Alternative to AA?

catsmeow1972, BSN, RN · Oct 24, 2016

It's part of the contract. The one that I feel i was coerced into signing. Y'know, the one where you are scared out of your mind and the full implications of what you are committing to are not even remotely discussed.

I'm not saying a contract was or was not necessary. Some stips in it are actually not unreasonable given my situation. It, however is the standard boilerplate document that seems to be given to everyone. I am treated like I have addiction issues even though it could not be further from the truth.

While i may have private thoughts about the ___ Anonymous thing, I do respect those who find a home there. For me it is forced socialization with people I have nothing in common with. As someone previously wrote, forcing attendance is removing the choice.

poppycat, ADN, BSN · Oct 25, 2016

I have to agree that it's ridiculous to force everyone into the same stipulations no matter what they're placed in monitoring for. I was put in a monitoring program because of a psych issue. At the time I signed my contract, I already had over 18 years of sobriety but because my psychiatrist included in her evaluation to the BON that I had a history of alcoholism (along with the fact that I had been sober 18 years), I was mandated to attend a minimum of 3 meetings a week. My alcoholism history had nothing to do with why I was in monitoring but they didn't care. They have cookie-cutter contracts & have to make everyone fit into the mold so they won't have to do any extra work.

I will always tell you that AA saved my life. I got to the point where I actually enjoy meetings & still go to at least 2 every week. That being said, I've never understood why the courts & monitoring programs mandate AA meetings. I don't blame people who are forced to go to meetings for being resentful or for reading or browsing on their phones during meetings. I would, too, if I was forced into something like that for no reason.

I'd love to try some of the other recovery programs, too, but even though I live in a large metropolitan area, there are very few meetings for any of them & none are anywhere near me.

catsmeow1972, BSN, RN · Oct 26, 2016

I just thought of another example where the AA religious philosophy has leached into the nexus of the monitoring program. My nurse support group, that I attended up until recently always closed with holding hands and reciting the Serenity prayer. I attended that group long enough to get to know and respect those folks, but once again, prayer is not something that should be coerced to retain my state issued license. Shoot, i think "coerced prayer" is an oxymoron.

The other thing that got me was that I do not like any kind of uninvited touchy-feely kind of stuff. I could suffer through 6 seconds of hand holding but that is about it. i go to the meetings and i slip in after start and slip out before the end so i don't have perfect strangers coming up and hugging me. Blecccchhhh.....I don't want strangers touching me, uninvited and people that smell like smoke (which many do) make me nauseous.

catsmeow1972, BSN, RN · Oct 27, 2016

In the horrible, nighmarish, mind****ing experience of so-called "rehab" that I was forced into, the 12 step stuff was rampant. With my "ailment" if you will, there is no doubt i needed some kind of help. I don't argue that point, however this was not it.

On a daily basis, we were dragged to some kind of 12 step meeting, some of them located in some pretty seedy areas. On Sundays it was required to go to a "spirituality" session, where we all were screamed at by some bible-thumping woman who fancied herself some kind of pastor. Sounds pretty religious to me. Incidentally, there was a person that was a devout Roman Catholic, who was denied going to Mass. "Spirituality was a sufficient substitute." Yeah, no it's not..

Oh and some where in there it was decided that i had an eating disorder (because I'm fat and had weight loss surgery in the past?) The recommendation was, you guessed it, Overeater's Anonymous meetings. I went to one. I refused to go back. The eating disorder issue miraculously disappeared. My shrink's response to that "diagnosis?" Something along the lines of male bovine excrement.

I think that bastardization of 12 step anything made even less sense than most versions. And, yes, there were religious overtones to it too. Hmmmm...Overeater's Anonymous as a requirement for a nursing license, said no one, ever.

I don't care for the "Celebrate Recovery" either, but at least they are unabashedly religious and straight up front about it. Can't argue with that.

RN2364 · Oct 31, 2016

AA is Annonymous..... My friend is my "sponsor" and meetings are held in my home........

dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2016

Oh man, I hadn't thought about Overeater's Anonymous in a while. I went to a few OA meetings while very anorexic, not really realizing that they are effectively prayer-driven Weight Watchers meetings. I did find another anorexic-bulimic chick -- we would go to OA, then go binge/purge at a buffet. I wonder how she is doing.

catsmeow1972, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2016

In that inappropriate joke of a rehab that i got forced into (manipulation anyone?) some girl said "you've had weight loss surgery, you must be a food addict." Wut!? That's quite the leap of logic.

I reckon it's just an example of the 12 step thing gone awry. As in without knowing ANYTHING about a person, assumptions are made that everyone is addicted to something and that a social activity with a religious bent will fix everything. um...nope.

My opinion, for what it's worth is that people find like company in all sorts of things....church, sports teams, AA...what have you. Even subtracting the prayer aspect, I rather think that forcing me to attend a 12 step function is akin to forcing me to be on a football team. I don't play the game, i don't understand the game and I hate the loud, crowded noisy atmosphere. I'm bored and would rather be doing almost anything else. So extending this logic, a condition for my state issued license is to engage in a useless activity that i don't understand and don't want to.

malamud69, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2016

In that inappropriate joke of a rehab that i got forced into (manipulation anyone?) some girl said "you've had weight loss surgery, you must be a food addict." Wut!? That's quite the leap of logic.
I reckon it's just an example of the 12 step thing gone awry. As in without knowing ANYTHING about a person, assumptions are made that everyone is addicted to something and that a social activity with a religious bent will fix everything. um...nope.
My opinion, for what it's worth is that people find like company in all sorts of things....church, sports teams, AA...what have you. Even subtracting the prayer aspect, I rather think that forcing me to attend a 12 step function is akin to forcing me to be on a football team. I don't play the game, i don't understand the game and I hate the loud, crowded noisy atmosphere. I'm bored and would rather be doing almost anything else. So extending this logic, a condition for my state issued license is to engage in a useless activity that i don't understand and don't want to.

I feel your irritation...I'd much rather read a good Dr. Seuss book than the bible or any of that 12 step dribble...anyway...it is the game to play to keep a license worked so hard for...Kafka only gets it at this point...someday perhaps the world will be rid of religion and especially the travesty called the 12 steps...until then many more human beings will suffer and even more will choose not to use their own frontal lobes