Addiction: the documentary
You can also call it: the war on AA.
It is my impression that the HBO documentary Addiction (endorsed by all major federal agencies that deal with addiction), effectively is trying to demonstrate that there are many other ways to recover, without AA. One big one is medication, the other one is asking the addict themselves what would work best for them. In 90 minutes of footage, AA is mentioned once.
A friend of mine mentioned to me last week the "major developments" in the field of addiction treatment. Like medication. very effective. You take a pill and the cravings go away. Aren't you excited, Rabbi?
I have nothing against medication for treatment of diseases. And I think that for some people AA cannot work unless they start with medication. What bothers me is the notion that everyone out there is looking for a cure so we can finally put AA to rest. Why does it bother so many people that there is a spiritual program that can help addicts stay away from drugs? Go on you tube and search for AA, and you will have a bunch of evangelist talking about the devil that is AA...
I don't think that there will ever be a time when the 12 steps will become obsolete. Truth will endure.
Here is a little secret, for those who have watched the documentary. In follow up interviews, the addicts that are doing the best are the ones who are active members of AA.
Truth will endure.
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As a response to HBO:
By the time I decided to get clean I had already been in and out of countless rooms and had notions about AA and how wrong it was. I was convinced that I could do it myself and the crazy addicts who were weaker than I was needed AA but I didn’t.
I spent a year dry, and feeling bad for those who depended on a program to stay sober. Around a year into recovery two things happened. First I started speaking to people who were able to get through to me (or I was finally open to listening) the message of AA, that the program is about having a spiritual experience and changing your life. As opposed to “don’t drink, go to meeting” or “listen to your sponsor” which all I had heard before and which I was “too good for”. The second thing was a friend asked me to help him get clean. I couldn’t honestly tell him to do what I did because my arrogance told me that I was strong enough to white knuckle it successfully but other addicts were not. So I gave him information about AA and sent him to meeting. Quickly I realized that I needed to explore AA. I have now been actively working the AA program for about a year and a half. And all I can say is thank g-d I got the opportunity to do so. Obviously I am far from perfect but I try to work on myself on a daily basis regarding my spirituality and my interactions with others. Now my sobriety is part of who I am, Not something I have to fight on a daily basis. I can’t imagine what life would be like if instead of working on myself and growing into a new and better person I just took a pill. A pill never gave me anything this good.
I have been attending AA meetings for years. I do not think that any Federal Agency has declared "war on AA"-- I just think that they have to be VERY careful when publicly speaking about AA and their use of the program, especially when on HBO. You don't have to go to HBO to see how The Federal Government, as well as State Law feel about AA. If you have been through any of these systems than you would know that they not only endorse AA and the results that they see -THEY DEMAND IT. If I would have saved all the AA attendance sheets by all of the courts that mandated that I attend AA meetings... I think you get the picture. AA is the #1 used and suggested route to recovery by the Government, and the State court systems. They just have to be careful when speaking publicly about it. You don't have to take my word for it. Go to the Federal court websites and look up recent cases. You WILL find many lawsuits against the government for demanding proof of AA attendance, yet I know as a fact that they still demand it. Lawsuit after lawsuit. That is how the Government REALLY feels about AA.
Anybody Home???
Thank you Rabbi Ben and Yisrael-In my opinion, and you know what opinions are like; the most effective way to recover is the 12 Steps-Period Finished-I had a spiritual awakening as a result of working the steps and have increased my relationship with my G-d
through Yisrael, Spiritual Meetings and Classes, and basically Chabad; this is my story and it has worked and continues to work for me.
Someone at my Families Anonymous meeting brought in the DVD's from the HBO documentary Addiction last night. We watched the first disc. I agree that they didn't really push AA, but they also did say that medication alone wasn't the answer, and that you still had to take action. They also showed the "Steamfitters Local" and how they helped their own, and that was based on AA.
There are still so many people out there that do not look at alcoholism and addiction as a disease, including doctors. I do think it got that point across. I was fascinated by the studies that they are doing with the brain, and that they can actually see what the brain cells are doing when someone is having a craving.
Even with AA, the incidence of relapse is still high. But when they were talking about medications that affect the "stop" and "go" lobes it made sense to me. If you can give the "stop" lobes back the power that they should have, to do the right thing, and go to a meeting instead of the bar, liquor store or drug dealer, then why not? It wasn't my impression that it was a cure.
