Originally Posted by
Tatsy 
Mike, the more I think about my meeting experiences and our recent discussions, plus your above post - I think the meetings have changed format and perhaps, are not as beneficial. I've said recently to both you and Lady Blue, had I experienced what you both did in meetings, then I may have benefited.
I resently read an article by a psychologist who specialised in alcoholism, written in 1963. His opinion was that the, then, current meetings had altered format and were more dogmatic, he referred to the original meetings, which he said involved back and forth discussions, much as you wrote above. Maybe some grass roots thinking could help some folks more?
Edited to add: Mike, have you heard about the "Back to Basics" AA meetings and if so, do they involve more interaction?
Back to Basics is a class room setting. It runs to a strict format for one hour. At the end there is time for questions, but it does not develop into a discussion.
Interaction is encouraged between newcomer and sharing partner/sponsor, who work together between the meetings to get the steps done. The format takes all twelve steps in four weeks, and strangely, at the ones I attended, there were always way more newcomers wanting to take the steps than there were sponsors willing to help them. This is tragic on several levels.
Possibly it is the influence of the rehab industry. In my how town, rehab became a subtsitute for the steps, and there are an awful lot of long term members who do not know how to take someone through the steps. They just did the rehab treatment which might have involved some steps, and then went tol ots of meetings as instructed.
I digress. In b2b the idea is that the newcomer will return as a sharing partner and help some one else through the steps, therby completing the steps.
The format is based on a practice of some groups in the 1940s. They seemed to have a good success rate at the time.
I should add the rider that these groups are not particularly popular among the AA establishment, hence more newcomers than there are sponsors willing to help.
My guess is they are unpopular because they show up the lack of knowledge of the older members. This was the case for me. I learnt a great deal through the classes. Many of my contemporaries simply refused to be involved- contempt prior to investigation, or pride perhaps?