AA MINORITY REPORT 2017 (revised)

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Tuesday 31 March 2015

Psychology of Addictive Behaviours



Psychology of Addictive Behaviours, the journal of American Psychological Association Div. 50 (Society of Addiction Psychology), is one of very few addiction-related journals open to research on various kinds of addictive disorders”


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Alcohol research - Withdrawal-Associated Increases and Decreases in Functional Neural Connectivity ….....




PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Monday 30 March 2015

AA Conference questions (2015) contd



1. Would Conference discuss the idea of adding a "chat now" messenger service to the AA UK website?

Background: 

There is an increase in people worldwide using chat rooms and messenger services.

An AA member could act as a responder to this chat/messenger service.

It could be added as toolbar with "talk to someone now" slogan.

Working under the same principles and guidelines as the telephone responders only an online version.

The AA Great Britain Online Response Service reports:

Total emails during 2014 Jan to Aug = 5803 (8 months) which is 10.5% up on 2013 for the same period.

The total emails for the year of 2009 was 4257 compared to 7983 emails in 2013 an increase of 51% over 5 years averaging an annual increase trend of 10%.

Comment: It's good to talk!

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Sunday 29 March 2015

Alcohol research - The Sleeper Effect: Can Addictions Be Completely Overcome?


The Yale Journal of Medicine and Law, 2009

Years after a heroin addiction, a completely rehabilitated 38 year old man begins to feel the urge to shoot a needle again. The feelings of im­mortality, the sense of being atop the world, and the illusion that anything is possible all crowd his conscience. He craves the euphoria and the days when he could escape the stress of the working world. Everything be­gins to remind him of those days, from the shoddy, deserted street of his local dealer to the red brick building where he used to hide his needles. His mind begins to feel impaired, his vision swirls, and his cravings deepen. He doesn’t understand why he feels this way—he was done, the drug was out of his system, he was healthy again. Weeks later, he relapses and doctors are shocked. The last time he felt like this was over 18 years ago. The withdrawal stages had passed. Was the drug not re­moved from his memory and his brain?”


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Alcohol research - RAPt: Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust


 

RAPt (the Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust) works to help people with drug and alcohol dependence, both in prison and in the community, overcome the grip of addiction and lead positive lives, free from drugs and crime.

In 1992 RAPt founded the first drug treatment facility in a UK prison. Today we are the leading provider of intensive, abstinence-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes in UK prisons, and we provide high-quality drug and alcohol services to over 20,000 people every year within the criminal justice system and in the community"

See also Links and downloads 

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Saturday 28 March 2015

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (contd)


aacultwatch's perspective on:





(an almost as wildly discursive commentary as our 'take' on the Big Book)

This tome is much reviled in cult circles (especially amongst the Big Book nutters who regard it as almost heretical! (A point of interest: if you're looking for meetings largely free of the aforementioned 'fruitcakes', and for that matter sundry other screwballs, then a Twelve Step meeting following the format of the above text is usually a safe bet). The text we will be using is as indicated above. And now we come to:

Step Four (pp. 48-54)


Step Four

Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” [note: of “ourselves” - NOT someone else]

Now let’s ponder the need for a list of the more glaring [ie. not every trifling little peccadillo] personality defects all of us have [including the sponsorship brigade – yes …. even them!] in varying degrees. To those having religious training, such a list would set forth serious violations of moral principles. Some others will think of this list as defects of character. Still others will call it an index of maladjustments. Some will become quite annoyed if there is talk about immorality, let alone sin [quite right too – some people are sin-obsessed!]. But all who are in the least reasonable will agree upon one point: that there is plenty wrong with us alcoholics about which plenty will have to be done if we are to expect sobriety, progress, and any real ability to cope with life.

To avoid falling into confusion over the names these defects should be called, let’s take a universally recognized [?] list of major human failings—the Seven Deadly Sins of pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. It is not by accident that pride heads the procession [ie. of this particular list]. For pride, leading to self-justification, and always spurred by conscious or unconscious fears, is the basic breeder of most human difficulties [there exist alternative explanations as to what underlies the human condition. This is by no means definitive], the chief block to true progress. Pride lures us into making demands upon ourselves or upon others which cannot be met without perverting or misusing our God-given [?] instincts. When the satisfaction of our instincts for sex, security, and society becomes the sole object of our lives, then pride steps in to justify our excesses [note: our “excesses” – the pursuit of what might some term 'needs' is in itself not demonstrative of some form of pathology or moral insufficiency as some religions might have us believe].

