On Apr 13, 2005, at 4:51 PM, Julia Thompson wrote:
Warren Ockrassa wrote:
2. Many times it seems to me that 12-step programs really substitute one addiction (to [substance]) for another (to the program).
This doesn't really solve the problem. It doesn't strike at the root, the source of the addiction. It simply replaces one behavior with another behavior, but offers no guarantees that backsliding won't happen.
To eliminate addiction, one must fundamentally alter oneself and one's responses to the world, not just to [substance], and I'm uncertain that any 12-step program provides the necessary tools to accomplish that fundamental transformation.
In the mid-80s, my mom was doing training to answer phones at a suicide prevention hotline. Part of the requirement for training was to attend an AA meeting (Narcotics Anonymous probably would have done, as well), for what reason I don't remember.
Heh, that's interesting they'd require it. Maybe it was so the phone folks would have some understanding and/or context when talking to people with problems? Or maybe the feeling was that some firsthand experience of a 12-step program would help them know what to recommend and when...
Anyway, there was a limit for her tolerance for cigarette smoke, and so she wanted to go to a "smokeless" AA meeting. She could find only one during the week she was supposed to attend an AA meeting, while there were probably at least 3 meetings per day during that period in the area in which she was looking.
Right, that's another thing I've seen a lot of. Much, *much* smoking.
So these folks were sober, but some of them were chain-smoking through the meetings, which might support your point.
Maybe. It really is individual, it seems -- I mean I can't well deny that 12-step programs have helped millions of people over the years get their feet back. So obviously something they're doing is working, and it can be argued that it's working very well.
Maybe it's just certain personality traits that don't mesh with the 12-step model. I don't know if anyone's done any in-depth studies on the subject; it might be interesting to see results and/or data, if there are any.
-- Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books http://books.nightwares.com/ Current work in progress "The Seven-Year Mirror" http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
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