Praying....there are several reasons that a person will avoid going to AA (or any such type of treatment)..... these are a couple that come to mind:
1) Know that all alcoholics (addicts) feel enormous guilt and shame (down deep)....and that plays on their self esteem. It is very hard to walk up to a group of strangers and say---"ok....paste a label on me so that the whole world can know that I am a slacker". The term alcoholic still has a negative connotation to the population at large.
Sort of like---goi ng to the m eet ings makes their worst fear "real".
2) Straight up going to meetings and working the program mean that they will be asked....and, expected....to give up alcohol.
An alcoholic would rather fact the necessity of giving up air.
I just recommended that Bob1 read the posting that can be found in the section called "Classic Readings"...in the stickies at the top of the main page. It is called "10 ways to know that an Addict or Alcoholic is full of crap".
Also, I suggest the articles written by Floyd P. Garrett, M.D.====you can find them by a google search. There are several, but you might expecially benefit from: "Excuses Alcoholics Make" and "Addictions, Lies and Relationships".
I love his articles....as they do as good a job as any that I have ever read in explaining the psychological dynamics of the "alcoholic mind".......
dandylion