
Alcoholism Support Group
Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.

deleted_user
Hello, I am new here and new to sobriety. I knew a year ago, decided a few months ago and made the commitment a week ago to quit drinking. My purely social drinking hescalated dramatically since the birth of my third child a little over four years ago. Over the last year it reached alarming proportions.
I am not attracted to the tenets of AA and am curious about other options. Has anyone here found other groups successful. I have heard of Women For Sobriety and am more attracted to their basic affirmations but doubt they have groups in my area.
I am also concerned about the ability to attend meetings because I already have a packed schedule (who doesn't?) and childcare issues. Any advice and opinions would be very welcome.
I am not attracted to the tenets of AA and am curious about other options. Has anyone here found other groups successful. I have heard of Women For Sobriety and am more attracted to their basic affirmations but doubt they have groups in my area.
I am also concerned about the ability to attend meetings because I already have a packed schedule (who doesn't?) and childcare issues. Any advice and opinions would be very welcome.
Posts You May Be Interested In
-
theatre and I are there already. I'm having a very berry tea with crackers, cheese and cherry tomatoes and she's having a joint with some beer and we're both on really comfy recliners on thick pile carpet. we need some help with the decor if anyone is around??
-
I'm trying to exercise daily. I was doing fairly well until I sprained my ankle 2 weeks ago but now I'm getting back on the horse. Today I walked over a mile with my arm weights that are about 22lbs total. I was out of shape and it was hard on my arms. I also did my 30 situps. I'm also going to drink a lot of water and try to eat healthy. I do tend to have a sweet tooth but I'm cutting...
http://members.aol.com/r2135/alternat.htm
Agnostic A.A. might also be an option -- besides being a refuge to those who find A.A. literature and most groups to be too religious -- it is often a place where those who find most A.A. groups to be too rigid and dogmatic go to.
http://www.agnosticaa.org/
Regular A.A. is also worthwhile to keep trying -- A.A. groups are autonomous, meaning in effect there is a wide variety of styles -- everything from Taliban versions of A.A. with lots of rigid dogma and shoulds and musts (all contrary to Traditions 3 and 4 - in particular please read the long form of these traditions (back of Big Book) and the corresponding chapters in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions book) to ones that are quite open and free-thinking.
Good luck!
Jumiee
like seriphina, I'm curious about which of the AA tenets you find objectionable, and how many different meetings you've tried. I can only share my own experience...I stayed "dry" on my own willpower for 6 years, trust me I was miserable inside, isolated, tense, and generally a bigger mess than when I drank. It took a bigger crisis to push me to AA, where I can work on my approach to life. I am a single, working mom with 3 dogs, and I live 70 miles from my job. So I understand packed schedules. I also am not a religious person, although I am spiritually inclined.
I wonder if you should ask yourself honestly if the tenets of AA are just the ones you don't want to face or deal with, like self-inventory, or making amends, or even admitting that you are not the greatest power in the universe! I know for some of us outwardly successful woman, that last one is actually the biggest hurdle. I could admit that I was an alcoholic a lot easier than I could admit that I couldn't solve the problem without help.
Just my experience of course, and worth what you've paid for it! Best of luck regardless.
I'm not terribly fond of the emphasis on powerlessness and that a power greater than ourselves is necessary. I am a religious humanist and therefore embrace the spiritual in humans, but emphasize human capabilities and potential. I don't believe a higher power can remove our shortcomings because I do not see humans as fundamentally flawed in such terms. We're simply human and therefore flawed by nature. Not that we cannot rise above our flaws, but I see that done through personal growth and communal relationships rather than petitioning a higher power.
I do think support networks are vital regardless of the problems and flaws in someone's life. I'm just not attracted to the AA groups I've seen in my area. For one thing there are not any women-only groups that I can find and that would definitely be a more comfortable environment for me.
While it is important not to forget the past, I'm also not one for dwelling on it. The description of various AA groups a friend of mine (sober 6 years) has relayed to me seems to indicate there is more weight put on character defects and wallowing in past mistakes rather than empowering through affirmation and focusing on a brighter future without alcohol.
I am certainly willing to give some AA meetings a try, but I'd also like to find out what else is out there and what other people have found effective.
Have you read The Spirituality of IMperfection??? In my understanding of it, it promotes a perspective that is very consistent with yours AND that illustrates how that perspective it is woven through the AA philosophy. My attempt to summarize it here would not do it justice, so I'll just hope you read it.
As to the the language of flaws, character defects, and the like, I tend to agree with you, especially as I also suffer from depression. But there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I have developed habits of thought, ways of interpreting my emotions, and habits of behavior that are self-defeating and that keep me from being of maximum use to myself and others. I am 53 and have known about these habits for many, many years but have been so far unable to improve without appeal to a greater power than my own ego. I personally prefer the concept of "inner power" rather than "higher power", but I choose to believe that it is the inner power of the spirit, not the inner power of the ego, that I am appealing to.
I have been to many AA meetings that don't appeal to me, and I don't attend them regularly. The one's I do attend tend to be large, tend to be attended by people with many years of sobriety, and who have a variety of perspectives on AA, its principles and its practice.
Anyway, good luck.
Over 2 years ago I learned about a woman named Rhonda Lenair http://www.lenair.com/alcohol_programs.shtml and her remarkably successful treatment for alcoholism. I spent a lot of time researching Rhonda and her treatment and decided to give it a try. It was the best decision I ever made in my life. My craving for alcohol was completely removed after seeing Rhonda Lenair and has not returned since. It has been over 2 years now and I have absolutely no fear of ever drinking again. I AM in charge now and no longer have that nagging voice inside coercing me into drinking alcohol. Drinking alcohol makes no sense in my brain anymore. I feel so free.
Since BEing on DS I have received a few messages from people who decided to give the Lenair Treatment a try and they too, have been able to release their craving for alcohol. These people choose not to share their experience here because many of the staunch supporters of AA are quite ruthless to people who choose a different way. I don't care. I will sing the praises of Rhonda Lenair until the day I die.
I must add however, with my craving for alcohol removed I still had issues that I had to deal with in order to truly heal from my addiction. Not having a clouded mindset due to alcohol, allowed me to really focus on what was going spiritually. I identified my issues, acknowledged them and then worked hard to release them. I have truly evolved.
Baby steps.
Whatever path you take I wish you success.
BE WELL.
AA is not for everybody, but I do not say its not usefull. I go very rarely, maybe if a friend asks or if I find I have some time. I like you have a very busy schedule.
I do go for group therapy once a week (1 hour) in our room there are AA people and non AA people, even if I am busy I try to find time for this one session as it keeps me in touch with my diesease.
Do what you feel is right, just leave the AA door open as it always is, pop in to the odd meeting, follow other sources but don't slip into denial, remeber you have an alcohol problem and deal with it.
Hope this helps a bit
2 years sober now