How To Survive Coerced A.A.

Saturday, September 30, 2006 - dr.bomb

In order to survive as an organization a gigantic propaganda apparatus exists solely to promote A.A. Unfortunately, due to the influence of these allegedly "Not A.A." organizations, despite the fact that they're run by Buchmanite true believers and push nothing but the 12-Steps and the disease mythology regarding compulsive behavior, the criminal justice system bought into its lies decades ago.

According to Charles Bufe in Resisting 12-Step Coercion, based upon A.A.'s 1996 Triennial Survey data, at least 40% of A.A.'s current membership has been coerced to join via medicine, treatment centers (including counseling), employers and law enforcement.

So, how does one resist the cult when coerced into it? It comes down to four main points to consider:

1. There is no such thing as "addictive disease", such as alcoholism, drug and other addictions.

The only so-called "diagnosis" is a simple inventory of past behavior where the person is literally led to believe that such diseases exist and that the person has one. Incidentally, one's current behavior in the present is ignored especially when one no longer performs actions against their own better judgment (once a sinner, always a sinner). Likewise, emphasis on "powerlessness" and unforeseeable "compulsions" is likewise not proven objectively but instead the client is led to believe that there's nothing that can be done, short of going to meetings, meetings and more meetings in smoky, dingy church basements with bad coffee and stale doughnuts. The person, by all account, just by being there and being "diagnosed" is proof that they're "sick" and that to deny that one is sick is denial, a symptom of the malady.

The truth is that the person who did stupid things while enjoying the high of their recreational drug or activity of choice against their better judgment which said to KNOCK IT OFF was never diseased. If there is a disease then where's the client's lab work proving the existence of this hypothetical disease? The assertion that it's a "family disease", based in genetics, is also unfounded: Where's the geneticist's report concerning the client's lab work in question? Is there any evidence of genes moving one's own muscles against their will in a very purposeful manner to enjoy that activity which brough on their current troubles? Any avoidance of these key questions by the examiner merits suspicion of outright quackery.

A seizure or tremors would be the result IF there was a genetic link, much less any pathogenic/physiological/biological cause which produced a loss of control over one's own stirated cell tissue; tissue which comprises the human body's voluntary skeletal muscle system! Addiction doesn't even rank with Parkinson's disease, especially when you think about the numerous muscles working in unison to take that substance into one's or body or to partake in any activity in general.

The truth is that addiction is turned into an iatrogenic chronic condition by these "helpers".

2. There is no "hidden cause" of addiction.

In fact the biopsychosocial nonsense promoted by the RGM/ATI at large ironically hides the simple fact of addiction: It's pleasurable to engage in that activity. Likewise, as above, one is not "sick" or "damaged" in any way just because of the rush of enjoyment when engaged within that activity.

Instead the blame involves invoking scapegoats, from family and friends right on down to other miscellany one claims to be "powerless" over. Even traumatic events are brought back to the surface in an effort to foster more blame instead of the primary reason, pleasure, in regards to addiction.

It's tragic to note that the denial of personal responsibility regarding one's own behavior is the "treatment" for addiction. When one accepts the tenets of the mythology at hand, it's always someone or something else to blame rather than one's own choice to engage in that behavior. The big irony is when people are sentenced by the judicial system into the RGM/ATI: Criminals are held responsible then they're not!

3. No one is an "alcoholic" or "addict" for life.

When one realizes that one has the choice of either engaging or not in that pleasurable activity which got themselves into trouble to begin with, a direct moral hit is taken accordingly. As labeling absolves oneself from any "relapse", undertaking full responsibility for one's own actions means knowing that one was in full control to begin with.

As hard and difficult that fact may be to fully comprehend and endure it's that small price, that sting, which can be endured as one sheds their addiction. One can't live down a mythological "disease" but one can live down their own past hedonistic stupidity. Anyone can learn from their past mistakes, quit and move on as a normal human being who knows right from wrong.

In other words, one can choose to remain addicted with the same sob story or to rise above that nonsense and quit for good.

