Just because the program was invented in the 1930s, words have changed, but the concepts have remain the same.
You can justify staying out there anyway you want, bruv. But the truth is that it does get better if you keep coming back. I've met thousands of people in the program that can attest to that.
I hate to be the one to tell you this, but the science of addiction and the concepts that surround recovery have changed dramatically since the 30s.
We, as a culture have a much deeper understanding of addiction and Neuroscience and we have come to understand that the beliefs enshrined in 12-step fellowships are completely incorrect.
The attitudes that these fellowships instill into their participants stand in direct opposition to a healthy recovery journey.
Externalizing causes and effects is not recovery science. It's Christian mysticism.
We have come a long way in understanding the nature of craving and choice. And almost everything that science has learned defies the beliefs taught by 12-step fellowships.
This is the entire problem with 12-step fellowships because their opinions, believes, and Faith no longer align with what we have learned about addictions, causes and effective treatments
A higher power cannot and will not save you from your OWN choices. 🤷
12 step programs like AA and NA, have helped literally MILLIONS of addicts and alcoholics recover. The program is 90 years old and is still used by most addiction centers as a cornerstone of addiction treatment program. That's cause and effect enough for me.
Society or the field of Neuroscience hasn't done shit to curb addiction. There's still millions of people who die every year from addiction related illness. What rehab facility has a higher success rate than AA? Exactly.
If you want to actually learn something about addiction and the human brain. Read "Dopamine Nation" by Anna Lembke. Then have GPT do a cross comparison on her findings and relate them to the steps of AA. Then maybe you'll think twice about posting your pseudo-intellectual BS on a sub geared towards helping addicts recover.
Or maybe just goto a meeting. It does it get better!
You obviously have done absolutely zero reading on Neuroscience
But yes, if you tell chat GPT to try and make something work with the 12-step program. It will absolutely create an echo chamber for you.
Congratulations!
But none of what you said disproves the fact that in 90 years we have learned a lot about addiction that stands in direct conflict with the beliefs of the 12-step style fundamentalist shepherding cults.
Freedom is possible, millions of people recover from addiction without spending the rest of their lives in meetings.
You could too... If you wanted to.
Asking rhetorical questions like "what rehab has a higher success rate than AA" is ridiculous and you know it. Studies have proven that 12-step fellowships do not perform as well as evidence-based recovery programs when it comes to long-term results. You can Google that... there are at least 4 studies that prove that.
Nobody's trying to MAKE you recover... You can continue to White knuckle sobriety by going to meetings every 3 days for the rest of your life if you'd like .... But don't tell people that they're victims... Stop telling people that they need God to heal.
That much is provably false
People are not powerless unless they choose to be powerless... As you have clearly done.
Sober for over three decades. Went to meetings religiously for a few years. Haven't been to one in over 20. Still follow the steps.
If I had to "white knuckle" sobriety for this long I doubt I could. (and who would want to)
AA 100% saved my life - but that freed me to live a "normal" life. I have a friend that's been sober for over 15 years -he is still active in the program, still goes to meetings. It works for him.
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u/buffalo___716 7d ago
Man props to anyone who this works for. But AA was not it for me