I think I got my Catholic card revoked when I realized I was gay. I am a recovering alcoholic — nine years sober — and I feel the same way about Alcoholics Anonymous: that I’m a misfit, swimming in a snail-paced bureaucracy.
Little known fact: Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, took LSD and was an advocate for the drug in the 1950s.
It’s ignorant to think that people with mood disorders can just power through their days with the help of God and the steps. It just doesn’t work that way. Some of us need medication because of our conditions.
There is no cure for alcoholism. Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. It’s a chronic disease. But it can be confusing to some why us alcoholics always refer to ourselves as recovering even if we’ve been sober a long time. We alcoholics have dark pasts. Some of us have attempted suicide. Stolen. Ostracized people. Acted out sexually. Even exhibited violent behaviors. These acts can never be undone. So an addict or alcoholic is constantly in need of setting things straight.
A scathing article in The Atlantic dissects the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, pointing out its flaws and advocating for a more medical approach to treating alcoholism. I read the 8,000-plus-word piece so you don’t have to. And I’ve got to say, while she’s got some points here, I hardly believe her assessment of the AA program.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could all drink and use moderately?