They also touched upon the issues of medical insurance and substance abuse, and the amount of time that insurance companies allow for rehab. Most rehab facilities use the principles of AA. If these medications were to be a quick fix, then we wouldn't need the rehab facilities would we?
I'm sorry, I didn't get the same impression as you, and I do think that it is wonderful that there are "major developments" in the field of addiction, and that they are realizing how big of a problem it is, and that they are actually spending money doing studies on it.
I agree that it is a great documentary about "the problem". I am disappointed that AA is not counted among "the solutions". Given that it's the most successfully used solution in the world, I can assume that there is a reason to the omission, hence my conclusion, which obviously can be wrong.
Someone also forwarded me AA attendance sheets that are distributed to FEDERAL probationers and Parolees. I don't say that the Dept. or Corrections is against AA as a solution for keeping addicts away from drugs. Actually, to the discontent of AA leadership and members, it remains the most cost effective way to keep tabs on offenders, and making sure they stay away from the bars.The Health and Human Services administration on the other hand, is looking for a cure, and i applaud the effort, as long as they agree that AA works. After all WE are footing the bill for all these studies. So we would like to know that it is not wasted trying to reinvent the wheel.
Whoever doesn't know much about addiction needs to watch the documentary to get an idea of what the problem is.
Well said Rita....and Rabbi.
I think this is a good discussion.
I have a problem with the government forcing people to attend AA meetings. Most of the time these people are not serious about recovery, and are going to appease the system. They leave the meeting and continue to use. It becomes a thing of getting someone to sign their paper. I also believe that some of the drug offenders who get sent to jail are not really getting the help that they need. Wouldn't it make more sense to get them into a rehab facility and get them help instead of locking them up in jail?
Rita,
I was one of those people who went to the meetings just to get their sheet signed. Three times a day for almost 6 months. I can recall the looks in some people- who with their eyes said what you just wrote.
Ends up years later I continued to attended meetings without having to have
a sheet signed.
Sometmes we are best served by being forced to listen to someone other than us.
I can distinctly recall sitting in the Frank Grennon Detention Center doing time. I was exposed to someone who came in from the outside. He was doing volunteer work and held meetings twice a week.
I was forced to attend by the judge.
The next thing I remember is writing a thank you letter to that same judge who sent me away...... For saving my life.
I guess that's my point. You were in a detention center, so you didn't have the opportunity to leave and go to the bar or elsewhere. I know when my daughter was in OCJ for a drug offense, they did not make it mandatory for her to attend meetings. So even though she was clean she wasn't forced to listen to how to use the tools. As soon as she was out, she picked up again.
Rita,
I dont aim to be confrontational, however I thought your comment started by stating "I have a problem with the government forcing people to go to AA meetings"
I do not see how you agree with me when your point is in direct opposition to mine?
Please clarify??----I still got 'nothin but luv for 'ya.
LOL...Cary, I don't think you are being confrontational, and yes, my statement does need clarification. The people I'm referring to are mostly the ones on probation, who as part of their probation have to attend meetings. They still have their freedom, and a lot of them are going to meetings to appease the system, which you admitted that you yourself did. But, is that what made you attend meetings years later without having to have a sheet signed, or was it when you were in the detention center and it was madatory that you go to meetings.
I guess my point is...when my daughter was going to meetings as part of her probation, it was a joke. She would get anybody and everybody to sign her sheets. She even knew how to circumvent JAMS. But, like I said, when she served time in OCJ for violating her probation, because they actually made her drop at her probation meeting and she dropped dirty, they sent her to jail to punish her, but not to help her. I wish they had made it mandatory at that point for her to attend meetings while she was incarcerated or would have sent her to rehab for 90 days instead, but they didn't do either.
Had she been forced at that point, where she didn't have the opportunity to have access to anything and had to work the steps then maybe she would have had her moment of clarity and really realized that she was powerless over alcohol and drugs. But most of the people that are sent there as a condition of probation are for the most part still in denial, and don't feel they need to be there.
Does this make sense???? It's hard to have this conversation in writing!!!
Let me sum up my feelings regarding this conversation.
Sometimes one has to be FORCED to "fake it 'till you make it."
Good Shabbos Rita.
Maybe it's not coming across that way, but I agree wholeheartedly.
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