, then there is no choice, chance, or hope for the person They're doomed before they even get started, so they may as well make advanced reservations for their gutter down on Skid Row now and avoid the rush

In contrast my path says I'm anything but powerless I may be completely over my head and totally outgunned, but I still have the power of choice, even if I don't use it

2) Come to believe in a higher power that could restore us to sanity.

I suppose this is a bigger deal to a Christian, who's god tends to be viewed as being off

somewhere far away For pagans this is less of a step, almost a redundancy That's because the average pagan already has a close working relationship with the Powers they follow And

working closely with said Powers certainly let's one know what They are capable of doing

3) Made a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of Big Dude

Again, acceptable to a christian mindset Grab the ankles for The Big Dude But other paths can prefer followers to retain a spine Thus it is with the Goddess I serve That "Aulde Bytche" has

no use for weaklings or suck ups So I know what would happen if I approached Her with the

"I'm weak, hopeless, helpless, and need Your aid!" routine I'll get snatched up by the scruff and

told in no uncertain terms I better get to what I can do, or She'll put a boot up to the hip in my

butt! And that's okay because the Powers run things and we're just hick mortals But that doesn't let us off the hook Even hick mortals have their part to play if things are to work out right in this world

4) Made a searching, fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

A once a week suck up and counting a few beads just doesn't cut it for a lot of pagans Not when we're taught that all things are interwoven 24/7's Also any of us that have directly dealt with the

Powers learned real fast just where we stand So we have to take a hard and humbling look at ourselves? Been there, done that It's still not an easy or pleasant process, but then morality isn't a casual thing for those that have it

5) Admit to Big Dude/ourselves/another our wrongs.

There is considerable value to this step A process used for millennia to ease the moral burden and clear the way to start anew So why then half-step and make the admission to a stranger, such as a priest, you'll not have to deal with again? It let's one off the hook and lessens the

potential benefits If you're that worries about how someone will react, don't even bother with this So who have I admitted to? A person who would normally rarely want to see one's feet of clay My daughter I'm not allowed the luxury of half-steps

6) Entirely ready to have Big Dude remove these defects.

7) Humbly ask Big Dude to remove our shortcomings.

These two are lumped together because equally ridiculous for the same reasons Who wouldn't want Mommy to kiss it and make it better?! Or have someone wave the magic wand, say the magic word, and presto chango we're okay?! Or pop the miracle pill of the day and cure all our woes?! (Viva Viagra!) That again is the christian "we're hopeless and need Big Dude to save our butts" mindset And isn't such a bailout just one more enabling behavior that helped get us in the sling in the first place? Pagans know the Powers didn't get us in this mess, so shouldn't expect a bailout that would cheat us of our moral responsibility They'll help ease the path, maybe, but we must walk though that tempering fire ourselves or we'll learn nothing of true worth

8) Make a list of the people we have harmed

Redundant How can one truly do Step 4 and not do this?!

9) Make direct amends wherever possible

To my Celtic ancestors one's place in society was defined by their actions To act dishonorably

or immorally within one's place and responsibilities was to risk dire consequences from all To

be dishonored was worse than death, one ceased to ever have been Thus any wrong has to be corrected The dane-geld, or honor-price, must be paid It'd be so much easier to balance the books at death like Christians sometimes do