A million Americans owe their sobriety and their lives to Alcoholics Anonymous, and will happily tell you so, at least in private.
Unfortunately, another 20 million Americans have wandered into meetings over the last decade or so, promptly turned on their heels, and were never seen again in the rooms.
Some got sober on their own.
Some kept drinking and using.
Some died.
Alcoholics Anonymous once boasted a success rate of between 50-75%.
So why is it that for every 20 newcomer chips groups order, on average, they need to purchase only one chip to celebrate a one-year birthday in AA?
There are a few reasons.
One of the genius moments of the early AA founders was to accept the idea, propounded by the M.D. who ran an Upper West Side drunk tank, that alcoholism was a spiritual problem and not merely a physical one.
As a result, only a spiritual solution would keep alcoholism in a state of arrestment.
That’s why the Twelve Steps are laser-focused on the spirituality of recovery, and not just the physical and psychological aspects of not drinking.
Unfortunately, in today’s world, the spirituality has been all but drained from countless AA meetings.
Seldom do you hear people with AA success stories talking about their reliance on a Higher Power.
Instead, you hear people “claiming their seat,” talking about their day, checking in, complaining about their job (or the lack thereof), or complaining about their relationship (or the lack thereof).
It is hard to solve a spiritual problem in an A.A. meeting that’s essentially group therapy without a therapist.
The newcomer collects his newcomer chip, listens to these individuals sharing about their “first world” problems, comes to the conclusion that AA is boring and useless, and never returns.
Why don’t more old-timers speak up in meetings?
Because many of them just don’t go to meetings at all.
They’ll tell you, “I got sick and tired of hearing newcomers blabbing on about their day. I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I stopped going.”
Naughty old-timers!
By ceding the floor to newcomers, instead of standing up for the traditional concept that an AA meeting is a classroom, the old-timers, sick and tired of hearing the newcomers ramble on, have left the students in charge of the classroom.
Or the inmates in charge of the asylum.
The curriculum has been tossed, there’s no midterm or final, and polite havoc reigns.
The newcomer is not going to get sober listening to someone with six months clean, talking about her cat or his boss.
One-quarter to one-half of alcoholics who attended AA in its earliest, most functional days still didn’t get sober.
But what about the other half? How did they get sober and stay sober?
Today, why are only 5% of them sticking with the program even for a year?
If you have a chess board and the king can move two spaces instead of one, and queens can move like knights, it may look like chess, but it isn’t really chess anymore.
Unless AA gets back to its roots, it may look like AA, but it won’t be AA.
And for the sick and struggling alcoholic, it’s going to be…checkmate.
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Photo: Getty Images
What a ridiculous article. Bill Wilson was the original 13th Stepper, the original copyright thief, and the guy whose “god control” extended to messianic delusions.
It’s way past time to consign this cult to the ash heap of history.
Please,Read the description about the author before going off on a rant. His name is a pseudonym to maintain his anonymity. Ralph P. wrote a lot of books, did records and pamphlets as Father John Dow. I would say that we gave away our 12th step to rehab’s and we are not “pure alcoholics” as were our original founders.Just food for thought.Thanks Michael for your opinion and look forward to more discussion.
Shakey Mike G.
Gripping about watered down AA while failing to keep the tradition of Anonymity (Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.) is rather disingenuous. It also contributes to the erosion of the program.
What is really broken in AA is the takeover by religious zealots shoving their Judeo-Christian religion down new people’s throats.
I disagree. I don’t see anyone shoving religion down anyone’s throat and never have – anywhere in AA. We do however see sooo much “checking in” like the author said. This article is spot on. Newcomers from treatment have no solution for AA – not until they start having their own experiences in AA. I wish the treatment centers would tell them that. People come out of treatment and go to meetings because they are told to. They think AA & treatment are the same. Treatment centers do AA such an injustice by not explaining this.