I have not. I have read posts by others who have...or used various methods...I say give it a try. Whatever you choose to do to help you stop has to be your number one priority. If you are ready to make the committment, I think any idea can work. The only thing that I really understand from postings about it is the fact that you have to face your feelings. Just about every program stresses that one way or another.
good luck. I hope it works for you. I would love to know what you get out of it...maybe it would be worth reading up on.

I researched it and agree it sounded too easy. I don't think it takes on the scope of the matter enough with the just say no message. There was an RR site on daily strength but I don't think it is any longer active if that tells you anything.

Just keep trying ,one day you will stop ,use anything that helps you to stop .I found that i kept saying to myself i would not drink no matter what happened ,and it did happen ,my first wife died ,my Father died ,all sorts of things happened but i kept on saying to myself you cant drink you made a promise to yourself don't break the promise it will get better ,and you know what ,it did get better very slowly and painfully but it did get better ,hope this helps ,you don't need to drink ,good luck in your journey ,

Maybe I misspoke. Yes you have to "just say no" but you have to realize why you are drinking. Is it because you are using it as an escape (that would be me) and what other things are you going to do to change those things you are escaping from.

The biggest thing that helped me stop was realizing I was the one in control of whether I drank or not......period.

Hi. I wonder if I can be of some help on this site. I have a lot of experience with addiction/alcoholism and recovery. My latest clean date is Oct. 28th, 2002. I was also clean from 6-88 to 12-94, and from 4-98 to 9-02. It has been a hell of a long haul and I am lucky to be alive as well as not having injured anyone else too badly. Alcoholism sucks and it is hard to beat. I read rational recovery and it reminded me of the "just say no" approach to keep kids from using drugs. It's not enough for me. I am a hard core addict who went so far as to stick needles in my arms. I am a black out drunk and my last drinking spree was so scary it only lasted 48 days. Alcohol got a hold of me and I was it's slave until I dragged myself back to AA and threw myself into their program even though it's a brainwashing technique I abhor.

You see, for whatever reason I drank, I drank and it put me to sleep. AA gives people an awakening. I needed that. The support cannot be matched. It is all over the world. But I am an atheist and not much into deluding my thinking more than I already do. AA is clearly not my cup of tea. Unfortunately man can fly to the moon, but the 12 steps are the best option if someone as bad as me wants to recover and stay alive. There are many like me and most go back to drinking or insanity or both.

The good thing about AA is after my brain was washed I got to hang dry it. In the meantime it kept me sober. AA doesn't prove there's a God but it does suggest a little bit about how the brain operates. I will keep going to meetings to help the next alcoholic, especially the next atheist alcoholic. They are experts on staying sober. In any situation there is a room full of people who have gone through every kind of shit you can imagine and stay sober.

I guess it's a question only myself can answer as to whether I believe in the medical model of addiction and I do for me. Once I drink I am off and running and I cannot quit till alcohol is done with me. Something goes on physically for me, I believe. If all we had to do was say no, then so many people would not die, kill others, or go insane from this "disease". I tend to think rational recovery takes a back seat to the direness of the situation.

Anyhow, I'm doing great. I have no urge to be an alcoholic again at this time. I use a little marijuana now and then, a very little. I don't like the side effect of being high but I am not all that great straight either. I tend to become very serious and joyless. Using pot once a week or so helps me to recognize that life isn't so damn bad. I know I'm not that good straight cause I have ended up so insanely negative I've had to hospitalize myself for fear of killing myself. I am going to therapy etc. I started using pot 2 years ago after many psych med trials. But really that's another story. I do not rely on it. I want to be straight most of the time. I actually like that the best! How did this happen for me? Well, a person needs to have a chance. If you can awaken from the slumbering alcoholic state for long enough, you have a good chance to go on and get inspired to live awake again.

Anything I can do for you, helps me too, and I truly admire people who have trouble with AA. "God" knows I do! lol.

Well done Lorna ,great that you are not drinking and enjoying life ,I went to AA for 15 years and managed to stay sober for nearly 12 now ,AA helped me in the beginning but i just dont need it any more ,i got sick and tired of the dogma and the continual guilt that i was made to feel because of my past ,i felt i was being sucked in to a way of life that i did not want ,i have been away from AA now for a year and in the beginning i missed the people but i started to make friends with people who did not have addiction problems and led normal lives ,they may be boring sometimes but i feel good and free and guilt free ,people forgave me years ago and i have my family back ,my daughter loves me so do my 2 sons and so does my partner ,what more could i want ,i do take opiates occasionally but i don't go on benders ,just like your pot .take care

Thanks you so much for sharing with me. There is that old HALT saying, "Don't get too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired". I use a lot I learned from AA. Most my friends are 'mormies' these days too but sometimes I need to be around people who understand how important it is for me to remain sober. So occasionally I still attend AA meetings. I also find that my outlook and experience can help other frustrated people which reinforces my sobriety as well. I quit attending AA for a period of 4 1/2 years. I drank again because I isolated myself with my disease. You are not isolating yourself because you are on here. My philosophy today is to burn no bridges. Hell I earned a seat in AA even if I don't really like it and there are plenty who go because it is the most available option.

