Alcoholics Anonymous

Despite recent progress in the medical understanding of addictive disease, the amateur self-help group known as Alcoholics Anonymous, and its affiliate, Narcotics Anonymous, are still regarded by many experts as an essential mode of treatment for recovering addicts. One of the oldest approaches to alcoholism, the movement arose in 1935 when an Ohio alcoholic named Bill Wilson teamed up with a physician to form the amateur self-help program better known as A.A. The groups now accept anyone who is dependent on any addictive drug.

Bill W. created a twelve-step program of mental, physical, and spiritual recovery. A.A. is an association of peers seeking to combat what its founders referred to as “an allergy of the body and an obsession of the mind.” However, coffee and cigarettes  have traditionally been tolerated at meetings. Twelve-Step blogs are numerous and easily found, including These Rooms and the Recovery Blog.

A.A. is not a medical treatment, and it is not a formal psychiatric program. It is based on the concept of “hitting bottom,” which may come in the form of a wrecked car, a wrecked marriage, a jail term, or simply the the burden of drug-seeking behavior and its consequences.

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “Alcoholics Anonymous”

• Brain Damage & Recovery from Alcoholism

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  Thinking Impairment and Recovery From Alcoholism Brain damage is a common and potentially severe consequence of long-term, heavy alcohol consumption. Even mild-to-moderate drinking can adversely affect thinking functioning (i.e., mental activities that involve acquiring, storing, retrieving, and using ...
  6 hours ago

• Helping other Alcoholics, Helps

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  Those who were helping were significantly less likely to relapse in the year following treatment, independent of the number of AA meetings attended.
  7 hours ago

• Caution!

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  Typical signs of alcoholism; confusion, bad behaviour, denial, cloudy thinking and recovery.  I don’t get it!  Yea, I’ve had a few drinks.  Don’t they?  What’s Happening?———————————————— Welcome! Is this your first time at a meeting?See; What is AA?What is alcoholism? ...
  1 day ago

• What is My Higher Power?

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  What and where is My Higher Power?“The answer I was looking for was on page 12 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, in Ebby’s words to Bill: ’”Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?”’“’I’ve tried everything else,’ I thought, ’and I’ve got no place else to go. I might just as ...
  1 day ago

• Enabling Behaviours

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  Enabling is a behaviour that promotes, overlooks or allows an alcoholic to escape from the reality (denial) of their situation.Some Examples of Enabling BehaviorsDenying that the drinking or drug use constitutes a primary problem.Avoiding problems and conflicts which might “cause” the dependent to use alcohol or ...
  1 day ago

• 5 Alcoholism Myths

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  These myths would be of interest to anyone involved with alcoholism – wives, partners, parents, children, adult children (co-dependents) and of course the alcoholic.Myth 1: An alcoholic is the falling-down drunk on skid row.Answer: Only three percent of alcoholics are on skid row. Those alcoholics on skid row are ...
  1 day ago

• Review of the book ’Alcoholics Anonymous’

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: The story of how more than one hundred men have recovered from alcoholism. 400 pp. New York Works Publishing Co., 1939, $3.50.The psychological aspect of alcoholism taxes the entire skill and intuition of the therapist, and the authors of this book claim that in the long run the ex-alcoholic ...
  1 day ago

• HOMOVISION REHAB with THE SWARMITE: EXPECTATIONS

  
  Gay London videos and news, gay interviews, gay clubbing, gay health, gay comment and gay views on HOMOVISION.TV Gay TV, gay London videos and news, gay interviews, gay clubbing, gay health, gay comment and gay views on HOMOVISION.TV — Authority: 131
  Setting expectations too high is societies curse, which is why government and partners fail us and media is flooded at this time of year with detox trivia, diet plans and resolutions. Don’t encourage them, be stylish – wait till February or when you feel you want to, rather than need to just because it’s New ...
  1 day ago

• Effectiveness of AA & NA

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  High effectiveness of self-help programs after drug addiction therapy in NorwayBACKGROUND: The self-help groups Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) are very well established.AA and NA use a 12-step program and are found in all communities around the world.Although many have argued that these ...
  1 day ago

• What chance do you give this one?

