GracieLou

This is true of any recovery program. You get what you put into it.

If you sit in denial isle or inventory row picking your nose or playing with your cell phone the entire hour then you will not get nor remain sober.

That is on you, not the program.

Boleo

Is denial isle where the shoes are?

Loafers, Sneakers, Slippers & Flip-flops.

desypete

35 years and there are only 9 of you left in your area after 35 years ? thats the point i am making why isnt there 139 or you guys around or more ?
if it was a business i would of gone bust years ago with such a low turn out of sucess

GwenCummings

What is the success rate for untreated alcoholism? Let me see... Pick a number..... I would say 100% prematurely dead.

I think AA are the good guys in this scenario. X

Carlotta

You got it wrong

IOAA is talking about a meeting not an area

PurpleKnight

I don't think that it is inevitable that they will be increasing in meeting numbers, in a similar way the quick turn around of SR members is staggering, I welcome people everyday of the week, but the core group of regulars increases at a very very low rate, plus that doesn't account for all those that are successfully Sober but don't log in or attend meetings, people can change up their method of support.

How many of us used to wake up with a hangover and decided they want to do something about their drinking, then by bedtime we were drinking again? People's intentions can change very quickly, many of us struggled with finally getting Sober, so here today, gone tomorrow at meetings is to be expected.

People for all manner of reasons may not stick with any method of support structure for their drinking, but the fault lies with the individual not sticking at it rather than AAs fault for not being exciting enough etc!!

PaperDolls

desypete -- does AA seem to be working for you?

SoberCAH

I have been going to meetings since 1988 and have stayed sober since I went into treatment for my drinking and using at that time.

I have never seen anyone keeping statistics on anything in AA, with the exception of some folks who trickle through to get their tickets punched for a judge.

If someone is compiling statistics, I don't think it's right to count, as an AA failure, people who go to AA for a brief (i.e. less than a year) period and then quit.

I went to an ACOA meeting once and didn't return.

Should I be counted as an ACOA failure?

I took a yoga lesson and didn't return.

Does that diminish the efficacy of yoga?

When someone stops attending AA meetings, is that counted as an AA failure?

If so, how?

I don't trust the statistics that I see and hear bandied about.

thotful

One major reason to conduct statistics would be to define the best thing to do. This is against the principles of AA, in my opinion. We're not told that there is only one way to sobriety (AA isn't the only path out there).

That's why personal growth is what is important.

I would not say to a person, "your success rate will be better with AA than doing nothing" -- I talk about myself and what works for me, because that is the only thing I can guarantee. This program has worked for me and I'm sober for 2 years - if I relapse and die, does that mean that AA failed? What about the value of the sober years? How do you quantify that?

In my personal life, I seriously doubt I would have accomplished sobriety without AA and without the fellowship.

That doesn't mean what has worked for me will work for everyone.

THe reality is IMHO, I don't actually know what's best for everyone. It's a lot of work just to figure out what's good for me. I tell my story and offer other alcoholics the opportunity, but AA isn't for people who need it (hence making the stats, etc) - it's for people who WANT it.

Let's ask this for arguments sake (set aside the above) - what's the survival rate of alcoholics in general - how long do they live?

You see - we have something that hasn't been measured. Where did this supposed 1-3% come from, really?

It's irrelevant to me, though - change the stats from 1% to 0.1% to 50%, I'm still living a life of sobriety and loving it. Each and every day of sobriety is a success. Not, you need 10 years before I honor any success - what BS. Today is what I'm focused on. TODAY.

Just my opinion, of course.

nandm

This topic comes up periodically and each time I both laugh and cringe inside because it is so ridiculous to think that there would be any way possible to gain statistics from an anonymous group. I have been in AA for 13 years now have friends with multiple years of sobriety all the way up to one with 52 years and neither myself nor any of them has ever been polled about AA's success rate which leaves me curious how these people who spout statistics regarding AA's success rate come up with these numbers. Do they just pull them out of thin air? Make their best guess? Say what they think sounds good at the time? Say what makes them look good? Do they think that it will make the program they are promoting sell better?