4. All people within the system, from counselors down to oldtimers, do not have your best interests in mind.

Anyone who is caught within the system will realize that there will appear many helping hands who will claim to help one out of the morass of their own past mistakes. Of course these helpers will quickly grow to be a hindrance to one's own abstinence from their own problematic behavior. They can even be a threat to one's own sanity as well as RGM/ATI tenets become ingrained phobias of the world itself.

The whole point of the faux benevolence of these helpers is not to help one out of addiction and to quit for good. As Robert Jay Lifton observed these cult members, wether religious or secular, desperately need to have their own dogma validated. That means that one can either obey and become a good nonquestioning little grouper or to be condemned as an insane threat to others' "sobriety".

Of course, when one toes the party line one can achieve a position of power among their ranks. Nonbelievers need not apply, especially those who thought they'd learn how to quit. The threat of "jails, institutions and death" is ingrained further until one finds such professional support withdrawn while the person who adopts parts of the dogma feeling that there is no alternative out of addiction but to die.

So what can one do in light of this mess?

Never disclose if you've been drinking/drugging, etc.

It's no one's business but your own. Whether it's one drink or a dozen that you took or whatever else, no matter how small that "slip" may appear to you the Buchmanites will make it out to be much worse than it is and impose more sanctions.`

You know why you do it: It feels good! And wanting to feel good is not a disease symptom. Ask yourself if fulfilling that desire is really worth the risk in light of the past consequences that you've endured. Only you can make that choice to continue or to quit.

Never disclose that you have "blackouts".

Again, this will be used against you in order for further sanctions against you. That is, is you're not going to believe the lies of the cult. To the cult, having blackouts is a rite of passage: A sign of being a real member, a.k.a. a real alcoholic.

If you do have blackouts from imbibing too much alcohol then you know that it's better to just either cut back or, failing that, quitting outright. The nasty part about admitting to blackouts is that it opens a door for "evidence" to be fabricated against yourself. After all, you don't remember so how do you know the accusation made while you were "blacked out" is real or not?

Fake it 'til you make it.

If you are coerced to go to meetings outside of a Buchmanism indoctrination center (a.k.a. "treatment facility) then it's okay to play the signed slip game. That is, grab the list of meetings from a local A.A./N.A. central office website and claim to attend meetings outside the area. Get creative, mention what's shared there (most meetings are the same anyhow, mostly focusing on anger and religious nonsense) and sign your own slips.

After all, how are they going to check? The truth is that they don't. Just mouth the party line without believing it yourself and go from there. For fun, if you are being debriefed by a counselor, ask questions about the contradictions within the cult. Put them on the defensive for once and, if you're technically savvy, record them and place the recording online (anyone can put a website online).

Am I advocating that one lie to authority figures? Why OF COURSE! The RGM/ATI is an entity built upon lies while claiming to be "rigorously honest". And yes, while it is wrong to lie in general it is morally acceptable to lie to those who deceive in the first place. After all, it's your own life and interests on the line and their interests certainly conflict with yours. But, if you REALLY want to attend a meeting, go as a newcomer and bring this up as a topic for discussion:

"I've heard that this is a program based upon one being rigorously honest. So explain to me the wisdom that one 'Fake it 'til they make it' within this program."

Then again, you're reading this webpage so you have a clear idea why. However there's a vicarious thrill (indeed, a natural high) to be found as one witnesses the cognitive dissonance as groupers attempt to reconcile that huge contradiction.

Which brings up the final point:

Don't believe anything about addiction from such idiots.

The only people who can be trusted as true experts on addiction are those who quit on their own. That excludes most of the people within the various groups, services and organizations of the pro-addiction cult. The waste of taxpayer money on addiction research and treatment has not produced any significant amount of improvement in abstinence outcome.

Ultimately, there are only two choices for the addicted: To continue or to cease and desist regarding their hedonistic behavior which is getting themselves into trouble. Anyone who claims otherwise is an idiot. For those misguided miscreants who hide behind compassion, to claim that the addicted need support, sets up the condition for the addicted to continue in lieu of support, therefore creating another condition for future use.

The system is indeed rigged against those who are marked for "help". When one is wise to these facts then one will survive the system and live to tell others the truth about it. While I may only guess at the stupid things people do while intoxicated such people are not insane. It's the RGM/ATI which is downright sociopathic in its own insanity.

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