  
  Chaz' journey back. — Authority: 103
  I met a newly-married couple today.  They left me pondering… “how long will this last”?   What first jumped out at me was the degree to which the husband seemed to control the dialogue and relationship.  My meeting with them was in a professional setting.  I was conducting a significant business ...
  3 days ago

• The 12 Steps to Recovery

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  The AA Recovery ProgramThe relative success of the A.A. program seems to be due to the fact that an alcoholic who no longer drinks has an exceptional faculty for “reaching” and helping an uncontrolled drinker.In simplest form, the A.A. program operates when a recovered alcoholic passes along the story of his or ...
  3 days ago

• Alcoholic Recovery & Narcissism

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  Narcissism A Barrier to Personal Acceptance of the Spiritual Aspect of Alcoholics AnonymousTwenty-nine newly recovering alcoholic outpatients drawn from a Minnesota-Model type treatment program in the United Kingdom completed the NPI narcissism scale and the “Steps Questionnaire.” Results showed the narcissistic ...
  3 days ago

• Relapse Prevention

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  Relapse is not total failure; its only a stageFailure rates to comply with treatment for alcoholism do not differ significantly from other chronic diseases. People with disease such as diabetes, asthma and hypertension frequently fail to comply with treatment. (Lewis 2002)Relapse can range from a return to chronic ...
  4 days ago

• AA Membership Survey 2007

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  Relations with helping professionalsResults of the 2007 AA Membership Survey of Alcoholics Anonymous confirm growing trust and transparency in the relationships between alcoholics and their health caregivers – doctors, nurses, counsellors and others – who, in turn, appear to be more informed about A.A.74% of ...
  4 days ago

• Levels of Denial & Recovery

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  These levels of denial may be observed by family, healthcare workers and friends of the alcoholic.These levels may be applied to any addictive process such as gambling, sex addiction, spending, co-dependency, overeating, workaholism, smoking and being an Adult Child of Alcoholism. Just swap ‘alcohol; for your ...
  5 days ago

• How does Alcoholism Treatment Work?

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  Does Treatment and Self-help Work? Alcoholism can be treated similarly to other chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and asthma in adults. There are a variety of treatment options, depending on the individual’s particular situation and needs. Clinical studies have repeatedly found that treatment ...
  6 days ago

• Alcohol Awareness for Loved Ones

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  Understanding alcohol abuse and alcoholism can be a key step in solving drinking problems Some people worry about their alcohol use but are not convinced that they need help. Friends or relatives might express their concern–”You have a drinking problem.” But often that well-intentioned statement fails to ...
  1 week ago

• Silent Killers

  
  Chaz' journey back. — Authority: 103
  Gas Leak - Silent Killer My wife and I were discussing some of the silent relationship killers that we have observed recently. The big things are easy to spot…. abuse, infidelity, raging, name-calling, etc.  Those are no-brainers.  Any relationship would be endangered where these are present and it would be ...
  1 week ago

• Helping Alcoholics

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  Seeking Help Could Quadruple the Likelihood of Abstinence To quantify the effect of help seeking on recovery from alcoholism, researchers in the United States analyzed data from 4,422 adults who had participated in a nationally representative survey and developed alcohol dependence at least 1 year before their ...
  1 week ago

• Relapse, Slips & Busts

  
  Recovery Is Sexy.com — Authority: 141
  Bill W. co-founders of AA Bill W. a co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous answers questions about alcoholism in a discussion in 1960. Question; What about slips in general? You must have witnessed a lot of them. Bill W.: The subject of slips is a very large one. It takes in a lot of territory. Slips can often be ...
  1 week ago

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