Finding The Right AA Alternative For You

Life and sobriety beyond the 12 steps

AA’s “non-religious” prayer circle — reciting the Lord’s prayer 🤔

I’ve been accused of being too critical of Alcoholics Anonymous by a few dedicated AA members here on Medium, and to those folks, I just want to say — thank you for reading and paying attention.

For the rubber of critical thinking to hit the road, there has to be some criticism. No support group, treatment, or medication for alcohol and substance abuse should be above it.

Now that I am no longer a member, I view AA much the way I do the Catholic Church.

Some Catholics credit Catholicism with being the foundation of their life — while others have suffered horrible abuse at the hands of the church.

The ones who suffer are often urged to keep quiet — in spoken and unspoken ways — so as not to taint the “sanctity” of the religion.

Both experiences are valid — and both should be heard.

I could have left AA and kept my mouth shut and moved on — but the truth is that I’m still trying to unlearn a lot of the nonsensical ideas that I was force-fed in AA.

While I would never blame AA for my drinking, the misinformation (among other things) made my situation worse, and writing about my experience in AA has been quite therapeutic.