Anne, I hate saying this but your opinions show you have not been to really any meeting at all and the ones you did go to you were not paying attention. Most of your knowledge/opinions is straight from the Orange Papers, com'on give me a break. I am speaking from direct experience and your rebuttals are coming from a man that was disgruntled by AA.
Anyways who cares.
There you go with your assumptions again. Just because I disagree with your opinion of AA I MUST be lying. I'm not. I've been to countless meetings, even had several sponsors (one of whom I keep in touch with because she doesn't buy into the dogma and really does just use it as a support group) You tell me that I'm speaking solely from what I've read in the Orange Papers and that's an assumption on your part and complete bullshit. I read what he's written and then go to his sources to confirm what he's saying is true AND, as I've said, I've gone to a ton of meetings. The longest stretch was 3 years of weekly meetings. What prompted me to seek out information about AA and eventually find AO was what I experienced in the rooms (i.e. stopping the meds, divorcing spouses etc.) It struck me as such dogma (there's that word again) and reminded me of what Straight did in a much more forceful manner. You, OTOH, only talk about your experiences and cite nothing to back them up. The reason there aren't many (if any) studies about AA is that they won't allow any clinical, longitudinal, peer reviewed studies because they know they'd be blown out of the water.
Yes, AA can be helpful to some people
as a support group only. To follow the literature, written by a certifiable lunatic, is lunacy itself.
