I'm going to take a punt at this; I've lived in a Therapeutic community for drug addiction. I lived there for 12 months and came out a better person. This was nothing to do with AA or NA or any of their affiliates. There was no religion involved. The whole thing was looking at why you do what you do, using the shared experience of other addicts. This sounds like what you are describing as where you were living. Not the correct environment for mental health issues.
You got very unlucky that AA were making an attempt to replicate a Therapeutic community (TC). AA and a TC use very different techniques, you can't just slam them together. TC is exactly that: Therapeutic. AA is just made up rubbish from a bunch of people who choose to surrender their personality to 'conquer' their addictions. They are snake-oil salesmen (AA/NA/CA). Their methodology has no grounding in scientific theory or models. It offers a blanket programme for people with very different issues. One size doesn't fit all when it comes to recovery.
Drink and/or drugs when taken to dangerous levels of use are a symptom of something wrong in the individual. They are the outcome not the cause. This is self medicating taken to it's extreme.
In a TC you get a 1-2-1 key-worker who helps you to resolve your individual issues. The community challenges your learned addict behavior, this is why it works. I know lots of people who have found 'recovery' through AA or NA. If I'm honest I find them all a little creepy and guarded. They take every opportunity to talk about the steps and recovery. It's like an addiction with those guys!
Me? I was a heroin addict for 18 years. I been clean for 6. Am I a recovered addict or a recovering addict? I'm recovered, I don't have a disease, and i don't need to climb fictional steps. The secret? I'd like to say 'I'm not that person anymore' Truth is, I am that person, it was all me, even if i view the addict as a separate entity.
At that time i was having a life trauma and drugs became my coping mechanism, once a drug like Heroin takes hold, thoughts get skewed and you truly 'lose' yourself. These days I use mindfulness and reflective thinking to cope with life's crazy curve balls.
those are my thoughts on addiction/recovery and the like.
I'm glad you found the right support to improve your mental health. Like i said; You got very unlucky to end up where you did. Chalk it up to experience, something you will look back on in years to come and ask with bemusement 'what the fuck was that about?'
Answer to your original post. I'd say AA are dangerous more than anything, They can make things worse. I've seen the results of their work.
Do you think that AA/NA is a cult?
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I'm going to take a punt at this; I've lived in a Therapeutic community for drug addiction. I lived there for 12 months and came out a better person. This was nothing to do with AA or NA or any of their affiliates. There was no religion involved. The whole thing was looking at why you do what you do, using the shared experience of other addicts. This sounds like what you are describing as where you were living. Not the correct environment for mental health issues.
You got very unlucky that AA were making an attempt to replicate a Therapeutic community (TC). AA and a TC use very different techniques, you can't just slam them together. TC is exactly that: Therapeutic. AA is just made up rubbish from a bunch of people who choose to surrender their personality to 'conquer' their addictions. They are snake-oil salesmen (AA/NA/CA). Their methodology has no grounding in scientific theory or models. It offers a blanket programme for people with very different issues. One size doesn't fit all when it comes to recovery.
Drink and/or drugs when taken to dangerous levels of use are a symptom of something wrong in the individual. They are the outcome not the cause. This is self medicating taken to it's extreme.
In a TC you get a 1-2-1 key-worker who helps you to resolve your individual issues. The community challenges your learned addict behavior, this is why it works. I know lots of people who have found 'recovery' through AA or NA. If I'm honest I find them all a little creepy and guarded. They take every opportunity to talk about the steps and recovery. It's like an addiction with those guys!
Me? I was a heroin addict for 18 years. I been clean for 6. Am I a recovered addict or a recovering addict? I'm recovered, I don't have a disease, and i don't need to climb fictional steps. The secret? I'd like to say 'I'm not that person anymore' Truth is, I am that person, it was all me, even if i view the addict as a separate entity.
At that time i was having a life trauma and drugs became my coping mechanism, once a drug like Heroin takes hold, thoughts get skewed and you truly 'lose' yourself. These days I use mindfulness and reflective thinking to cope with life's crazy curve balls.
those are my thoughts on addiction/recovery and the like.
I'm glad you found the right support to improve your mental health. Like i said; You got very unlucky to end up where you did. Chalk it up to experience, something you will look back on in years to come and ask with bemusement 'what the fuck was that about?'
Answer to your original post. I'd say AA are dangerous more than anything, They can make things worse. I've seen the results of their work.