All these failings generate fear, a soul-sickness [or not] in its own right. Then fear, in turn, generates more character defects. Unreasonable fear that our instincts will not be satisfied drives us to covet the possessions of others, to lust for sex and power, to become angry when our instinctive demands are threatened, to be envious when the ambitions of others seem to be realized while ours are not. We eat, drink, and grab for more of everything than we need, fearing we shall never have enough [sounds just about normal. The basis of a capitalist society perhaps?]. And with genuine alarm at the prospect of work, we stay lazy [Ah! The good old Protestant work ethic! Hard work equates to virtue! A scam perhaps!]. We loaf and procrastinate, or at best work grudgingly and under half steam. These fears are the termites that ceaselessly devour the foundations of whatever sort of life we try to build.

So when A.A. suggests a fearless moral [or not] inventory [see Socrates, an exponent and exemplar of what an inventory REALLY means], it must seem to every newcomer that more is being asked of him than he can do [it ain't that hard]. Both his pride and his fear beat him back every time he tries to look within himself. Pride says, “You need not pass this way,” and Fear says, “You dare not look!” But the testimony of A.A.’s who have really tried a moral inventory is that pride and fear of this sort turn out to be bogeymen, nothing else. Once we have a complete [or maybe only a little] willingness to take inventory, and exert ourselves to do the job thoroughly [according to our own inclinations and abilities], a wonderful light falls upon this foggy scene. As we persist, a brand-new kind of confidence is born, and the sense of relief at finally facing ourselves is indescribable. These are the first fruits of Step Four.

By now the newcomer has probably arrived at the following conclusions: that his character defects, representing instincts gone astray, have been the primary cause of his drinking and his failure at life [a rather large assumption. We'd say that the primary cause of alcoholism ie. physical followed by psychological addiction to alcohol, is attributable to genetic abnormality and has absolutely nothing to do with “character defects” moral or otherwise. These latter may be exacerbated by, and consequent upon the condition, but hardly constitute its cause. Any inventory may be a useful exercise in addressing any psychological trauma experienced by the alcoholic, and on reducing the risk of psychological relapse, but it will have absolutely no impact on whether an individual remains physiologically susceptible. Hence the 'chronic' nature of the disease]; that unless he is now willing to work hard at the elimination of the worst of these defects, both sobriety and peace of mind will still elude him; that all the faulty foundation of his life will have to be torn out and built anew on bedrock. Now willing to commence the search for his own defects, he will ask, “Just how do I go about this? How do I take inventory of myself ?”

Since Step Four is but the beginning of a lifetime practice [so Step Four can't be DONE but is merely continued in Step Ten], it can be suggested that he first have a look at those personal flaws which are acutely troublesome and fairly obvious. Using his best judgement [note: “his” best judgement …. not someone else's!] of what has been right and what has been wrong, he might make a rough survey of his conduct with respect to his primary instincts for sex, security, and society. Looking back over his life, he can readily get under way by consideration of questions such as these:

When, and how, and in just what instances did my selfish pursuit of the sex relation damage other people and me? What people were hurt, and how badly? Did I spoil my marriage and injure my children? Did I jeopardize my standing in the community? Just how did I react to these situations at the time? Did I burn with a guilt that nothing could extinguish? Or did I insist that I was the pursued and not the pursuer, and thus absolve myself [rationalisation] ? How have I reacted to frustration in sexual matters? When denied, did I become vengeful or depressed? Did I take it out on other people? If there was rejection or coldness at home, did I use this as a reason for promiscuity?

Also of importance for most alcoholics are the questions they must ask about their behaviour respecting financial and emotional security. In these areas fear, greed, possessiveness, and pride have too often done their worst.  Surveying his business or employment record, almost any alcoholic can ask questions like these: In addition to my drinking problem, what character defects contributed to my financial instability? Did fear and inferiority about my fitness for my job destroy my confidence and fill me with conflict? Did I try to cover up those feelings of inadequacy by bluffing, cheating, lying, or evading responsibility? [describes cult members perhaps?] Or by griping that others failed to recognize my truly exceptional abilities [ditto]? Did I overvalue myself and play the big shot [and again]? Did I have such unprincipled ambition that I double-crossed and undercut my associates [ooh! The similarities are growing. Narcissism?]? Was I extravagant? Did I recklessly borrow money, caring little whether it was repaid or not? Was I a pinchpenny, refusing to support my family properly? Did I cut corners financially? What about the “quick money” deals, the stock market, and the races?

