Moderation Management
MM has come up on the fora here from time to time, so I visited their website to check it out. Not because I am interested in trying moderate drinking - that ship has sailed - but I wanted to see what they were pedaling. I went there with a let's see what this bullspit is all about attitude, not a fully open mind. I am familiar with the tragic story about the founder (Audrey Kishline) and my own numerous attempts at moderation/control. I was on a snake oil hunt.
I did not find snake oil. I came away with some appreciation for their program. It is secular and rational, and may be helpful to some people. They fully admit their program is not for everyone and that 30% of the people that try MM eventually move to an abstinence-based program. I could not find any references to a specific (or recommended) abstinence method on their site.
It got me wondering if I had tried MM years ago if I would have concluded sooner that I needed abstinence. I kept trying my own moderation programs, thinking I would come up with some set of restrictions that worked. Perhaps if I had tried a more regimented approach like MM when it failed I would have moved toward abstinence sooner than I did. Can't turn back the hands of time, of course, but I can't rule out that it might have helped convince me earlier there was only one drinking program I can control - the zero consumption method.
I had previously discounted MM based on my assumption that it did nothing but convince people who can't control their drinking that they can - putting them in potentially dangerous situations. It very likely has that effect on at least some of the members, but now I can conceive of situations where it might also be helpful.
Thoughts?