What recovery groups have in
common is that they provide support for an individual's desire to quit
drinking. All of them focus on techniques for quitting, and all except
Moderation Management are based on abstinence. Dealing with urges, avoiding
drinking situations, dealing with lapses--obviously, these are the main
emphasis at first. ANY program is likely to work for you in early sobriety if
you make a commitment to abstinence, make changes in your day-to-day life to enhance
those changes, and do some planning for dealing with urges. PPP--Patience,
Practice, and Persistence--is a concept that could apply to any plan for
sobriety.
Finding a recovery program with
which you share core beliefs can be real important to your long-term success.
It's difficult enough to quit drinking; getting into philosophical arguments
about the foundations of your drinking behavior can be a diversion from the
goal of sobriety! Nevertheless, using whatever is available locally might get
you through the early stage of quitting simply because of the peer support.
I quit drinking using the
principles of cognitive behavioral theory. The basic principle is that
irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy behavior, and that beliefs can be changed.
There is no spiritual basis, although those with strong spiritual or religious
beliefs will obviously find them useful to strengthen those beliefs if that
will enhance their sobriety. SMART Recovery and Rational Recovery focus on
using your thinking and beliefs to achieve sobriety. LifeRing and SOS focus on
secular group meetings to provide encouragement and support.
I don't have any direct experience
with AA, but my observation of those who come to other programs from AA is that
the three concepts that seem to bother most of them are the disease concept,
the use of a higher power, and the idea that we are powerless over alcohol.
Folks from AA have given me good explanations of the many different ways they
approach these concepts, but they can be a real hurdle for people who don't
come from a religious background.
SMART Recovery and RR don't use
the term "alcoholic" (SMART rejects the disease concept except as a
metaphor--and only if that is useful to you), and work to enhance the power you
have within your self to achieve sobriety (SMART stands for Self Management And
Recovery Training). Some people successfully integrate different programs,
attending face-to-face meetings for the group support and companionship but
adopting different philosophies as they make their own paths to sobriety.
One problem is that in many places
AA is the only organization with regular face-to-face meetings available. It is
the oldest and best-known program, and in many cases the only one used for
diversion programs in mandated treatment (in spite of court rulings). But in
the age of the internet we have other options, including online meetings using
text and voice chat.
There is no religious or doctrinal
history in cognitive-based programs, with all the baggage that often carries.
As such, they are open to those who seek spiritual growth as part of sobriety
(or vice versa)--or those with a more analytical world view. Engineers and
artists are equally able to use them.
Most of us who used substances
shared an irrational belief that we were alone--that our problem was unique, so
no group could possibly help us. It's always a relief to find that others have
been where we are, and to learn from their experiences.
People who successfully quit
drinking have three characteristics in common, regardless of the program (if
any) they adopt:
--they make a firm commitment to
sobriety;
--they make lifestyle changes to
enhance their commitment;
--they plan and practice for
combating urges.
All of the recovery groups that
I've read about focus on the latter two aspects in the short run, to help you
break the pattern of substance abuse. How you come to that firm commitment is
the key to long-term sobriety: staying stopped once you've figured out how to
get stopped.
Yours for ecumenical sobriety....