Businesswomen in A.A. will naturally find that many of these questions apply to them, too. But the alcoholic housewife can also make the family financially insecure. She can juggle charge accounts, manipulate the food budget, spend her afternoons gambling [down the casino …... again!], and run her husband into debt by irresponsibility, waste, and extravagance.

But all alcoholics who have drunk themselves out of jobs, family, and friends will need to cross-examine themselves ruthlessly [not others] to determine how their own personality defects have thus demolished their security.

The most common symptoms of emotional insecurity are worry, anger, self-pity, and depression [to be distinguished from clinical depression]. These stem from causes which sometimes seem to be within us, and at other times to come from without. To take inventory in this respect we ought to consider carefully all personal relationships which bring continuous or recurring trouble. It should be remembered that this kind of insecurity may arise in any area where instincts are threatened. Questioning directed to this end might run like this: Looking at both past and present, what sex situations have caused me anxiety, bitterness, frustration, or depression? Appraising each situation fairly, can I see where I have been at fault? Did these perplexities beset me because of selfishness or unreasonable demands? Or, if my disturbance was seemingly caused by the behaviour of others, why do I lack the ability to accept conditions I cannot change? These are the sort of fundamental inquiries that can disclose the source of my discomfort and indicate whether I may be able to alter my own conduct and so adjust myself serenely to self-discipline [ie. not the discipline of others].

Suppose that financial insecurity constantly arouses these same feelings. I can ask myself to what extent have my own mistakes fed my gnawing anxieties. And if the actions of others are part of the cause, what can I do about that? If I am unable to change the present state of affairs, am I willing to take the measures necessary to shape my life to conditions as they are? Questions like these, more of which will come to mind easily in each individual case, will help turn up the root causes.

But it is from our twisted relations with family, friends, and society at large that many of us have suffered the most. We have been especially stupid and stubborn about them. The primary fact that we fail to recognize is our total inability to form a true partnership with another human being. Our egomania digs two disastrous pitfalls. Either we insist upon dominating the people we know [cult conduct], or we depend upon them far too much. If we lean too heavily on people [eg. sponsors], they will sooner or later fail us, for they are human, too, and cannot possibly meet our incessant demands. In this way our insecurity grows and festers. When we habitually try to manipulate others to our own wilful desires [cult conduct again], they revolt, and resist us heavily. Then we develop hurt feelings, a sense of persecution ['victim' mode], and a desire to retaliate. As we redouble our efforts at control, and continue to fail, our suffering becomes acute and constant. We have not once sought to be one in a family, to be a friend among friends, to be a worker among workers, to be a useful member of society. Always we tried to struggle to the top of the heap, or to hide underneath it. This self-centred behaviour blocked a partnership relation with any one of those about us. Of true brotherhood we had small comprehension.

Some will object to many of the questions posed, because they think their own character defects have not been so glaring [ie delusional]. To these it can be suggested that a conscientious examination is likely to reveal the very defects the objectionable questions are concerned with. Because our surface record hasn’t looked too bad, we have frequently been abashed to find that this is so simply because we have buried these selfsame defects deep down in us under thick layers of self-justification. Whatever the defects, they have finally ambushed us into alcoholism and misery.

Therefore, thoroughness ought to be the watchword when taking inventory. In this connection, it is wise to write out our questions and answers. It will be an aid to clear thinking and honest appraisal. It will be the first tangible evidence of our complete willingness to move forward.”

(our emphases)(our observations in red print)

Coming next – Step Five

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Friday 27 March 2015

Alcohol research - ALICE RAP




ALICE RAP is a European research project, co-financed by the European Commission, which started in April 2011 and aims to stimulate a broad and productive debate on science-based policy approaches to addictions”


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Alcohol research - Alcohol drinking and overall and cause-specific mortality in China


Alcohol drinking and overall and cause-specific mortality in China, Yang L et al, Int. J. Epidemiol. (2012) 41 (4): 1101-1113

Background

Regular alcohol drinking contributes both favourably and adversely to health in the Western populations, but its effects on overall and cause-specific mortality in China are still poorly understood”


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Thursday 26 March 2015

Alcohol research - Binge drinking


Binge drinking, NHS Choices

Researchers define binge drinking as consuming eight or more units in a single session for men and six or more for women”


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Wednesday 25 March 2015

AA Conference questions (2015) contd



2. Retention of new members.

Could Conference share its experience with regard to how better to encourage Newcomers to ‘keep coming back’, to attend subsequent meetings and thereby improve their chances of long term sobriety and recovery? Make recommendations as to how this experience could be communicated effectively to the Fellowship as a whole.

