Wow, Curi. Thanks for such an honest, heart-wrenching post. I'm so glad you've found TSM. I went back and read your entire thread. Your progress is amazing. TSM is the answer!

Powerful post, Ms. C. Thank you for it and for your courage. And thank you for not taking the final way out; your world is better for it.

Hi Curi's

Thank you for posting. You are right, it can be considered selfish to take the easy way out. So many lives are wasted in this way . I'm so glad you hung on and stuck with it. I'm also very relieved you found TSM and did not become another statistic! Keep going, you are doing so well and YOU are an inspiration to me!!! Congratulations on your progress....

Best,

Oh, my, what a powerful post. The experience you relay is frightening, & as I have enough experience w/ AA to completely understand what you say, I am now grateful to have not been sucked beneath the wheel, as you were, but I can sure see how that would happen, when we (think) we have no other options...OMG, I'm so glad you found your way to TSM.

I'm also grateful you shared your story today, as I was admiring your great "stats" yesterday, in your much-appreciated, kind reply to my first progress report - to hear the whole story makes it even more meaningful...best to you, Curi

Chrissie

I didn't get a chance to read your post before you took it down. The damage superstition and outright lies perpetrated by AA has inhibited truly scientific approaches to addiction in general. I have ranted several times about the organization and believe Bill W was a complete ass.

If I were to suggest treating any other medical disorder the way these morons propose, I would be run out of town on a rail. But, because of the public shame element, they get away with it. The words they use anger and disgust me: "relapse," "getting help," "working the program," and generally twist words into meanings the average person doesn't understand them to have.

I look forward to reading your post when you finish editing it.

Curious One,

Of course it's totally up to you to take down, put up, edit, and anything else you want to do with your posts, but I must say that what you had to say was truly moving. Even if your intended message didn't come through, several other messages did. I'm new to posting on boards, and I don't always like what I say (I think it could be better if I thought it through more or spent more time on it), but I do think of these boards as a way to memorialize and journal what we're thinking at the moment. And your latest post was amazing. But again, I understand and it's your right to remove it, edit it. Just know that what you have to say is powerful and moving and I really appreciate you sharing.

Thank you everyone for your kind and understanding replies.

The point of the post was to ask: Is it legal to prescribe religion to treat a disease? To my mind it must be breaking some human rights, I'd love to hear a lawyer's views on this.

Curi

Curi, I am very grateful that I got the chance to read your heart-wrenching post. I am so glad you found your way to TSM. It breaks my heart because I have a friend who is currently being sucked in by AA and I really think it is doing irreparable damage to her. I don't think she has much of a drinking problem to begin with, but more of a depression problem. She is rather fragile in her sense of self-worth and I think she likes having a group tell her what to do and think. I wish I could share your post with her, but I think she will refuse to acknowledge it
BTW, I was also on effexor for a bit and it was a DISASTER for me as well. Now I'm on zoloft (after a few other trials and errors) and it's great. It's not necessarily that your doctor was an idiot - anti-depressants are really hit or miss on an individual basis. But I'm glad you are feeling much, much better.

Wow, Curi - thank you so much for that powerful, well thought-out post. You're an inspiration.



WHY??? It really is troubling that faith-based approaches are so ingrained for addiction treatment. I'm so sorry you had to go through what you did when you were in your group.

When I first started seriously reading about high-functioning alcoholics, I picked up a book called Understanding the High-Functioning Alcoholic by Sarah Allen Benton. The poor woman was just like all of us here - struggling badly with the sauce, and willing to try anything to get herself together. She ended up getting sober through "working the steps" and I suspect that she was looking to rediscover her spirituality all along (which is perhaps why AA worked for her). However, I wonder what her book would've been like if she had found TSM...it makes me a little sad, actually.

Thanks again, Curi.

-Hesster

As an aside, my mother is taking neurontin, topamax, abilify, some other antidepressant, lyrica and loritabs. I suspect all the drugs may have contributed to her faulty logic and suicide attempt.

The only time I ever dealt with AA and had to parrot the BS back to them, I was in a court mandated situation. I thought it sucked. I was paying money for the equivalent of a witch doctor. Really. The guy meant well, but for all intents and purposes, I would have done just as well with a witch doctor....

Hesster, what's bad is being sentenced to that nonsense.

Thanks for putting the post back up! It reminds me I am not alone in my frustration. I lost ten years. But there is always tomorrow!