Religion Do you need religion to conquer addiciction

[beancounter]

Alcoholics Anonymous, Without the Religion
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/22/us/alcoholics-anonymous-without-the-religion.html?_r=0

Apparently not. Here's a secular AA group.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I can understand why people wouldn't want to join AA if they didn't believe in a higher power. AA is meant to have a very low success rate even though it is often the first organisation people associate with alcoholism.

 

[Blobbenstein]

I didn't know AA was associated with religion.

 

[SummerRain]

I didn't know AA was associated with religion.

Same here.

And answer to the OP... no. I know people who have overcome addiction without belief in God/religion.

I guess with all things, the idea that there's a greater plan and someone out there who cares about you/loves you no matter what, and watches over you, is a comforting and supporting idea. Especially for people without much love/support/care in their real/earthly lives. On a more suspicious note, it is also easy to convert people to your religion if you do so whilst helping/supporting them through a difficult period/low point. Lots of people turn to religion in times of crisis.

 

[Trinity]

I know two people who've found AA really successful. I don't know loads about it, although I am aware that they use spiritual principles within their 12 step approach, which sound pretty amazing to me... they don't sound religious though. These two people I know, certainly never mentioned that to me anyway.... in fact, I think they'd have run a mile if it was religious.

 

[ledboots]

They talk about a "higher power" in AA, not a specific religion.

Per wiki:
In current twelve-step program usage a higher power can be anything at all that the member believes is adequate. Reported examples include their twelve-step group, Nature, consciousness, existential freedom, God, science, Buddha. It is frequently stipulated that as long as a higher power is "greater" than the individual, then the only condition is that it should also be loving and caring.[5][6]

 

[Moll Flanders]

In current twelve-step program usage a higher power can be anything at all that the member believes is adequate. Reported examples include their twelve-step group, Nature, consciousness, existential freedom, God, science, Buddha. It is frequently stipulated that as long as a higher power is "greater" than the individual, then the only condition is that it should also be loving and caring.[5][6]

Yes, I thought the higher power bit would be well known but I looked it up just to check. It seems bizarre that a higher power seems like it can be "loving and caring" if it is nature or science?

 

[Trinity]

I can imagine if you are an alcoholic then having a connection with something 'greater' than yourself, something inspiring (whether it was Mother Earth, Buddha, God or whatever) would be really supportive, like an ever-present inspiration to focus on when times get tough.

 

[thefadedone]

There are some other groups that also follow AA's 12 step approach with the "higher power". Personally I find it a huge turn off to me since I do not believe in a higher power.

 

[Trinity]

There are some other groups that also follow AA's 12 step approach with the "higher power". Personally I find it a huge turn off to me since I do not believe in a higher power.

I think 'higher power' is pretty naff wording to be honest. It turns me off too (even though I am really spiritual).

 

[GingerFoxx]

The way I understood it was like you were supposed to surrender yourself to a higher power (whatever that might be) as in admitting that you are powerless to overcome your addiction alone. I don't like the idea of that because it seems to undermine personal responsibility and accountability.

 

[Blobbenstein]

but being honest about the power that one's addiction has over one, is sort of taking personal responsibility. Denying that state of addiction, and carrying on as one was, is not taking responsibility.

 

[thefadedone]

These are the original 12 steps:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

 

[Calliegirl]

Wow, I'm surprised that actually helped anyone.
Telling people they have defects and shortcomings that they need to ask a god to remove when they are already at their lowest point sounds a bit cruel. Rather then praying to be better and remove these so called defects, it would be more useful to find out the reasons contributing to the addiction and fixing those.

 

[Mr Crunchy]

To my knowledge, AA is not a covert attempt at proselytizing for any particular religion. You are perfectly free to invoke His noodly goodness, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, if that's what works for you.

But you also have to understand that the 12-steps of AA are grounded in the personal experience of the founder, "Bill". He had an epiphany, a religious "awakening", that somehow dispelled his desire to drink. He also found that helping other alcoholics helped him maintain his sobriety. And so on, everything he found that helped him was put into the 12 steps. It's not a panacea but it does help a lot of people. They've toned down the religious aspect and made it as vague as possible, but from the very beginning a sincere religious conviction of some sort was required in order to follow in the footsteps of the founder.

There are recovery programs that are totally secular and use a cognitive behavioral therapy approach to find strategies to avoid addictive behavior. There are no "anniversaries" and no guilt; if you fall of the wagon you are encouraged to return and share the experience and try to learn from it. I don't know how it's success rate compares to AA because the anonymity of AA makes it nearly impossible to track such data.

 

[thefadedone]

There are recovery programs that are totally secular and use a cognitive behavioral therapy approach to find strategies to avoid addictive behavior. There are no "anniversaries" and no guilt; if you fall of the wagon you are encouraged to return and share the experience and try to learn from it.

Now that approach sounds so much more appealing.

 

[SummerRain]

To my knowledge, AA is not a covert attempt at proselytizing for any particular religion. You are perfectly free to invoke His noodly goodness, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, if that's what works for you.

But you also have to understand that the 12-steps of AA are grounded in the personal experience of the founder, "Bill". He had an epiphany, a religious "awakening", that somehow dispelled his desire to drink. He also found that helping other alcoholics helped him maintain his sobriety. And so on, everything he found that helped him was put into the 12 steps. It's not a panacea but it does help a lot of people. They've toned down the religious aspect and made it as vague as possible, but from the very beginning a sincere religious conviction of some sort was required in order to follow in the footsteps of the founder.

There are recovery programs that are totally secular and use a cognitive behavioral therapy approach to find strategies to avoid addictive behavior. There are no "anniversaries" and no guilt; if you fall of the wagon you are encouraged to return and share the experience and try to learn from it. I don't know how it's success rate compares to AA because the anonymity of AA makes it nearly impossible to track such data.

That's really interesting. I know next to nothing about the AA, I've always assumed it was just a self-help/support group for people with alcoholism. But that kind of "X amount of years since I was an alcoholic" approach is something you see a lot in the media, but not something anybody I know who has overcome alcohol problems really does. Maybe it comes from the AA?

 

[Freesia]

I am very spiritual and believe in a higher power. However i dont know if belief in a Higher Power really can cut it if you have an addiction. You will be like "Yeah yeah, i know God loves me but I just want some of this vodka." Even if you get a little support from the Higher power, cravings can be pretty strong.

I think the community support and step structure of AA is probably the most helpful part.

 

[Blobbenstein]

That's really interesting. I know next to nothing about the AA, I've always assumed it was just a self-help/support group for people with alcoholism. But that kind of "X amount of years since I was an alcoholic" approach is something you see a lot in the media, but not something anybody I know who has overcome alcohol problems really does. Maybe it comes from the AA?

I think AA people have to admit that they 'are' an alcoholic, rather than that they 'were'....is that right? I think that is part of the being honest thing, that once you become an alcoholic you will always be one, even if you never have another drink.

 

[Blobbenstein]

I mean, that it may only take a drink or two to fall off the wand wagon, so being honest about the addiction is the best policy.