Background

Much worthy effort and considerable financial resource is expended in attracting new members to the Fellowship, through widely diverse PI initiatives at all levels, commercial advertising, the web site, etc.

Committee 1, Conference 2011 produced numerous ‘best practice’ recommendations as to how Newcomers could be welcomed to their first meeting by groups, particularly those who arrive without having had the benefit of a formal 12th Step call.

Despite these initiatives, the evidence is that many Newcomers attend just one meeting and are never seen again. There may be many reasons for this, but some groups are clearly more successful than others in encouraging returners.

Intention

The Fellowship as a whole might benefit from learning from successful groups how to improve its retention rates. A list of best practices would give groups the opportunity to consider, at their conscience meetings, ways in which their own Newcomers could have a better chance of achieving recovery, always accepting that local discretion will apply.

Comment: Well that's an interesting claim: “some groups are clearly more successful than others in encouraging returners”. “Clearly”! To whom? And which groups would these be, and where's the evidence? Surely questions submitted to the AA conference should have a bit more substance than mere assertion. And what constitutes a “successful” group? Presumably one that carries the AA message. As to whether newcomers want to listen or even act on it that's really a matter for them. Perhaps the questioner (and all those who harp on about these issues) might like to remember that section in the Big Book (Chapter 5, How It Works) where Step 3 is discussed (and, of course) the three “pertinent ideas” (especially (b)): “that probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism”. There's a limit to what we can do. The key factor in any recovery resides with the individual themselves. The reason why initial retention rates in AA have always been relatively low (and have remained so throughout its entire history – see here for AA recovery rates) is simply because most people don't actually want to stop drinking …. yet!. Until they arrive at their personal 'rock bottom' there is little any “human power” can do to influence them. No matter how well intentioned we might be, no matter how we “arrange the scenery” etc, if the newcomer doesn't want to stop there is “probably” no human power that can contrive otherwise. Conversely once an individual does arrive at the “jumping-off place”, and finally 'realises' his actual condition (ie. it becomes 'real' to him), then there's no power on earth, human or otherwise, than can get him or her to go back on the bottle! All we can do is carry the message (ie. our experience, strength and hope) …... but not the alcoholic! On the other hand it would probably make life a bit more pleasant for newcomers if they were kept out of the clutches of the cult control freaks (ie. those who haven't quite managed to get to grips with the aforementioned Step Three …. yet!) when they arrive in the fellowship. All those rules and regulations (sorry.... 'SUGGESTIONS')….. and ALL to no purpose! We do think they deserve rather better than to be bullied and abused after all they've been through … don't you?

Cheers

The Fellas (
Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Alcohol research - Maladaptive Social Self-Beliefs in Alcohol-Dependence


Maladaptive Social Self-Beliefs in Alcohol-Dependence, Maurage P, de Timary P, Moulds ML, Wong QJJ, Collignon M et al. (2013), PLoS ONE 8(3): e5892

 

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Alcohol research - Alcoholism: Developing Drugs for Treatment (draft) Guidance for Industry


Alcoholism: Developing Drugs for Treatment (draft) Guidance for Industry, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Food and Drug Administration Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), February 2015 Clinical/Medical 

I. INTRODUCTION 

The purpose of this guidance is to assist sponsors in the clinical development of drugs for the treatment of alcoholism. There are many different terms, definitions, and diagnostic criteria that have been used to describe this condition. However, in this guidance, we use the term alcoholism to describe patients with alcohol use problems that would make them candidates for treatment with medication. As the World Health Organization (WHO) notes, alcoholism is a “term of long-standing use” and is “generally taken to refer to chronic continual drinking or periodic consumption of alcohol which is characterized by impaired control over drinking, frequent episodes of intoxication, and preoccupation with alcohol and the use of alcohol despite adverse consequences.” Further discussion of terminology can be found in Appendix 1.”

