DriGuy said:
I think the problem lies not in the programs we try, but in ourselves, and it's likewise in ourselves where the solution is found. Programs may help to facilitate that inner motivation, but it is the alcoholics themselves who finally find it, and through trial and error, learn how to capitalize on it. It's also possible that some alcoholics are beyond help. I don't know if this is true. I also don't know that it's not true. But if alcoholism is truly a disease, we know that not all diseases can be cured or even arrested.
I really believe this. The program itself is not the solution. I know that for me, the motivation HAD to come from within. Otherwise no program in the world would have helped me one bit. When I first stepped into an AA meeting, and started outpatient treatment, I had already fully surrendered to the knowledge that my life was unmanageable. I had done step 1 already without really knowing it. But when I saw those steps on the wall at the AA club (first time I had seen the steps) I knew I was in a place that could offer me the kind of help and support I was going to need to stay sober. The steps and the program didn't get me sober. I did that, by not putting alcohol in my body for over 4 years now. But the program gives me the tools, and a framework, and the human connection to other people who "get it." Could I have gotten and stayed sober without it? Maybe. The day I had my last drink, I truly felt that I was just DONE. It was a shift I felt in my whole being, that I had never felt before. But until I walked into the AA meeting 4 days later, I was still scared that I might not be able to do it. Once I started hearing stories of people who had been where I was, or even lower, I felt relieved, optimistic, and, dare I say it, almost happy. They had what I wanted, and could help me actualize it in my own life.