American Bar association

Relapse After Long-Term Sobriety

By Janet Piper Voss

[snip}....

Mistaken Beliefs About Relapse
Mistaken Belief #1: Relapse comes on suddenly and without warning.
The relapse process begins long before alcohol or drug use starts. The relapse process is often triggered by the pain and discomfort of being sober.

Mistaken Belief #2: So long as you do not use alcohol or drugs, you are recovering.
Abstinence is only a prerequisite to recovery. It is not recovery. It is switching from a lifestyle centered around drinking and using to a lifestyle centered around healthy living.

Mistaken Belief #3: Relapse occurs because people drop out of treatment or stop going to AA meetings.
Most people stop going to treatment or AA because they are already in the process of relapse. Discontinuing treatment and AA is often the result of the relapse process rather than the cause.

Mistaken Belief #4: Recovering persons will be consciously aware of the warning signs of relapse.
Most people who relapse are not consciously aware of the warning signs as they are occurring. It is only when they look back later that they can see all of the things that were going on. This is often owing to lack of informa-tion or denial.

Mistaken Belief #5: Relapse can be avoided by willpower and self-discipline.
Self-discipline and willpower alone will not prevent relapse. Relapse occurs because there is something missing in the recovery program. There are problems or conditions that are not being effectively managed or treated. There is something the person needs to do, or needs to learn, or needs to learn to stop doing.

Mistaken Belief #6: People who relapse are not motivated to recover.
Most people prone to relapse are motivated to get well. They try everything they know to find comfortable sobri-ety. Some cannot stay sober because they lack the knowledge of their personal relapse warning signs. Others rec-ognize the warning signs but are powerless to control them once they develop.

Mistaken Belief #7: When people relapse, it means they have not hit bottom yet and that they need more pain.
Many people prone to relapse have hit bottom. They may make the decision to stop drinking, but the pain of so-briety may be so intense that it can interfere with the ability to stay sober.

Mistaken Belief #8: Those who relapse over and over again are hopeless because they are “constitutionally incapable” of recovery.
Those who relapse repeatedly are not incapable of recovery. They have just not learned how to prevent relapse. They can learn how to get better.

Mistaken Belief #9: Thinking about relapse will bring it about.
Ignoring the possibility of relapse is more likely to bring it about. Those who acknowledge the possibility and think about how it is apt to occur can take action to prevent it.

Adapted from Mistaken Beliefs about Relapse by Terence T. Gorski and Merlene Miller (Independence, Mis-souri: Herald House/Independence Press, 1988).......

Read the entire legal loopholes for AA description at: http://www.americanbar.org/newsletter/publications/gp_solo_magazine_home...

Well, seeing as how "alcoholism" is a "disease", perhaps the correct organization is the Centers for Disease Control. LOL!

The National Institute for Health?

http://illinoislap.org

They need the 'disease' model for a defense when people do really stupid things while drinking.

The credibility of the medical industry should be what is questioned, as should their 'treatment' of handing a 'disease' over to a religion run by the inmates of the asylum.

Case in point of a criminal being sent to community control of Alcoholics Anonymous is Charles “Chucky” Doucette Jr. of Salem Massachusetts, a convicted murderer who has used lawyers to work through being released on probation, parole and a prison sentence of seven life sentences....... (Note that AA member Chucky Doucette is also fond of dragging girls with his car.....)

Doucette is found not guilty of assault

By Matthew K. Roy Staff writer May 27, 2011

PEABODY — A jury yesterday acquitted paroled murderer Charles "Chucky" Doucette Jr., who was on trial for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and other charges stemming from a Valentine's Day argument with his former girlfriend.

"It just goes to show you that our jury system works," Doucette's lawyer, Scott Dullea, said after the verdict. "You can't try a person on his past."

Doucette, 51, of 18 Doloff Ave., Beverly, was also charged with threatening to commit a crime and intimidation of a witness. It took a jury of four men and two women about 90 minutes to find him innocent. Doucette, however, is likely to remain in custody until the Parole Board reviews the case.

His former girlfriend, Melissa Markus, accused him of dragging her alongside his truck and threatening to put a bullet in her head during an argument outside Doucette's home on the afternoon of Feb. 14. The prosecution argued that, given his criminal history and two past instances when Doucette allegedly struck her during their two-year relationship, Markus had reason to fear for her safety.

But Doucette's lawyers said Markus, 47, was the aggressor, that she was intoxicated and that Doucette was merely trying to get away from her. Her story kept changing, right up until the start of the trial on Tuesday morning, according to Dullea.

During his closing argument, he said the prosecution's case was "riddled with reasonable doubt and inconsistencies."

"They can't prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt because there is no case," Dullea said. "They want you to convict on emotion or passion. They certainly don't want you to consider the facts."

Upset that the girlfriend he met in Alcoholics Anonymous was drinking again, Doucette took back the key she had to his home and moved out her belongings, Markus testified. While they argued outside his house, she claimed he threatened her and then, while she was standing beside the driver's side window of his truck, he "dragged" her alongside as he drove away.

But Doucette's neighbor, Sophia Mahalares, said she witnessed the incident from her second-floor window and told the jury that Markus was not dragged.

"She fell straight down to the ground," Mahalares said. Markus was unsteady on her feet and appeared drunk, the neighbor said. And, from her vantage point, Mahalares said, it looked like Markus was hitting or grabbing Doucette through his truck window.

Fifteen minutes after calling 911, Markus left a voice mail with Doucette telling him to "get your ass back here." She left six more voice mails for him, called his sister looking for him and then at 9:21 p.m., "after not getting what she wants," she called back the police, Dullea said. It was then, 31/2 hours after the incident and her initial report, that she first mentioned the threat to authorities.

Dullea criticized the police for their rush to judgment and an investigation he said took "five minutes." They didn't bother interviewing witnesses at the scene, he said.

In his closing argument, prosecutor Matthew Hemond said Doucette was angry with Markus and "didn't care about her safety that night." He showed the jury photographs of the cuts and bruises Markus suffered on her hands and face.

"Hold him accountable," Hemond asked the jury.

Doucette is on parole from seven life sentences, imposed in 1991 for the killing of Raymond Bufalino of Salem, and two home invasions in Peabody and Lynnfield while he was awaiting trial in the murder. He was released in 2007.

Eitan Goldberg, who joined Dullea in representing Doucette, said he would likely ask for Doucette to be released from custody while his case is being considered by the Parole Board.

Source: http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1612587022/Doucette-is-found-not-guilty-of...

due to the promotion, not attraction, philosophy of Bill W, the original AA prospect hunter (and original 13th stepper).

AA claims to have 1.5 million members in the U.S. AA claims credit for these 1.5 million duped souls as successes of the AA/12 step "treatment program".

How many AA members in the roomz are actually successful?

Yes, 1.5 million just here in the USA, not including the world. Ifop, this doesn't even account for all the members either. This number is actually much higher. AA is flying high and still growing.

There is no substantial proof to verify 44% are being sent to AA, through the judicial system. All we have is a women claiming this but not showing us the study, so we can corroborate.
I would like to see the detailed study to prove the courts are sending 44%. Link please.

Yeah, maybe "somebody" can do that. Somebody other than grampahaas, 'cause he's busy you know.