See also Links and downloads 

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Monday 23 March 2015

Silkworth


Take my own doctor, William D. Silkworth. In our forthcoming history book, AA Comes of Age, I have drawn a word portrait of him which runs in part as follows:

"As we looked back over those early scenes in New York, we saw often in the midst of them the benign little doctor who loved drunks, William Duncan Silkworth, then physician-in-chief of the Charles B. Towns Hospital in New York, and the man who we now realize was very much a founder of AA. From him we learned the nature of our illness. And he supplied us with the tools with which to puncture the toughest alcoholic ego, those shattering phrases by which he described our illness: the obsession of the mind that compels us to drink and the allergy of the body that condemns us to go mad or die. Without these indispensable passwords, AA could never have worked. Dr. Silkworth taught us how to till the black soil of hopelessness, out of which every single spiritual awakening in our fellowship has since flowered. In December 1934 this man of science had sat humbly by my bed following my own sudden and overwhelming spiritual experience, reassuring me: 'No, Bill,' he had said, 'you are not hallucinating. Whatever you have got, you had better hang on to; it is so much better than what you had only an hour ago.' These were great words for the AA to come! Who else could have said them?

"When I wanted to go to work with alcoholics, he led me to them right there in his hospital, risking his professional reputation.

"After six months of failure on my part to dry up any drunks, Dr. Silkworth again reminded me of Professor William James' observation that truly transforming spiritual experiences are nearly always founded on calamity and collapse. 'Stop preaching at them,' Dr. Silkworth had said, 'and give them the hard medical facts first. This may soften them up at depth so that they will be willing to do anything to get well. Then they may accept those moral psychology ideas of yours, and even a Higher Power.'

Bill W. (Extract, The Physicians, AA Grapevine August 1957, The Language of the Heart p 175)


"Perhaps no physician will ever give so much devoted attention to so many alcoholics as did Dr. Silkworth. It is estimated that in his lifetime he saw an amazing forty thousand of them. In the years before his death in 1951, in close cooperation with AA and our red-headed power-house nurse, Teddy, he had ministered to nearly 10,000 alcoholics at New York's Knickerbocker Hospital alone. None of those he treated will ever forget the experience, and the majority of them are sober today."

So Dr. Silkworth "twelfth-stepped" forty thousand alcoholics. Thousands of these he patiently treated long before AA when the chance for recovery was slim. But he always had faith that one day a way out would be found. He never tired of drunks and their problems. A frail man, he never complained of fatigue. During most of his career he made only a bare living. He never sought distinction; his work was his reward. In his last years he ignored a heart condition and he died on the job--right among us drunks, and with his boots on.

Who of us in AA can match this record of Dr. Silkworth's? Who has his measure of fortitude, faith and dedication?

So when--twenty-three years after Dr. Silkworth had treated me for the last time--I saw and heard and felt the spirit that was abroad in that great AMA meeting, I thanked God for the doctors, one of the finest groups of friends that AA can ever have."

- Bill W. (Extract, The Physicians, AA Grapevine August 1957; The Language of the Heart p 176)

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Sunday 22 March 2015

Alcohol research - Alcohol guides for social workers released


Alcohol and Other Drugs, Essential Information for Social Workers, McCarthy T and Galvani S. (2010). Luton: University of Bedfordshire

ALCOHOL, DRUGS & SOCIAL WORK

Social workers are in the front line of health and social care services. Alcohol and other drug use can play a significant role in the lives of people who use services.

Service users have the right to professional social care, delivered by well-trained, well-supervised workers. Social workers should be able to intervene confidently and effectively where they encounter alcohol and drug problems.

In the past alcohol and drug problems have not been high enough on the social work agenda. However now it is recognised that core social work skills are ideally suited for work with people’s alcohol and drug use.

This pocket guide seeks to support social workers to take professional responsibility for ensuring their knowledge and skills meet the needs of service users with alcohol and drug problems”


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Friday 20 March 2015

Alcohol research - Alcohol Policy in Europe: Evidence from AMPHORA


Anderson P, Braddick F, Reynolds J & Gual A eds. (2013). 2nd ed. The AMPHORA project 
 

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Alcohol research - Substance Misuse in Wales




PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Thursday 19 March 2015

William James and Step One


Extract from the aacultwatch forum (old)
 
Step One:

Our recovery Step Number One reads thus: "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol. . .that our lives had become unmanageable." This simply means that all of us have to hit bottom and hit it hard and lastingly. But we can seldom make this sweeping admission of personal hopelessness until we fully realize that alcoholism is a grievous and often fatal malady of the mind and body--an obsession that condemns us to drink joined to a physical allergy that condemns us to madness or death.

So, then, how did we first learn that alcoholism is such a fearful sickness as this? Who gave us this priceless piece of information on which the effectiveness of Step One of our program so much depends? Well, it came from my own doctor, "the little doctor who loved drunks," William Duncan Silkworth. More than twenty-five years ago at Towns Hospital, New York, he told Lois and me what the disease of alcoholism actually is.

