Brainwashing
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Mgm, AL
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Brainwashing
I hear it over and over again: AA is brainwashing. Well, I don't speak for anyone else, but my brain needed washing. The lying, the resentments, the stealing (physically and mentally), the denial and self-deception. I needed someone to give me a new set of life skills because the ones I had come up with had all failed. ALL of them. I hungered for direction that didn't include the insanity and chaos, the drama and the incomprehensible demoralization over and over again. I didn't want to be in those rooms--nobody deliberately hangs out in a meeting on a sunny spring afternoon on Saturday because they have nothing better to do, did they? I go because that is where I learn to deal with the surprises and the fools that travel the same lanes I travel.
Today I NEED those meetings to keep me sane and to keep me from killing myself or others. I need to wash my thoughts and develop an entirely new set of skills for living.
Brainwashing? When was the last time YOU put on clean inner-wear?
Today I NEED those meetings to keep me sane and to keep me from killing myself or others. I need to wash my thoughts and develop an entirely new set of skills for living.
Brainwashing? When was the last time YOU put on clean inner-wear?
Trudging that road.
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Seattle Wa
Posts: 6,840
Its funny you bring this up because that is exactly what I told a newcomer on another post when they said they didn't think AA was for them cause it was a cult and they brainwashed people.:rotfxko
DOS: 11/6/10
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Florida Panhandle, USA
Posts: 736
Don't cults encourage you to cut off all relationships outside their organization, and ask you to sign all your money over to the cult along with their worldly goods, and isn't there something about purple robes and Nike sneakers?
If by "brainwashing" they mean I'm in closer connection to my higher power, and I seek to do for and help others without selfish objectives, and I remain sober due to a vigilance involving honesty, growth, and self assessment, then I guess ya got me.
If by "brainwashing" they mean I'm in closer connection to my higher power, and I seek to do for and help others without selfish objectives, and I remain sober due to a vigilance involving honesty, growth, and self assessment, then I guess ya got me.
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 4,682
CBT (Cognitive behavioral therapy) is basically brainwashing too...i see a counselor every so often and it's good stuff...it's all about changing behaviour and trains of thought...
To make a real change their has to be consistent repetition in a simple format, in the beginning anyway then one can expand on that themselves...
Pretty obvious stuff now but i didn't see this before:-)
To make a real change their has to be consistent repetition in a simple format, in the beginning anyway then one can expand on that themselves...
Pretty obvious stuff now but i didn't see this before:-)
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Mgm, AL
Posts: 1,000
Most men and women that I've met in AA whom I would consider successful in their recoveries have tried everything else. I was told I could get off the elevator (shouldn't that be de-elevator?) at ANY floor on the way down, but I chose to ride it into the ground. Well, nearly, anyway.
I tried most of the other methods and can add to those that are chronicled in the Big Book on pp 31--ad infinitum. If any of them had worked, I wouldn't be here today. I ran out of ideas and options, so for me, AA was the only solution left (well, death was an option, but I didn't have the guts to do that). I WISH I could have mastered this disease by myself because I wouldn't have had to suffer the pain and humiliation of struggling all the way down.
Not every person that attends AA actually works the Twelve Steps, unfortunately, but those that do seem to have developed an attitude of patience, love and tolerance. Acceptance. They're on this and other forums and they're focused on principles, not personalities. Sharing their Experience, Strength and Hope (as encouraged to do) with others still struggling with the disease of alcoholism. Don't be offended--most of them are just grateful to be alive and of service to someone--or anyone.
My point in all of this is that there's no one right way for me to drink, and there's no wrong way for me to stay sober. AA happens to scratch all my itches--and has shown me some I didn't know needed scratching. It may not be your choice, but it'll always be available in the event one runs out of options. Or HOPE.
I tried most of the other methods and can add to those that are chronicled in the Big Book on pp 31--ad infinitum. If any of them had worked, I wouldn't be here today. I ran out of ideas and options, so for me, AA was the only solution left (well, death was an option, but I didn't have the guts to do that). I WISH I could have mastered this disease by myself because I wouldn't have had to suffer the pain and humiliation of struggling all the way down.
