If Alcoholics Anonymous is so effective, why do fourteen million Americans struggle with alcoholism? Why does the rate of relapse among AA members hover around 70 percent? Can it be that the original twelve-step program — and such offspring as Al-Anon and Narcotics Anonymous — represents not a solution but merely a different facet of the problem?
In this first-person account of fourteen years as a drunk, thirty-three-year-old Marianne Gilliam concludes that AA is a fundamentally flawed program. Refusing to accept the idea that alcoholism is a “disease”, that she and all other drunks are “powerless”, and that twelve-step meetings are the answer, she found a different path to sobriety in a meaningful, love-based approach to life founded on innate self-worth.
Admitting that AA may work for some, Gilliam argues from personal experience that the twelve-step culture of victims and codependents actually perpetuates addiction by denying the individual’s capacity for responsible behavior or; at best, replacing dependence on alcohol and drugs with an equally powerful dependence on the program itself While this may stop members from drinking, it does nothing to cure the underlying psychological problems that cause self-destructive behavior. Instead, she offers guidance based on her own search for sobriety, addressing each key issue methodically but sympathetically and pointing the way toward true recovery, independence, and lasting freedom from addictions of all kinds.
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This book was a wake-up call for me! It was such a relief to me to find out that there are a LOT of other people out there who don’t feel comfortable within the limited confines of the herd mentality of AA and other 12-step programs. I agree that parts of it are sloppily written and indeed whole chapters could have been removed or condensed. Certain chapters were very repetitive (the simplistic message of love, not fear ad nauseam), but it was the book’s central idea that spoke to me. Ms. Gilliam, if nothing else,…
An alternative path to recovery Despite the title, this is not one of your typical “AA-bashing” books. What we have instead, is one woman’s personal story of multiple addictions – food (bulimia), cocaine, and alcohol – and recovery. When she encountered difficulties with the 12-step programs (AA, NA, OA) she struck out on her own path to sobriety.Â
When all is said and done its an inside job. This book is not nearly as negative as its title suggests. AA is recieving much harsher criticism elsewhere for its coercive use by the courts and other institutions private and public and for its own cult-like stance as being the beyond criticism. You won’t get mixed messages from Gilliam’s book however. She is only mildly critical of AA and the 12-steps and suggests using bits and pieces of whatever works for YOU. From someone who has been to many AA/NA meetings, treatment programs…