Holding hands, prayer and A.A. in alcoholism treatment ?

Question by Silencium: Holding hands, prayer and A.A. in alcoholism treatment ?
No stupid comments please! If you don’t have any usefull argument or opinion, go bother somethere else! I really really don’t need shit!

I have accepted the fact that I have a big problem with addiction. I’m in a program and part of it includes 2days/week of attending A.A. meetings and the rest is a combination of ‘counseling’ and A.A. bullshit… No offense, but as an atheist, as soon as I hear or see the word “god” (and people actually taking religions seriously), I feel totally offended. Imagine or substitute such an infantile idea as God with something like “Mickey Mouse”, “Santa” or worse yet, “Osama bin Laden”. It is impossible to focus because one person’s phantasy distracts the others.

As if that is not enough, one of the other things really annoying me is the holding hands, praying… like sheep in a herd… it’s completly offending me. This indoctrination. Why is it that they sneak so much “spirutal” B.S. into the initially good ideas? And what’s up with this holding hands? It’s disgusting holding hands with people who I don’t even know. I’m not saying that I’m better than others, not at all… I just don’t see how and why some of these aspects are supposed to be of any benefit in addiction treatment?

They do completly irritate me, almost up to the point, that I want to get back into drinking because I feel so stressed by some of the doctrines, imbecille rituals, mindless god-obsessions…. I want to stop my addiction, I don’t want to hurt my family or anyone else anymore.

I’m an atheist and there is absolutly nothing that could ever convince me to pray or believe in human phantasies of gods… I’m perplexed by the irritation that this handholding, imposed intimacy needs, and substituting one dependancy with another (substance addiction versus idea/god addiction) causes in me… I know I have personal defects, and I don’t see the solution in religions… what can I do?

Almost one week sober and on the brink of drinking because of A.A…..

Best answer:

Answer by Margaret Andem LCSW
As a counselor, I have experience working on addictions and am familiar with AA. AA is based on a religious aspect, so it is helpful for those who tend towards those beliefs, but not for everyone. I have heard comments like this from others who are not very religious, so it is understandable. There is a non-religious alternative to AA that follows similar tenets but is not religious. It is called Rational Recovery. You can check to see if there are meetings of this nature in your area. In the meantime, try to focus on what you can get out of the meetings that will support your sobriety and help you continue to grow. Try not to focus on what you see as negative and let that get in the way. The most important thing is your sobriety so you don’t have to let anything get in the way of that. Focus on that. Hope this helps. Take care.

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