Heroin Addiction & Recovery Support Group

I agree and disagree. 1st of all, I don't pay too much attention to statistics since they're so easily manipulated and since there can be much more contributing external factors that aren't even taken into consideration. I agree with you that AA doesn't work. The program of working the steps EXACTLY as they are in the book does work, even for people who aren't addicts. If people don't have that extreme hopelessness and willingness that comes in step 1, then the rest of the steps are meaningless. A person has to believe that they're really insane (step 2) in order to be returned to sanity. Alcoholism and drug addiction is a disease that has recognizeable signs and symptoms. Even when a person is not using, these signs are still there. Usually just a little more subtle. But the obsessive thinking, the compulsion, and the restlessness, irritability, and general discontentment with life is still present. And I do agree that some meetings can make people sicker. I just came from a CA meeting tonight where every single person in there went in to war stories. The solution is in the present, not the past. When I hear that crap, and remember how I was as a newcomer, I hear people talking about shooting and smoking crack, I'm going to go go get some especially since I have no solution. So many of these people are just spreading their sickness around. But they know no better. They think that's what CA or NA is for. So yes, some meetings can make a person sicker. But the good meetings, where they're in the solution, make you feel inspired like you just got out of church. The meetings I got sober at, people would get cut off if they started getting into all that crap. And nobody was supposed to speak until they got on step 9. This is because we don't know shit about staying cleanwhen we come in. And we're gonna share and tell all these people how to stay sober when we got 1 month. That's insane. That's how original AA was. There was 2 meetings. One for people who had worked the steps (who were in the solution) and one for newcomers. Newcomers were not allowed to speak and were assigned a sponsor (they didn't pick them). The sponsor got them through the steps quickly and actually went with them to make every amends. The sponsor practically walked a person through the steps and was the first person a sponsee talked to after amends. The success rate during this time was 75%. Of course, most of these alcoholics were much lower bottom alcoholics than these court ordered people today, so there was less watering down. Most of these people were serious unlike many people today. So you must consider all the circumstances around all these so called statistics.

it works IF you work it

After 24 years of AA NA CA SAA etc. I have finally quit going to meetings. I even worked as a counselor for a year in a Rehab.
I don't think about using much since I don't talk about it all the time. I have a new spiritual way of living now. I am happier than I've been in many years.
There's no doubt I would be long dead if it were'nt for 12 step.
Don't you ever wonder where all the 10 year+ members have gone? I'm finding many of them have just found a new way. 12 step is probably the only way to stop using and stay clean for any significant period of time, yet I don't believe a person has to spend the rest of his/her life going to meetings.

aa/na does not tell you that you are powerless over your life just the substance after its put in your body. have you ever had power over dope once u have used it i havent

Mybe meetings dont work for everyone but at least the time you spend going through the 12 steps gives you the time and abilty to make a choise. Its hard to deside whats going to work when all you can think of is getting your next fix or drink. Just getting control of your own mind is worth the time in meetings. I love meetings they gave me friends not using and that was a step in the right direction.( step13 ?? )I still go and i'm sure I will for a long time, but I'll know when in ready to quit NA. Death or jail is alot harder to come back from.

Google does not hold the answers to all of life's mysteries. Statistics are often manipulated, distorted, or have underlying circumstances contributing to the numbers. Sometimes, not always. Anyway, however a person gets to the point where they feel strongly enough to resist the temptations of addiction is a wonderful thing. There are many meetings with people that tell war stories, haven't a clue what they're doing there, etc. Avoid them if you don't like them! I did. Noone blames us for that. We have to find the meetings with educated addicts that do care about us and can help us. They DO exist, you just have to put effort into finding them. It isn't whether the MEETINGS work or not. It's all a matter of what information from the meetings YOU make work for you. The meetings aren't failing, the people with bad attitudes are. It's all about having a positive personal view. There isn't any cure for our disease, but the steps are still the best option we have to learn and grow as people. If anyone thinks they can do it on their own, I wish them the very best of luck but at the same time I feel bad for their blindness. One doesn't necessarily have to go to a meeting everyday, but not believing in the 12 steps or a program of some sort will get you nowhere fast. It works if YOU work it. Just that simple.

This response is not to bash your opinion. Refer to http://dickb.com/ and find out the original results of AA. The AA/NA program has lost a lot of its gusto. I am not bashing AA/NA here either. The bottom line is whatever works for you great. I will say that the original AA’ers did not have a Big Book. All they had was the Good Book. It was a Christian fellowship with a success rate between 75% and 93%. What happened? To be politically correct and more “understanding” the program has pretty much removed G-d from their message. The higher power I talk about is the G-d, yes the G-d in the bible. He will do for you what you were so unwilling to do for yourself. The selfishness and dishonesty of substance abuse are root causes for our problem. Realizing that I was not the center of the universe and that today it is not about ne was an important start. I can guarantee if you are rigorously honest and ask G-d for help he will help you. Today I know that if you are still breathing, He has a plan for you and is not finished with you. Some of the things in life that happen are unfair and I really do not know or understand his plan but because I believe G-d exists, there must be a reason. When you remove the drugs and alcohol there is still a big problem. I believe the 12 steppers are a way to help you come to believe in G-d and start to develop a relationship that will forever change your life. I know I am just rambling on here but I hope that you open your heart and let G-d in. It was my saving grace after years of falling down. I do not need meetings today and only attend one a week. This is mainly to be there for the newcomer and try to spread the message and hope that there is a cure to our malady. That’s right, today I am cured. I have been relieved of the obsession and compulsion to use and abuse drugs and alcohol. By the grace of G-d…
Shawn

Personally I met a girl at a meeting and ended up working with her a month later somehow i guess by the grace of this higher power....everytime i would talk about having a bad day she would tell me meetings would save my sanity....so i broke down and decided to go, i mean it couldnt hurt...it was a newcomers open na/aa meeting...and i was all good on drinking i might have one here and there...by the end i wanted a drink for sure...anyways...i was good until someone mentioned a needle...when i started on this site i was just the gf of a addict, then became one myself....i heard them talk about shooting and started to itch....after the meeting all the young people went to eat....then started to talk about the back in tha days....well that made the itch worse...granted i went home and took some sleeping pills to goto bed...but thats so not what i wanted...it made it all worse...i believe that anything you set your mind to will work if you work it...much like he big book...but you as a person have to want it and not goto meetings to save face and feel better about yourself...i know they didnt help me, i know they have helped many...its all about the person and the ONLY thing that pisses me off is when people try to push and force you into it...like if i goto this meeting then everything will get better when in reality it got much worse...i goto church, i read the big book and the bible and i pray daily...i dont believe that i need a meeting hearing people talk about using and how bad off they got will help me...but to each their own...honestly nothing they say matters to me once i hear certain words then it all drowns out and im thinking about the rush and the feeling...

I am not a 12 stepper, and now that I am in school to become an addictions counselor, I am hoping to find others willing to start a support group that is alternative to 12 step philosophy. I do believe it helps some, but not all. It helped keep me out of trouble, but I just wasn't comfortable in the program, and it is not right to say it is the only way to stay clean.Hopefully, I will be able to complete my mission to create an alternative that will be of service!

i know when i went to NA it was def a trigger hearing other people talk about drug stories (the good and the bad weirdly enough). i tried it a couple times but it just was not my thing... my uncle on the other hand is an avid aa'er ... kind of became his life... but hell it saved his life so def a good thing for him. i guess it honestly depends on the person and experiences.