“Oh, I get that craving. I’ve been there. This is how I recovered/abstained.”

C&E said yesterday about something that pisses her off. Well the topic of the blog that I am starting today is something that pisses ME off. Well actually it was the entire article/advertisement, one for a treatment facility and 12 step groups, that got me going. It is one of the more blatant ones I have seen actually. Most do not mention outright that their go-to recovery model is 12-step. There is usually an * at some point or an innuendo that makes it clear to those experienced with stepping that it is the model they use. The first line actually sums up what their enormous fees are paying for:

The Landing introduces all of our clients to 12 Step programs.

The Landing in Southern California jumps right out and plays a trick, that \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"12 step programs are proven to greatly assist clients\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". First of all, where is the proof? Secondly, it slyly suggests that 12 step is proven to assist addicts outside of rehab as well, something we know is a lie.

Perhaps in the Landing facility cravings are discussed and advice is offered in meetings but I never saw this. Not one time in 5 years of meetings did I hear anyone share how they dealt with a craving, besides more meetings, more prayer, and more big book study.

As a matter of fact, discussing logical approaches to deal with the monkey were frowned upon. They just didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t think that anyone in a substance abuse support group had any right to offer THAT kind of logical advice. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We are not professionals\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Getting intellectual on us?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" and the absolute most ambiguous remark I heard was \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Outside issue!\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". In my opinion this is exactly the kind of information that they did have knowledge about and the absolute only thing that should be shared as far as advice was concerned.

The impression that normies in society have, that step groups are lean on, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"fundamental\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", supportive \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"niche\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" groups of people that share understanding, come from advertisements such as this one. I read a LOT about rehabilitation approaches and have never seen one that is affiliated with the AA approach come forth with any hint of how the program really works.

How does AA “work”?

There is no fundamental or logical basis to AA “support”. All members are instructed to have faith. Faith in any entity other than themselves. The pressure to succumb to the religious exercises of AA are so enormous that new or reluctant members are actually told that they will die, end up in an institution, or drink forever if they don’t participate. This threat, or approach – ahem, is adverse to the expectations of new recruits and completely opposite to societal views. This collective misinterpretation is not due to the oversight and/or gullibility of our society. It is intentional deceptive recruiting tactics used by XA’s, those in support, and the promotional strategy of advertisement such as this one, that get the sick and vulnerable in the door and relenting to group coercion.

http://www.soberlanding.com/tag/alcoholics-anonymous