I'm afraid to go back to AA?

Question

I just got out of de-tox for alcohol. I used to go to AA meetings and now I'm afraid to go because I feel like such a failure. How do I get over it.

Answer 1

YOU can get past the self image and go for help.  Don't hesitate to go get help.  AA or any other group that is a support of recovery. You need them and there are people who need you.  Celebrate Recovery

is another Great group to go to...My daughter is a part of that group.

It is a wonderful program and support.

Get yourself this personalized book an it will help you tremendously !

It has your name throughout the whole book .  Very good tool to encourage you in confidence and self image. You really would benefit from this book.  You can get yours online at the site below...There is hope and you can do it !!!  Believe you can and you will see it happen..

Blessings to you !  You have more power than you ever realized !

Answer 2

The members of AA will understand. They are their to help you get through the bad times and good. I think everyone at these meetings have fallen off the wagon time and time again. The point is they get back on and try again. Addiction is hard to over come. Mst people need a support group of people who have been there and done it. Take a deep breath, remember your are not a failure and walk through the doors of your local AA. Also get a sponsor they can help you through the bad times.

Answer 3

just know that they will understand. no one is perfect. and recovery isn't an easy thing. there will always be bumps in the road. just be honest when you go back. AA is supposed to help addicts get over it. if they were mad at you or anything it would defeat the purpose. and if that happens...find a different group

Answer 4

your only a failure if you do not go back to aa.

Answer 5

Well, people relapse all the time in AA, in fact relapse is much more common than recovery.

In fact, isn't that the issue here?  You went to AA, and you relapsed.  Now you want to go back to AA, after it didn't work.  Why?

Maybe try something else instead, like Smart Recovery.

Answer 6

AA guilt trips people whether they relapse or not, the program is built on guilt. Much of your feelings are the result of the program. You are NOT powerless over alcohol, you are the only person who can make the decision to drink or not drink. Reclaim your will and use it to not drink.

AA has the same success rate as no treatment at all, and folks who fail in AA often fall harder and for longer periods of time. Worse yet, AA has a mortality rate six times higher then those who attempt quitting on their own.

Several studies have examined AA and found it wanting:

1) Dr. Brandsma found that A.A. increased the rate of binge drinking, and

2) Dr. Ditman found that A.A. increased the rate of rearrests for public drunkenness, and

3) Dr. Walsh found that "free A.A." made later hospitalization more expensive, and

4) Doctors Orford and Edwards found that having a doctor talk to the patient for just one hour was just as effective as a whole year of A.A.-based treatment.

5) Dr. George E. Vaillant, the A.A. Trustee, found that A.A. treatment was completely ineffective, and raised the death rate in alcoholics. No other way of treating alcoholics produced such a high death rate as did Alcoholics Anonymous.

1) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effe...

2) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effe...

3) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effe...

4) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effe...

5) http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effe...

I bounced in and out of the rooms for almost two decades, never managing more than a few months of sobriety. I had been taught I was powerless, that I had a disease that I had no control over; it wasn't until I took responsibility for my addiction and my recovery that I was able to stop: 8/4/01.

Great article on "disease":

"The brain disease rhetoric is fatalistic, implying that users can

never fully free themselves of their drug or alcohol problems.

Finally, and most important, it threatens to obscure the vast role

personal agency plays in perpetuating the cycle of use and relapse to

drugs and alcohol."

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/21...

Answer 7

their theroy is its not how many times you fall its about how many times you get up  

Answer 8

Just go....they will think the exact opposite.  They will think you are taking a positive step and not think you are a failure.  I'm sure most members, if not all, have had relapses so I seriously doubt you will be judged but more likely you will be embraced back into the group and they will be proud of you for finding the strength to go back.