My issue with Narcotics Anonymous

[Final Escape]

I think it can work for young people who can still start over, or people who are trying to salvage their marriage, career, or doing it for their kids. Or for those trying to maintain their sobriety. If you don't have nothing to gain besides sobriety, that's not going to be enough of a reward to keep u from not wanting to be an addict.

I went in with high hopes at first, not sure why lol! I briefly entertained the thought of trying to lead a more socially acceptable life but then I remembered what that means. It's like a trade off in suffering. I've decided in my personal circumstance, that ctb is my best option. Its like a tragic option but I dont see any other not miserable option.

 

[LadyAbandon]

I think it can work for young people who can still start over, or people who are trying to salvage their marriage, career, or doing it for their kids. Or for those trying to maintain their sobriety. If you don't have nothing to gain besides sobriety, that's not going to be enough of a reward to keep u from not wanting to be an addict.

I went in with high hopes at first, not sure why lol! I briefly entertained the thought of trying to lead a more socially acceptable life but then I remembered what that means. It's like a trade off in suffering. I've decided in my personal circumstance, that ctb is my best option. Its like a tragic option but I dont see any other not miserable option.

I know exactly what you mean.

Right now I'm trying to decide between ctb and Narcotics 'R Us....lol, that is, the opposite of going to NA, when you just dive in and say fuck it. Literally the only times these days that I'm not envisioning or rehearsing my own death are when comfortably wrapped in a big fluffy blanket of heroin.

 

[weargon]

Are they also all 12 step religious higher power bullshit just like AA? God I hate those programs lol.

 

[Final Escape]

Are they also all 12 step religious higher power bullshit just like AA? God I hate those programs lol.

Yes, and yet I still can't bring myself to be a believer. Even though I understand the value of religion for people. I suspect I was spiritually broken by my childhood and I've not been able to recover. That's the only explanation of why I struggle with the idea of God.

 

[weargon]

I don't know if having a characteristic of a working mind warrants the use of the word broken. We're all born atheists anyways.

My biggest issue with AA and similar meetings is that they pretend they're not religious while literally shoving a bible down your throat and asking to sing koombaya while holding everyone's dick beaters in a circle.

The other issue I have with it is how nobody ever takes accountability for it. The higher power stuff pisses me off. Everyone needs to accept accountability for their actions so they can practice controlling them. I've never seen a bigger and more pathetic group of loosers than I have at AA. Giant obese fat balding men sitting crying about how AA is their life and how without AA they'd have nothing. How they're so happy they get to go to 2-3 meetings a day and cry to each other. It's depressing AF lol.

 

[Ruffian]

Good thread. There's a lot of research now on how toxic these fellowships are, especially women. In the US, if you get arrested you can refuse a 12 step fellowship based on religious grounds. I have court soon and I'm thinking about going to jail for the time I could get in rehab. I know someone who did this, and I think if more people are willing to do it, things could change. Yeah, I hate all 12 step fellowships. There's a documentary on Amazon Prime about the 13 th step and how truly disgusting it is.

 

[weargon]

Do you remember the name of that documentary? I'd love to watch it. I think you get less jail time than rehab time anyways, so it's not always a bad tradeoff, depending on how you look at it.

I refused to go to their meetings because of religious bs, and they actually called my program and complained that my non conformity was toxic to their meetings. The program just kind of pretended I kept going to them because they had no better options. They offered me to go to a very small (almost like 1 on 1) "secular" meeting, which funny enough was run by a priest, so I laughed and refused that one as well. They had no other alternatives for me, because obviously I wasn't about to go 50-100 miles away each time I had to attend that bullshit.

 

[LaBrava]

I believe that there's research out there that shows that the long term success rates for AA/NA are very low - any other treatment with such a low rate would never have the government approvals that it has. It's a model that works for a narrow range of individuals but fails many others, but its ubiquity has crowded out other types of treatment. AA's model of addiction and its methods were never very scientific as I understand it and are by now very dated but it's so established now that it continues to dominate. Fortunately for me addiction isn't among my many issues so I've no experience with it, but the arguments from AA critics sound credible.

 

[weargon]

It's not just low, it's non existent. As in, it does't actually have any higher success rates than people quitting things on their own. The reason it's so pouplar is because America has so many uneducated superstitious religious people. Such as @EddieAllenPoe who is a religious troll that tries to sway everyone here into thinking about magical nonsense rather than science or reality.

 

[Final Escape]

I've decided I might actually try the program. I see many people that have succeeded especially the men. Often the men in there share their stuff the most which I thought was interesting. It's usually women that are thought of as being able to express themselves and like to be chatty. Not in the meetings. It's the men who say all this heartfelt, deep, complex, well spoken ,entertaining roughly 5 min talks. They like to talk lol! Anyway I guess you won't know if the program works for u unless u actually get a sponsor with some experience.

To be able to stay on track with goals and making changes, examining your weak areas. Letting go of resentments, blocks in your thinking, etc. I enjoy going to the meetings because the things people say is real shit. People go there and they are expressing honestly what they are going through and it's where u go if u want to be real with other people. I do recommend it, but u might want to go to different ones to find one u feel comfortable at and meet people who can help and support u.

 

[not_a_robot]

I think it can work for young people who can still start over, or people who are trying to salvage their marriage, career, or doing it for their kids. Or for those trying to maintain their sobriety. If you don't have nothing to gain besides sobriety, that's not going to be enough of a reward to keep u from not wanting to be an addict.

I went in with high hopes at first, not sure why lol! I briefly entertained the thought of trying to lead a more socially acceptable life but then I remembered what that means. It's like a trade off in suffering. I've decided in my personal circumstance, that ctb is my best option. Its like a tragic option but I dont see any other not miserable option.

You are so right. I left behind my "dirty" lifestyle a few years ago to come back to the "real world."
Every "normal" human interaction just reminds me of why I left the real world behind and got dirty to begin with. "Normal people" are sociopaths, just like dirty ones. They make me wish I could have just stayed dirty, I have merely traded one hell for another.

 

[Rez_MbChB]

I agree, only reason Im not a drug addict is b/c I am young and feel responsible to my patients. Only reason im not dead atm tbh is that I feel like I have to stay alive and help people. Self absorbed I know but eh isnt that all doctors.