I have no idea what the purpose behind it is. All I know is that the program of AA was the only way I was able to find any long term sobriety and I tried many different methods over the years without success. Are all of those methods then failures? I don't think so. In my opinion those methods were just not the right ones for me just as AA is not the right program for some people, like Paperdolls. It does not mean AA is a failure. There is a reason why when I see someone struggling with alcohol I suggest that they look at multiple methods of recovery and it is not because I don't think AA will work for them but rather that I respect the fact that they are an individual and what works for me may not work for them. It is too bad that others can not have that same respect for the program of AA. The people that it hurts most are the alcoholics who would have been helped by AA but did not try it because of some fool spouting made up statistics so they die an alcoholic death.

desypete

9 in one meeting ? so how many have been in that meeting over 75 years of aa ?
i am lucky i have about 10 memebers around my area with over 30 years in and the oldest around us is 50 years

they kept coming back and have seen them all come and go over all the years in my 10 years i have seen people come talk the talk as many do and then go so dont take my word for it look around you and see for yourself how many there are with anything like 20 years sober ? if its anything like my area then the score will be shocking low
but that isnt the point the point is aa can not keep hold of people as they leave out of every 100 only 2 or 3 will last over a 20 years period according to stats and i can back that claim up with what is happening across meetings all over the place

when i was just 23 i first came into aa i stuck around for 3 years thought i knew it all and cut back on my meetings until i stoped going as it was boring i knew all the shares backwards i could quote the book like a parrot, and the aa memebers beleved me and patted me on my head for being a good member although there was one or 2 who could see i was just talking the talk

anyway i left and after 15 years sober a drank again and ended up losing everything
i crawled back into aa with no money and i got looked after
sadly all those people who were around the area when i was just in my 20s were no longer there and there was just a handful of the guys i knew from my 20s still around
funny enough those guys who stuck around were also the same guys that did so much for me doing service work and working the 12th step etc so i follow there example these days as there living proof it works so like i say to anyone make the most of the time your in aa as chances are you will not be around in 10 years let alone 20 years unless of course you keep coming back and dont let aa go

least

My question exactly.

desypete

you mean the ones who dont help anyone else other than themselves in aa
i think the gso figures show its about 10% of aa memebers actualy do the work and the rest just attend meetings so maybe this has something to do with why people dont last long around the fellowship ?

desypete

of course it does and i work for aa it a 2 way thing

WhiteFeathers

In my experience (what I am experiencing in AA, that is) is that AA is a "finding god (HP or whatever)" program and not a "quit drinking" program. You find god by maintaining your sobriety and doing the steps. Therefore, I don't think you can measure the success of AA on length of sobriety, because that is not the chief aim. The chief goal of AA is the spiritual experience, which will then, in turn, help you to keep sober from alcohol (drugs, overeating, etc.).

Anyway, I have a hard time defining alcoholism treatment "success" as the length of time one remains alcohol-free. As AA would have it, if someone has a "slip" and has a couple drinks at a wedding or something, this would be called a relapse. When in reality, if an alcoholic manages (just) a couple drinks at a wedding after prolonged sobriety and then maintains alcohol abstinence, this could be seen as a giant success.

I, actually, would imagine that lots of AA members who leave don't go back to being alcoholics. They learn to moderate drinking.

desypete

you could be right in which case aa hats are off to them

how ever like i stated in my own case i went 15 years thinking i could do it on my own and ended up picking up the drink again and when i got back to aa my life was in a state worse than ever before
so in my view those who came and left will follow what i did and end up drinking again
i just hope there still alive and they still have a chance like i got

mick3580

Where are you getting your GSO reported statistics? I always thought they didn't keep track of such things. It would be helpful if you'd site your sources.

PaperDolls

If AA was working for you for three years and then it didn't and you went back out and now you're back in AA and sober are you considered a success or a failure?

What is the point of this thread?

jdooner

Serious question, not meant for you to answer or to shame you. Have you included AA on your inventory? If not you should. You may want to look at the turn around and your role in this resentment. If you can be real honest and conclude it is tied to your son's death I bet this is a good starting point on why you resent it so much.

To me desy, everything is tied to you being stuck at that moment in time. You have much fight, as do I. Sadness and pain are easily substituted with anger, at least for me. We lash out, as it's easier than grieving. But the steps don't work this way. We need to release to move forward. I think I am just getting this now actually. I need to release the lonely, scared, hurt kid inside me in order to move forward with my program. Yet, my will and mind have been the only things to save me. But have they really? How did I get here? This paradox is starting to crumble and the path is being shown to me by my higher power, not God. It has guided me and with this guidance is still pain that I need to endure.

I have never lost a child and I hope I never do. But I lost myself early on in my youth. And I have been lost ever since. I can't be alone in my own head and so I have become addicted to anything and everything that gets me out of my head. But to deal I have to release this boy who is terrified, bloody, left for dead.

I am sorry for your pain. I can feel it desy. But I hope you can release it and move forward. I hope my experience can help play some small role.

desypete

Committee No.6 | Conference Questions 2014 | Service | Members | Alcoholics Anonymous (Great Britain) Ltd

there is a link to some stats there working on at the moment in gso great brition i can not find the link for the info on how many members do service work or indeed the figures used for a success rate but it was there not so long ago i guess they update the site regular or if you want have a look around at conference questions