Pigtails

Hi everyone, I usually post in Newcomers to Recovery (I am currently 13 days sober) but I've been thinking about something related to alcoholism/AA so I thought I'd post here.

Yesterday I was reading Playboy (I'm a straight woman and I honestly like the writing!) and it contained comments about treatment for alcoholism, specifically AA. It was only in the Letters section and I hadn't read the issue that had a piece about AA, but only the readers' response (apaprently the original piece was about how AA doesn't work for some alcoholics, and looked at options for medicine/drugs that help alcoholics stay sober, or something). One guy, who wrote a book called Undrunk: The Skeptic's Guide to AA, was saying that AA helped him despite all the criticism it gets about being too religious anda bout alcoholics needing spiritual help because they are broken and bad people, etc. I could really relate to what that guy wrote. Another guy, who writes a blog criticizing 12-step programs, said that AA is bad because it assumes alcoholics are dishonest, immoral, depressed people who need some brainwashed spiritual awakening crap to be able to change who they are.

I am new to AA but so far have found that it helps me stay sober much easier than I can on my own. I could relate to the "criticisms" that people who go to AA are depressed, dishonest, and immoral... because I feel like I was all of those things and am trying to change who I am to become a better person. I feel like alcoholism was one of my issues but I have others and that I need a radical turn-around with how I deal with life. I feel that AA so far helps me in all ways of my life and not just with not drinking. I do think there are elements of alcoholism that make an alcoholic lie and be deceptive and do things they wouldn't otherwise do. Am I totally off base here-- are there alcoholics who are upstanding, honest people? I don't necessarily consider alcoholism to be a moral/character defect but it seems that one problem can affect another and that dealing with issues by drinking makes it less likely that a person will be as mature, direct and hoenst as people who don't drink. Why is it such a bad thing if there is a program to help these people? Or is the foundation of the program totally biased because it assumes the worst in people/alcoholics?

I would really love to hear what other people think about this topic because as I explore my issues and my alcoholism, I keep getting tripped up on this chicken-and-egg type dilemma: Did I do all of these bad/wrong things because of alcohol, or did I drink too much because I was bad/wrong, or is it a bit of both??