Anyway great talking to you. I have used opiates a few times too. Never felt like abusing them either.

Its so nice to talk to people who understand ,ie i am not a saint and i sometimes go off the rails but i will not let it disturb my mental health( depression ) and i would never do anything to upset my partner ,i still mix with people who go to AA and don't seem to get in control of their addictions ,but i am there for them if they want help, the local NHS service will have nothing to do with drunks or drugs they just don't want to know so you want to de- tox you have to do it yourself or try to get the doc to give you some librium or whatever ,i occasionally go to a smart meeting just to be around people in early recovery ,its good for me as you say it reminds me of where i used to be ,

I first did the crash course on the RR website first before getting the book and with in minutes I knew it was going to be what made me never drink again and so far so good. I barely even remember what was in the book now because it was almost a year ago that I read it. It works but only if you are up to deciding you are never ever going to drink again. I love that there are no steps and no meeting to waste my time at. I did AA for 3 years and am very happy to not have to go anymore.

I just attended my first SOS meeting while visiting here in LA. Very refreshing and nice. Too bad it isn't all over the place like AA. I find that when I am isolated with my alcoholism, even though I'm sober, it can get hard at times. But I don't like all the bs of AA. Since I have always used AA to get sober before, I am feeling like my comments are a little off the mark. Rational Recovery may be a great thing. It's just that my experience was what it was. I became willing to go to any lengths. I might have gotten sober anyhow but I more likely would have died. I needed the fellowship. I just feel like I got mind raped, taken advantage of, in the mean time. I am glad I have made it to this point in my growth as a person. Staying in AA like I was would have stunted me for sure. It's really a weird feeling to have been through 'the system' and been a believer, and now shunned! And I KNOW I'm a lucky one. Alcoholism is a killer. Kind of sad that AA doesn't really stand by it's promises and commitments. It's primary purpose is to get people to believe in it, not to keep anyone sober. I was convinced too that it was the only way. What a trip that the human mind is capable of being tricked into thinking anything! So I'll give RR another look. Thank you.

For me, I liked being around people when drinking and now, I like to be around people while I'm not drinking. If rational recovery were wide spread, it would be helpful but that doesn't seem to exist. Where I live, it's so easy to find an AA meeting. So far, I'm about 60 days since trying to make a change. I have had some nights of drinking (2 drinks) but only 1 out of 60 that was a bit over the top.

I'm pretty early to this and I'm fortunate that the AA meetings I've found have been great. One thing a friend shared and I'd recommend, go to AA meetings with people running in you similar lane in life. For example, if you are in your 20's, try to find a meeting with at least SOME people your age. Similarly, I'm a white color guy and like my men's group meeting with other similar guys.

itsjustme8, Rational Recovery doesn't believe in group meetings which I love. I don't want to be sitting around for the rest of my life dwelling on what I use to do with others that are either still doing it or that have stopped for now.

Find other ways to have people to socialise with, not other drunks/ex-drunks! Do positive things like a hobby or some sort of exercise you love to do. I get healthy now with all sorts of classes. weight training etc instead of poisoning my body. A lot of the people in AA will try to tell you that what you are doing is wrong and you should be following the steps etc.. Do what you think you need to do. I think you really need to read the RR website and book because you didn't even know that RR doesn't do meetings.

Don't know about you but AA told me to change everything about myself. It says we had to let go of our old ideas or the results were nil. They don't realize that they are telling a person to abandon any kind of self they ever had, and conform to this new philosophy. AA needs to come with a warning. I lost myself. I drank over and over because of it. I could have died. I had to research what was wrong and luckily for me my atheist son informed me that he thought I'd been brain washed. I don't know what would have happened. I have seen 5 suicides in my little AA circles of sober people in the past 10 years. I am just now learning to think for myself again. I am 10 years sober. I am angry and I get to be angry!!! Yay@! AA says anger is the luxury of 'normal' men. So I'm more normal now. I can't tell you how I feel really. But I do know this. I am more honest, myself, stronger, and have more integrity than all the 20 out of 24 years I used AA. Go to meetings to stay sober and be around others who want to do the same but remember that anywhere there is a room full of people who want to quit drinking, there will be people who succeed. It isn't about the way, it's about not drinking! I have embraced loneliness. Life is lonely at times. I have a lot of great people in my life and I chose not to hang with those I have nothing in common with and I have very little in common with most AAers as it turns out. Still the stronger I get, the more I still love even the friends I made there, and I go check in. But we certainly don't have the chemistry we once shared. And I'm glad!

I never felt so lonely or so out of place as I did at AA meetings. I felt like a fish out of water, so glad I don't have to be there anymore. I am not saying I wish AA didn't exist at all because I didn't drink most of the time I was there so maybe it saved my life back then, just don't want to be there for many reasons. If I need to work on some aspect of my mental health I'll see a doctor not a bunch of sober drunks for help with that.

Me too. Lonely in a room full of people. Kind of like when I was drinking!