In Defense of Alcoholics Anonymous

I know most of the people who read this blog pretty well- 10 years sober in AA and a counselor in the addiction field.  I am aware of the flaws of AA (the attitude toward methadone being one of them, which I already digressed upon) and the benefits.

However, there are those in the field- in this case a “counselor”- that believe AA is just short of a “cult”, damaging to those who attend, and to some degree, the antithesis of what recovery should be.  I recently ‘got into it’ with a woman who wrote for the Huffington Post about how awful AA is.

Let me tell you about her: Laura Tompkins is a graduate of the Hazelden Addiction Education program- a certified addictions counselor.  She has a WHOLE ton of negative stuff to say about the program of Alcoholics Anonymous (her article is here).  She is out of California and  despite my super awesome google skills, I can’t find any evidence that she’s licensed or practicing at all in the world of recovery.  At all.  She doubles as a chef and voice-over actress (where in God’s name did the Huffington Post find her?).

So I’ve made a synopsis of our interaction with my reminder that just because she comes from a reputable treatment center that is 12 step based does not mean she is a well woman.  Check it out:

Laura, in her article in the Huffington post: “This is what most of my clients hear: Follow us or you will fail. If you do not recover, you are a dishonest and unfortunate idiot, and you were born a dishonest and unfortunate idiot. You will die painfully, full of shame for your innate inability to be honest with yourself. Even worse, if you are mentally and emotionally ill (which is highly probable), you will only recover if you follow our path completely and do not rock the boat.”

Me, in my email to her:  “I am curious as to your thoughts on why AA is so effective: 15 million people attend each year.  And why is it that your concern with it is so great when, in the time that it has taken me to write this email, 2 more people have died due to heroin overdose in this country.  I am 10 years sober in AA and a counselor in the field.”

Laura, in response:  “…you are doing a grave disservice to clients by ever recommending they attend the dangerous cult religion meetings of AA. Unless you consider stripping members of their innate power “working” you are harming people. Your ethics are in serious question that’s for sure!”

Me, responding to her assumptions I’m out to do harm:   “It may be worth noting that AA was never intended to be a treatment model–  I use it in my personal life. Thanks for asking, but I work in harm reduction. I don’t market AA in my professional life nor was it ever intended to be evidence based practice when it was started.

I went to AA voluntarily 10 years ago.  It works for me. I don’t send anyone else,  I send myself. I’d love to tell you sometime what my life was like before it- which IS anecdotal evidence. Like I said,  AA was never intended to be evidenced based practice at all.  It’s meant to be a non structured community group. So if you are concerned with clients being asked to go by the courts or by treatment centers,  you have a concern with those entities and not with AA.

Laura, in her greatest and most eloquent moment:   “Your cult religion demands all credit and it you ever leave you will have three and only three outcomes: “Jail, Institutions and Dead.”  Complete rubbish. You experienced spontaneous remission and now you can’t take credit for your choices. 

Every clinician should read the work I went to the trouble of sending to you.  Stop lying to yourself. Your beloved cult religion actively recruits people from rehabs, prisons, jails and court rooms. In fact, professional people are routinely coerced into your cult with threats of loss of job, title and status to your cult religion. (Without the court mandating, your cult would suffer a slow death. Without the forced attendance, your cult would be virtually empty with the exception of ‘old-timers’ like you and criminals looking for prey. No one is safe in the 12 step cult religion.” 

To her credit, she did send me a reading list.  But all of it was people’s personal opinions on AA and no evidence-based peer-reviewed shit- meaning more soapboxes.  After that she said she would automatically delete any emails from me without opening them.  I wrote her one anyways that said the following:  “I assume this will be deleted because of your reference as such.  But I would suggest anger management. A lot of people are against AA for the same reasons,  but none of them are as angry and likely miserable as you. Best of luck.”

I will tell you this: the people that I have run across that don’t care for Alcoholics Anonymous in a vehement way are opposed to it because they have expectations that AA should be something other than what it is.  I think what critics often forget is that AA is not accountable to any outside entity and is NOT therapy.   Where Tompkins gets into trouble is her own expectations (and probably combined with her own anger issues.)

 

If I did have a moment to address Tompkins, I would want to know what the utility is of a non-licensed non-practicing addictions counselor complaining about HOW people stop using drugs.  I’ve been on the ‘don’t die’ bandwagon for some time now and I’ve come to be quite critical myself of those who have a preference for process over outcome in this one.  They say that it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose it’s how you play the game- in substance abuse the opposite is true: I don’t care how you play the game as long as you win.  I’m tired of seeing people die.