Fabian Castaneda Mrs.Kehrmeyer Contemp. Comp April 25, 2015 The Problems With AA AA meetings are for people who are struggling with alcoholism which means they have an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency. I believe that these meetings are not helpful and in some cases cause harm the people who are trying to change and no longer alcoholics or drug addicts. These meetings do not have high success rates in fact they have very low rates. They have a 12 percent success rate for people who are sober for ten years and these meetings also have a very high depression and suicide rates because of their 12 step program. The AA meetings limit their success target only alcoholics as its main priority and unless you have a problem with alcohol you cannot be a member of the AA. I believe that if you have any type of addiction you deserve the help you need especially if you are looking for a change and want to better yourself. These AA …show more content…
The people in charge of these meetings do not care for their members and do not care where they end up in the future and that makes it difficult for members to want to continue to change because they feel as if nobody cares whether they change or not. People need to be motivated to make a change you cannot motivate somebody by showing you dont care if they change or not if the person who is trying to make a change sees that these people from the AA meetings actually check up on them to see if they are doing good or doing better than they will be motivated to make a change because they feel as if they matter now. The meetings do not keep attendance that means it does not matter to them whether you show up or not they do not care if you make a change or not and they do not care if you are struggling with anything other than alcohol you will not receive the type of help you
It is a very good option for someone who has a true desire to end their addiction behavior, but has no real support system. They may have the support of their family and a few friends, but they no one who shares in their story, or who knows how it feels to want to drink or do drugs when the stress of life gets to be too much. Twelve-step programs present several ethical and legal issues that present challenges to the treatment. These self help groups are anonymous and are not suppose to be discussed outside of the group setting, discussing things outside the group can present privacy issues; therefore, members must pledge secrecy to what is discussed during AA meetings (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012). Many people participate in AA because they feel at liberty to openly speak about their life as a substance abuser and their road to recovery.
Step 3, 5, 7, and 11, have the word God or Him in the text. Since AA is about becoming a spiritual person and having a spiritual awakening I do not think it’s appropriate to bring God into this. I also think some of the alcoholics think like that too. Most of the alcoholics were having trouble on step 3 and I could understand why. I do not like the idea of turning our responsibility over to somebody else in hopes that they will make the right decisions.
In 1983, NA created its first textbook which also enhanced the rapid growth so much so that at the end of the year, the organization has spread to over a dozen countries attaining 2, 966 meetings worldwide. Today, NA is considered to be a well-established international organization that is multilingual, and a multicultural fellowship that attains more than 63,000 weekly meetings in 132 countries (“Information about NA”, 2014). The NA program attains a white booklet that describes the program’s anonymous way. The white booklet explains to members that all drug addicts, regardless of certain types of drugs or a combination of drugs, is accepted in this program. They adapt to the AA’s first step of the disease model but other than using the world alcohol they replace it with addiction.
Attending an AA meeting was a new experience for me, although I had family and friends that had attended meetings they never told me what the meetings were like. Arriving to the meeting was different than what I expected. When looking at movies they would show dark rooms and sitting in a circle, completely different than what a real meeting is. But once I was there the lady in charge greeted me and introduced herself. I was surprised to see everybody being so friendly to each other.
A 12 step recovery program such as Alcohol Anonymous is a program designed to help one who is labeled as an alcoholic to “recover” from their “disease.” In the 12 step program, the person is considered an alcoholic and will always be that way because it is labeled as a disease. However, the Bible does not call it a disease but a life dominating sin. Instead of calling someone an alcoholic, they should be called a drunkard. Since drunkenness is a sin and not a disease, the Bible has answers and solutions on how to put off drunkenness and to replace it with those things that are honoring to God (cf.
The peer support helps people feel like they have support from people facing identical challenges. Suggestions and words of hope are instilled throughout the meeting. Incentives for sobriety are offered and encouragement is provided. There were several people who stated during the meeting that they attempted to attend church to curtail their addiction.
The meeting might help him quit drinking. Bruce went to the AA meeting. However, after the meeting, some of the members secretly offer him to go out and drink. It was an ineffective meeting. He is trying to avoid them, but sometimes he can’t refuse them.
During all phases, the participants are required to attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings (Circuit, 2010). During phase one they must attend a high number of these meeting per week and as he or she phases up, the number of meetings required decreases. In addition to this, the participants must also attend counseling and group therapy sessions (Circuit, 2010). The participant will be assigned a counselor and will meet with the counselor on a regular basis. If the counselor finds it to be necessary, the participant can be sent to a doctor for a mental health medicine evaluation and
A fairly common approach to alcoholism is a 12 step program, such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). It has been asserted that there is enough evidence on the validity of the 12 step model that it can be considered an evidence based practice.
One guy David really stood out to me, on Tuesday he celebrated 12 years sober, when he went and got his medal and stated that he was 12 years sober the room immediately congratulated him and told him to keep up the good work. It made me feel like the people there treat each other like family not strangers, and help each other overcome obstacles. Also at the very end of the meeting, while walking out I noticed people talking to the new people that were either new to Alcoholics Anonymous or new to the group at St. Joe’s. They were very welcoming to them and gave them hugs and congratulated the new members for coming. It just made me feel like this group actually helps the members change.
People who are drug addicted can benefit greatly from spending time at a drug treatment center. The center can be just what they need to overcome their addiction and live a happier life without drugs. If you are addicted to drugs, treatment is likely a necessity as it can be hard to get off of drugs without the right treatment. What does it have to offer an addicted individual?
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a group of individuals from all walks of life, who come together with the hope of abstaining from alcohol abuse. The main goal of this support group is to abstain from alcohol, and to achieve control of their lives without drinking. According to Stuart, “Alcoholic anonymous (AA) The most common type of self-help group for substance abusers is the 12-step group.” (Stuart, p. 467, 2013) One of the important functions of these groups is to let the individual know that they are not alone in this predicament and that “mutual support can give them the strength to abstain” (Stuart, p. 467, 2013). Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has a model is based on the 12 steps tradition.
It is easy to say that you can sympathize with someone, but if you have yet to go through the same things, it is hard to truly relate. Group therapy sessions are therapeutic in their own right, and assist our clients in coming to honest terms with their history of use. • Relapse Prevention Plans In our experience, every time someone goes through rehab, they say that there is no chance that they will ever turn back. Unfortunately, if you do not have an honest plan of prevention techniques and strategies, you are setting yourself up for failure.
Walking into an AA meeting most first timers are defensive in search for all reasons they can gather to prove they don’t belong there. Whether you are an alcoholic or not these meetings open up your perspectives on a whole array of subjects. I didn’t exactly have a certain expectation on how the meeting would be like, however I didn’t think a majority would be as involved as they were. The meeting had an environment that made it safe to share and to connect with one another. As well throughout the duration of the session the lights were off, which added to the feeling of privacy in the sense that no one felt they were being spoken to directly.
Al-Anon is a world-wide fellowship 12 steps program and the counterpart to Alcoholics Anonymous that was found in 1951; Al-Anon states that they are not affiliated nor: “Al-Anon is allied with any sect, denomination, political party organization, or institution; does not engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any cause. There are no dues for membership. Al-Anon is self-supporting through its own voluntary contributions. (Welcome to Al-Anon, n.d.).” The 12 step program serves as a self-help support group based on a spiritual foundation.