(note: this video was originally released in March 2011 as part of the “In Your Words” series. It has been re-formatted, re-titled and re-uploaded for greater accessibility to viewers relating to the issues of substance abuse and the relevance of Alcoholics Anonymous.)
Does Alcoholics Anonymous provide help and hope to addicts, or is the constant reliance on a Higher Power a crutch to keep the addicted from finding true solutions.
EllenBeth candidly shares her story.
AA encourages group think and powerlessness.. Yet, their popular slogan is
“don’t drink or use no matter what”
People need to remember not all AA groups are the same. Some really are
like religious cults, others have little to nothing to do with religion and
basically gloss over step 2.
Oh my I couldn’t live my life without God but that does not mean He did not
want you to use your will power either to overcome addiction so you can be
the best you can be. That is to be condoned that you had the inner
strength and will to over come this addiction but there is no need to
reject or hate God ever. God is your Creator and not your enemy. You
have great inner strength and will that is to be admired. Thanks for
sharing your story.
So, going back to the title of this video… How exactly did she “Beat
Alcoholism” ?
Anyone?…
I had one date with Melanie Solomon, the author of “AA, Not The Only Way”.
I picked her up with my boat in Sequim, Washington, and took her to
Victoria, BC. Canada. She spent the entire time trying (and succeeding) to
score pain pills. I dropped her off at the dock, and said “Land, ho!”
I’m glad this woman found recovery on terms that worked for her. I think
her story helps others who don’t want to seek God or don’t believe. And I
think her best work is in helping others achieve sobriety through those
means.
But its always funny when atheists like this end up behaving like very
religions they are against. They find it necessary to try and convert
others to their way of thinking. They criticize and try to discredit those
who don’t think as they do. And use legislation and the power of
government to force their own agenda on the rest of us.
GOD- good orderly direction, group of drunks, great out doors. I am an
atheist recovering from alcoholism.
Brave lady.
Thanking for articulating my feelings and setting me straight on the
journey I find myself on. I take total responsibility for my sobriety.
Good for her!
AA never claimed to be the only way to stay sober.
Yes I hate A.A. I was forced to go to a session once. And I flat out said I
don’t want to go because I’m an atheist and A.A centers are just
recruitment centers for Christians. Well people were like “Nahhhh just go.
It’ll be fine they’re not like that.” All the people got up and started
talking about Jesus and how they found Christ and at the end of the 4th
person going on about religion I just up and left. It was ridiculous. They
ARE indoctrination centers. And I wasn’t about to become their latest
victim. And frankly I’m appauled. Teaching people that unless they join
their religion they are powerless to change. What a load of shit.
Secularist sobriety centers are just as effective if not better. They teach
people they’re not failures and they can find the strength within and to
take accountability for their actions. A.A on the other hand are just
parasites looking for victims to preach to. Heck I’ve even heard stories
about sober people pretending to be alcoholic to find people to convert to
religion. That’s just sickening
what’s the music used in this video?
Imagine this, you already have enough problems with addiction or something,
and then, someone showes a bible in your face.
Never mind the question of god’s existence, it’s just bad psychology, and
really, help should not only be available for one portion of the
population.
Thank you for this video. I heard the same message and had been wondering
how AA worked with atheism.
My experiences with AA are similar. For many years I struggled with getting
sober with AA principals. I did finally get sober in 2008. It took me about
a year or so of listening to the nonsense I continually heard in the
meetings to realize that there was no magic man in the sky keeping me
sober. I realized that I so desperately wanted to stay sober more than
anything. That’s when the drinking stopped for good. Being around a
community of sober people certainly helped. But after the fog lifts. Most
of them are crazy as bat shit and I didn’t want to be around it any more.
Been free ever since. No lifelong commitment to listening to the bullshit
being slung in the rooms. They are killing folks
The only reason I went to an AA meeting was, a court of law directed me to.
How can that be legal considering the religious nature of the organization?
I FUCKING HATE THE AA……crud. the clapping and smoking.
I experienced AA for a short time at one point in my life, I felt the same
as what has been told in this clip, there was a lot of hypocrisy and
damaging messages and rules that could kill your soul quicker than alcohol
abuse itself.