Of course we have since found that these awful conditions of mind and body invariably bring on the third phase of our malady. This is the sickness of the spirit; a sickness for which there must necessarily be a spiritual remedy. We AAs recognize this in the first five words of Step Twelve of the recovery program. Those words are: "Having had a spiritual awakening . . ." Here we name the remedy for our three-fold sickness of body, mind and soul. Here we declare the necessity for that all-important spiritual awakening.

Who, then, first told us about the utter necessity for such an awakening, for an experience that not only expels the alcohol obsession, but which also makes effective and truly real the practice of spiritual principles "in all our affairs"?

Well, this life-giving idea came to us of AA through William James, the father of modern psychology. It came through his famous book, Varieties of Religious Experience, when my friend Ebby handed me that volume at Towns Hospital immediately following my own remarkable spiritual experience of December, 1934.

William James also heavily emphasized the need for hitting bottom. Thus did he reinforce AA's Step One and so did he supply us with the spiritual essence of today's Step Twelve.”

Bill W. (Extract, After Twenty-Five Years, The Language of the Heart p 297)”
 
Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Wednesday 18 March 2015

Free stuff! Surveillance Self Defence – A Project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation



 
Modern technology has given the powerful new abilities to eavesdrop and collect data on innocent people. Surveillance Self-Defence is EFF's guide to defending yourself and your friends from surveillance by using secure technology and developing careful practices.” 
  

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Alcohol research - Addictive Behaviours: An International Journal




PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Tuesday 17 March 2015

The hand of AA! We think not!


We continue to get mails from members new to AA who've had the misfortune to be 'welcomed' into the fellowship by the cult. The key characteristics of cult arrogance are usually present: a dogmatic attitude towards recovery, dismissive of people who relapse, threatening, idolisation of 'personalities', sexist attitudes, discriminatory conduct towards those suffering from depression, bigoted and so on..... none of it particularly attractive!

Our responses (edited to preserve anonymity) to the member on the receiving end of this appalling conduct:

From what you say your ex-sponsor is simply a bully – and a pretty uninformed one at that! Relapse is pretty common in AA (although clearly not recommended) – either pre-joining the fellowship or afterwards. And if it was all about 'choice' we really wouldn't need AA at all would we! As to whether you're ready or not to take the steps that's your decision not hers. We're aware of only one qualification for taking them (and it's written down in the Big Book, Chapter Five, How it Works) ie. “if you want what we have and are willing to go to any lengths” etc (“any lengths” being determined by you and not by anyone else). If you don't feel that you're ready then you're not ready – end of! Again as to whether you're an alcoholic or not – guess what? That's up to you not her! As for you being a [member of a particular religion] AA is not affiliated with any sect, denomination, etc. This statement is read out at the beginning of every AA meeting. Your spiritual/religious path is your business not hers. (By the way one of the aacultwatch team members is [of the same denomination] and has been sober nearly thirty years so you're in good company!)

Perhaps you might count yourself fortunate to have been given such a clear example on how NOT TO carry the AA message by cult members. It'll stand you in good stead in the future when you help others. If you've got good groups in your area where people don't feel it's their right to abuse you then stick with them and give the others a miss. AA's full of decent men and women who've got better things to do than try and run other people's lives. They're called 'grown ups', and they know how to act in a responsible and respectful fashion.

For our part we steer well clear of the 'personalities' in AA. We suspect that they don't possess much in a way of a 'personality' in the first place. They're undoubtedly insecure and need the adulation of others in order to feel some sense of self-worth. They're over-compensating perhaps! It's sad really.

You'll undoubtedly find people in AA who will care for you and who won't waste their time judging whether you're doing it right or not. They're called friends – and that's what our fellowship is all about really.”

and:

We're sorry to hear about your bad experiences with cult members. What you describe is entirely characteristic of their conduct – nice and friendly on the outside but when you get past the surface appearance everything changes – especially when it comes to their brand of so-called 'sponsorship'. If you haven't already then we strongly recommend you read the AA pamphlet on the subject: Questions and Answers on Sponsorship. You will find nothing in there (or in any other AA literature) which remotely suggests that sponsors have the right to order people about or pass such judgements on them or indeed engage in shaming or abusive behaviour – which is what you've been on the receiving end of. We hope that this has not put you off AA itself. Most people, by and large, simply want to be helpful. Sometimes they do overstep the mark but this is usually through error rather than according to some misshapen interpretation of our fellowship and programme..... Either way we hope you stick with AA and your own recovery. Don't be put off by a few idiots – because that's precisely what they are”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)