The Orange Papers ( http://www.orange-papers.org

It is just a case of SLICC.

Well the Orange Papers may have possibly saved many lives.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1872779,00.html

poor Mary Kennedy , she was involved in AA for 5 months before she comiitted suicide.

If Mary Kennedy had anti depressants in her system it was because she was suffering from depression. it does not mean the anti depressant caused the depression . What has been shown to cause depression and anxiety among addicted people is so called spiritual guidance or better put religous exercises similar to those experienced in 12 step indoctrination.

In last month's Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, University of New Mexico addiction specialist William Miller and his colleagues presented findings from two controlled trials in which patients underwent drug treatment. Some of the patients received spiritual guidance as part of the treatment — learning such practices as prayer, meditation and service to others, all of which are central to 12-step programs. Others received secular psychotherapy. Because of the enduring popularity of AA and similar programs that involve a spiritual component, Miller and his team expected the patients in the spiritual group to do better than those in the secular group. They were wrong — at least in the short term.
While both groups eventually benefited relatively equally from their treatment — abusing substances on fewer days — it took longer to see improvement among those in the spiritual group .

What's more, those who received spiritual guidance reported being significantly more anxious and depressed after four months than those who got secular help.

Those problems abated at about the eight-month point, but because
substance abusers are at high risk for suicide,
some worry that it may not be a good idea to put them through
demanding spiritual calisthenics in the early months of their recovery

This study amplifies a fascinating paper Miller co-authored in 1997, which found that patients who reported knowing that someone was praying for them used significantly more substances after leaving treatment than those who didn't know someone was praying for them. Taken together, Miller's studies suggest that spirituality can be demanding — even when others are being spiritual on your behalf — and that many addicts may simply not be up to the pressure. For those people, non-faith-based treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy or mindfulness-based acceptance and commitment therapy might be better.

I am for evidence based recovery not fantasy based Clara, and yes, there are severe negative consequences involved in attending programs based in steppism.

"Spiritual guidance causes depression, you say. You're ill".

It sure does. My experience is that AA dogma supresses individual thoughts, ideas and emotions. The dogma is always right, and you are wrong.
An example of this is after years in AA, I began to realize that some people suffered emotional and mental damage from substance abuse. These were not 'Character Defects' that had to be prayed for their removal. To share this would damage my 'spiritual standing' in the cult and if I went too far with my own ideas (or my will), would even be labeled a dry-drunk.
Another example is you always have to 'working a program', so you always need to be finding new defects and finding things wrong with yourself that the steps miracously made better.
I could go on with much more, but you get the point.

Yes, spiritual guidance can indeed cause serious depression.

My depression lifted when I walked away from the cult... Enough said.

In honor of the Games of the XXX Olympiad, The Orange Papers Forum will present medallions for last month. The event: "Keep Coming Back".

Gold Medal - Anonymous competitor #1 (UK)
Silver Medal - Anonymous competitor #2 (USA)
Bronze Medal - Anonymous competitor #3 (UNK)

While the top two competitors blew away the field, the final scoring was extremely close. Only a 1.09% point differential separated the first and second place finishers. Congratulations to all who participated.