I find that anything in life, not just alcohol and drugs, can be stopped if
the person just makes a firm decision to do so, it can be hard especially
habits like alcohol and drugs that are internal, they went in, so they need
to come out, but just deciding to stop and being strong to do just that,
you are a winner.
Look, groups like AA may save some peoples lives, they are not all useless,
but with alcohol and drugs, if you have the urge to stop, STOP! Seek
medical advice for your next step, and things like Tea, Water, Fresh Fruit,
Fresh Vegetables, Lean Meat are great substitutes to fill the void, you
need to put the vitamins and minerals back in your body, it makes recovery
easier.
To all the people who wish to stop, YOU CAN DO IT, I did, I was an
Alcoholic, a Drug Addict, a Chain Smoker, I knocked it all on the head, 8
years ago, I now have a Beautiful Wife, Two Beautiful children and I am
healthy, I did it with the support of real friends and select family
members who knew I struggled with these habits, I got rid of all the SO
CALLED FRIENDS who I used to share these habits with.
I don’t even follow religion, I just had these habits that were going to
kill me quickly if I didn’t stop, so I just followed common sense, and
enough was enough, I now just indulge in my Music, I drummed since the age
of 4 years old, I am now 33, I drink Green Tea, eat healthy use a skipping
rope for an hour a session 3 – 4 times a week, just keep myself moving, I
found my talents and interests and my loved ones are my savior, that is
what I live for.
YOU ALL CAN STOP THESE HARMFUL HABITS, MY LOVE TO YOU ALL!
I’m drunk, lol.
no jeepers – no sobers; it’s like simple to craig..
As someone who is an atheist and suffers from a mental illness, I find this
story really interesting. But how did EllenBeth get sober without God? How
do you get well without God? That was never made clear to me in this video.
It will take some a lifetime of convincing oneself of believing in the
imaginary alcohol curing god that for some reason inflected you with the
imaginary alcoholic disease in the first place. It’s only until then
“believing in your HIGHER power” really the Christian God, (Bait and switch
cult technique) that one can truly enter into the cult kingdom of sober
stupidity and madness. AA is a well intended cult that fails most and
deceives everyone. Those that are vulnerable, gullible and court ordered
are the victims and sadly will not likely benefit from this 70 year old
sham. If you think you may need a plan for recovery consider.
http://www.smartrecovery.org/
Was there an episode which dealt with this? I know it got mentioned
somewhere, but I guess this video will do (research purposes).
I actually went to one of their meetings to observe not too long ago, and I
found the blatant religiosity quite odd. It seemed to me, and I’m guessing,
that any measured success of the program could simply be due to the social
bonds that are enforced, especially to the newcomers, to attend daily, and
also to the exhortation to “sponsor” another alcoholic.
Maybe it’s a bias of mine, but I don’t see how the religious aspect of AA
is necessary. I’ve heard the phrase “grace of god” various times, and to me
it only seems to give undue credit to the whimsical dictator up above- all
the while any relapse was blamed on personal faults.
HI! I’m not an atheist but i respect Ellen’s views, to the extent also that
I do believe state and law, national and international clearly should be
divorced from religious law.
It is a shame, I mean the Old Native statement was something like;
‘Everything is born of Woman and Nothing must be done to harm the
children’…if only most law came from such spiritual wisdom..unfortunately
it is imperialistic-religious views, largely, from monotheism, Judaism
being the fire-spring, which has so much murder written into it; later
religions followed it’s lead: Christianity and Islam. Whoof! As I said,
personally I believe in ‘spirit’ as did the ancient chinese-Shen- they
called it and virtually all indigenous peoples…in many cases however, they
were tolerant, harmonious systems of understanding rather than ultra
dogmatic murder propagating carrot and stick-heaven and hell enterprises
such as stem from the ‘religions of the book.’ ( I must say that there are
many lovely well meaning people from each of ‘the religions of the book’
too!!!)
But I thank Ellen for her views and work! best wishes, AWS
Good for you EllenBeth. There is a growing movement away from AA as it has
shown to actually not be that effective. Their paltry 10% success rate is
the same as not going or doing it on your own. We are funding this
religious program with our tax dollars through our judicial system and it
must stop.