Has Anyone Ever Had an Alcoholics Anonymous Horror Story? What Happened?
Question by Left Footed: Has anyone ever had an Alcoholics Anonymous Horror story? What happened?
Best answer:
Answer by raysny
The folks in AA convinced me that I was powerless over my alcoholism. Being an atheist, I had no “Higher Power” to save me in Step Two, so I felt my only choices were suicide or returning to drink which they promised would kill me. So I went back to drinking.
The members made things impossible while I was there, they berated me for being an atheist, telling me that if I wasn’t willing to bend my knees I’d be bending my elbow. They called my diagnosed depression “being on the pity pot”. They told me that I wasn’t really sober if I took psych medication and that if I did the steps properly, there would be no need for therapy.
My problem was that I suffered from depression and used alcohol to mask the symptoms. All anyone wanted to do was force me to quit drinking in the belief that a PRE-EXISTING condition could be cured by taking away what I was using to self-medicate.
Because I wasn’t a good little 12stepper, I also ran into problems; I didn’t have the right kind of sobriety. That story (and a bit more) can be found here:
http://www.dangerthinice.org/true%20stories%20of%20struggles.htm
These days I’m a mental health care worker. I see the same kind of things going on with clients: people forced into a program that was not designed for people with a PRIMARY diagnosis of mental illness.
Rebecca Fransway’s book, “Twelve Step Horror Stories: True Tales of Misery, Betrayal and Abuse in NA, AA
and 12-Step Treatment ” is available online:
http://www.morerevealed.com/library/index.jsp
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I stayed around the rooms of AA a lot longer than I should have.
I was dragged unwillingly into AA and stayed because I stopped drinking but more so because I was terrified that if I left I would drink and die.
I stayed for 8 years.
Ultimately I could no longer stomach their ‘sobriety by terror’ methods.
I left because finally none of it made sense to me.
I saw people attending Big Book studies and turn into robots.
I saw people terrified to miss a call to their sponsor.
I heard people talking like automatons, spouting AA jargon.
The manipulation of newcomers. The predatory nature of some of the men in the rooms.
There is no place for dissent in AA.
It is a sick environment and no place for the vulnerable.
Surviving AA is a feat in itself.
Hi Ray;
Duaine M here:
Mine isn’t a Horror story just one of may I have personally heard over the years.
I went to aa because I trusted and respected the professionals in the Detox Center I went to.
I was set to take on the adventure of my life.
I decided I would live the rest of my life alcohol/drug free and I had a great start with tools I had learned at the Detox Center along with a determination and the support of my family.
aa attempted to strip my of what I had accomplished and kept feeding me negative crap.
Telling me over and over at every meeting that I would fail.
I decide I would life the rest of my life free of alcohol/drugs and I was taking the credit to making that choice and also keeping that commitment.
I was told at every meeting that I couldn’t do it that way and I was doing it all wrong.
When I pointed out all the people who were failing they told me that didn’t matter that they were doing it right and I was doing it wrong.
The meetings were cutting into my life and putting distance between me and my family.
I was moving backward.
I was losing my resolve and my family.
I quit aa and started to get a real life and everything started improving right away.
aa was a negative in my life and was a hindrance to my sobriety.
If I had stayed I know I would not have had the ease of moving past my past addictions I now have and would have never know just how easy it is to quit forever and get a life.
I love my family and enjoy life with no cravings for alcohol/drugs.
I know aa people love to boost about time and I’m sure there are people who will question my length of Abstinence so — I started my journey May 12 – 1982 with no slips and in spite of aa not because of it.
I would suggest to people going into aa that when they hear or feel warnings going off in their head that something is not right here, that they trust in their instincts and not turn them off like I did.
If you feel something is not right and it feels like a Cult then it could be a Cult..
I drank more while attending AA than I ever had before in my life. I had to check into a medical detox to keep from dying of withdrawal symptoms.
I quit AA after that and I learned about harm reduction.
I have never had alcohol withdrawal since leaving AA.
I founded the HAMS Harm Reduction Network to help others learn harm reduction.
http://hamsnetwork.org
pct
i think just showing up there is a horror story lol
try some will power
I went to AA and quit after the ex’bf of the woman I sponsored started to stalk me.
After some petty crimes were perpetrated against me
an old timer told me that the guys ex wife had been MURDERED and that he was the prime suspect.
He is also a dead beat dad who owes $ 50,000 in back child support…( stick with the winners)
So yes I have a horror story… the whole brain dead organization protects perverts and engages in blatant sexism..