Not every person that attends AA actually works the Twelve Steps, unfortunately, but those that do seem to have developed an attitude of patience, love and tolerance. Acceptance. They're on this and other forums and they're focused on principles, not personalities. Sharing their Experience, Strength and Hope (as encouraged to do) with others still struggling with the disease of alcoholism. Don't be offended--most of them are just grateful to be alive and of service to someone--or anyone.
My point in all of this is that there's no one right way for me to drink, and there's no wrong way for me to stay sober. AA happens to scratch all my itches--and has shown me some I didn't know needed scratching. It may not be your choice, but it'll always be available in the event one runs out of options. Or HOPE.
"Modem-to-modem or face-to-face, A.A.'s speak the language of the heart in all its power and simplicity." Foreword to The Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 267
skg - Great post! What does "focused on principles, not personalities" mean? Tonight is my first AA meeting and I read about that in a "First Meeting" guidebook but I don't know what that means or how it applies. Can you please explain it?
i've done my almost
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 1,934
Originally Posted by GodsHolyWill 
What does "focused on principles, not personalities" mean? Tonight is my first AA meeting and I read about that in a "First Meeting" guidebook but I don't know what that means or how it applies. Can you please explain it?
Principles, not personalities basically means to focus on the message, not the messenger.
AA has only one requirement for membership - a desire to stop drinking. B/c there is only this one requirement and b/c alcoholism can strike anyone (regardless of race, sex, class, etc...) you're going to get a nice sampling of all sorts of people in AA.
Listen for the message and the similarities and you'll do just fine.
Kjell~
Trudging that road.
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Seattle Wa
Posts: 6,840
Great answer Kjell, my sponsor told me, and mind you I had 5 years at the time, that even if I had to close my eyes at a mtg to do it so I didn't see who was speaking. The only hard part about that was after 5 years I pretty much knew most of their stories and voices.
I try to tell myself that everyone has a right to be there and that many of them had huge crosses to bear before they arrived and some still for awhile in recovery.
I try to leave the judging to God, as it is not my job
Happy St. Paddy's Day
I try to tell myself that everyone has a right to be there and that many of them had huge crosses to bear before they arrived and some still for awhile in recovery.
I try to leave the judging to God, as it is not my job
Happy St. Paddy's Day
Last edited by newby1961; 03-17-2011 at 09:57 AM. Reason: punctuation
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
Hmm...
some people must have been in better mental state than I was...
it took me months before I heard and retained anything
said during any meetings..and I went at least daily..
I just figured my brain was too saturated and needed time
to re adjust to sober thinking....turns out I was correct...
some people must have been in better mental state than I was...
it took me months before I heard and retained anything
said during any meetings..and I went at least daily..
I just figured my brain was too saturated and needed time
to re adjust to sober thinking....turns out I was correct...
Laozi Old Man
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 6,665
Originally Posted by Zencat
There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance.
-Hippocrates
-Hippocrates
-Kierkegaard
Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 411
If I've been brainwashed by AA, let's look at what I've gained:
- Freedom from the need to drink
- A wonderful community in which I feel supported
- A number of great sober friends
- As an atheist, a conception of a "higher power" that allows me to draw strength from the vision of the better person I want to be
- A hot sober boyfriend who I met at a meeting
Here's what the "brainwashing" process has relieved me of:
- A couple bucks per meeting in the basket
- Time spent going to meetings
- Energy doing service
That's a tradeoff I'm more than happy to make, whether I've been brainwashed or not.
GG
- Freedom from the need to drink
- A wonderful community in which I feel supported
- A number of great sober friends
- As an atheist, a conception of a "higher power" that allows me to draw strength from the vision of the better person I want to be
- A hot sober boyfriend who I met at a meeting
Here's what the "brainwashing" process has relieved me of:
- A couple bucks per meeting in the basket
- Time spent going to meetings
- Energy doing service
That's a tradeoff I'm more than happy to make, whether I've been brainwashed or not.
GG
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