Aa As A Recovery Program example essay topic

Alcoholism is a disease that can be treated by supporting the addicted individual through a recovery program known as Rational Recovery. Many people feel that alcoholics should be punished for having a problem. They should be forced into admitting they have a problem before they are allowed to be treated. I believe they should be supported and they should know it is not their fault. They have a disease that cannot be helped. This program is the alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) which is the current accepted program of recovery.

Rational Recovery acknowledges this fact and suggests a new approach to alcohol addiction and recovery. This program was developed by Jack and Lois Trimpey in 1986 as a substitute to AA. The main point of RR is to have an option other than AA (Trimpey). It is the self-proclaimed "antithesis and irreconcilable arch-rival of Alcoholics Anonymous" (Kurnit). According to Trimpey, "There really isn't any such thing as an 'alcoholic,' except at AA meetings where they label themselves such. It is a folk expression to describe a person who drinks too much for his / her own good".

The first time anyone started hearing the term alcoholic was at an AA meeting. This term is now thought of as a bad thing that could be prevented by the individual if they would have just tried hard enough. This is not true at all; they have a disease that was never their fault. When Trimpey introduced the concept of RR, it marked a "major breakthrough in the field of alcohol addiction" (Trimpey).

Although it is still not accepted today over AA, it is a very valuable tool in overcoming addiction and one of the most effective programs available. It is also extremely easy to learn. It is not a 12-step program like most of the recovery programs today, including AA. It is a Non-Higher Power approach to the treatment and prevention of alcohol addiction (Trimpey), unlike AA, whose program is based on a Higher Power while you attempt to complete the unreasonable and faith-based 12 steps (Stallman). Many don't believe in using AA as a recovery program because they think it has the same characteristics as a cult. Trimpey says, "AA is a cancer on the soul of the nation".

Trimpey is dedicated to having everyone who wants to achieve sobriety do so. He wants people to take his program so they will be helped. He wants to see as many people complete his program as possible because this means there is one more person out there who is no longer an alcoholic. You need to choose the right recovery program for you, not just assume AA will work for you and especially that it works for everyone (Vaughan 18). The only problem in choosing your own program is the addictive drinker will not be able to trust his own judgment at first and will probably think about joining AA because it is the accepted program at the time. This becomes less and less difficult as recovery continues (Vaughan 18).

It is typical to become frustrated when you don't achieve instant success by the program you choose (Vaughan 19). You may feel as if you should quit immediately, but you need to stay in the program. RR will help you overcome your problem, unlike AA. Most of AA's success statistics are based on the percentage of addicts who "actually tried" to help themselves. The statistics they give are unreliable because they are solely based on the people they felt actually tried, which I'm sure will always produce a high success rate since it is based on their own opinions. "Treatment 'success' is defined as no hospitalization for psychiatric or substance abuse treatment within 180 days of discharge from the treatment" (Galanter 221).

AA ignores this definition and only counts the number of people who "graduate" their 12-step program, not the ones who continue to stay sober (Kurnit). Vaughan says, "Getting drunk again means you didn't choose to do enough" (19). RR says there is nothing wrong with you that could prevent you from abstaining if you have an addiction problem (Trimpey). According to Whitehead, "The use of alcohol becomes a problem to only a very small proportion of the people who drink it" (1). However, it is used by two-thirds of the adult population in North America (Whitehead 1). You can teach yourself how to abstain because everyone is capable of learning.

Through AA they convince you that you have a problem if you cannot abstain right away and if you don't learn at the beginning, you will never make it (Trimpey). They also say that if you can quit on your own, then you never had a problem to begin with. With RR, they help you help yourself. Even if you could quit on your own one time, you still might have a problem and will continue to drink in the future. In RR you use the program to help make it on your own (Trimpey). Over 70% of the people who quit alcohol addiction do it on their own.

Even AA admits that 60% of their alcoholic recoveries take place on their own, without the help of the group (Trimpey). One of the problems with our society today, is they tend to use the accepted view most often because they are afraid to make a change and are worried it won't be worth it. They feel if everyone else is using AA, then it must work for them, but this is not always true. Also, courts and social agencies are rarely suggesting the simpler and more effective approaches because the addiction treatment industry is finding it to be much more profitable to send them directly to AA.

This allows the agencies to receive more money because they don't recover with AA. The alcoholic then has to go back to the courts and social agencies, so they will suggest another program of recovery (Trimpey). Through RR you don't need to use up valuable time from your schedule to attend extensive group meetings because there aren't any. Very few who actually recover from their substance addictions do it by attending these meetings (Trimpey). "The vast majority who look into Alcoholics Anonymous reject it out of hand because of its apparent religiosity and inbred social traditions", says Trimpey. The only thing you need to do in order to recover is to learn the skill of planned abstinence (Trimpey).

This part of RR is called Addictive Voice Recognition Technique (AVRT). This is an education on planned, permanent abstinence and is the only method ever developed specifically for the purpose of ending addiction (Trimpey). This program is also drawn from reality rather than higher knowledge. It is a training exercise in simple will power (Trimpey). Some people can figure this out by themselves and are in complete control over the decision to drink.

It can save your life, based on common sense, and is extremely simple. Learning AVRT can be tricky at first, but "It is simply a matter of choosing to do much more than seems necessary at first", (Vaughan 19). Although Trimpey created RR, he was not the inventor of AVRT. He just describes it as the, .".. Awesome potential of addicted people to take personal responsibility for lifetime abstinence and to become normal, healthy, independent people who simply never drink alcohol". This method is very successful because people can do what they want to do, and all they have to do is learn the technique of planned abstinence.

From there they are able to go wherever they want. In time it seems as if AVRT will be the preferred method of teaching how to abstain from alcohol. Most likely, this will not happen in the near future because AA has become the dominantly accepted way of going about recovery so a lot of people just assume it will work for them (Trimpey). AVRT has resulted in many recoveries from serious, long-standing addiction; many of which were completed without the help of anyone at all because of the programmed instruction on the internet (Trimpey). Results don't lie and this shows it is most certainly possible to recover completely on your own; without the help of a group or even God. The disease concept of the addiction, which is opposed by AA, is harmful to the addicts because they don't want to have personal responsibility for their action.

They want to believe it is a disease, and it isn't their fault they have it. They need to be supported by RR and not shot down by the support groups of AA (Trimpey). AA doesn't acknowledge the fact that it is a disease and it cannot be helped. As Vaughan puts it, "Drinking is not your real problem-it's only a medicine, the aspirin for your headache" (19). The real problem is the fact that you have a disease, a disease that is only curable by yourself. "The 12-step syndicate is a problem posing as a solution", according to Trimpey.

People don't need the support of the groups to remain sober and they most certainly don't need to change themselves in any way to avoid using alcohol again. AA is about "controlling people when they are down and out", said a man who brought a Rational Recovery book to an AA meeting and was harassed continuously to give up the book because they knew it was helping him and AA wasn't. He finally left and said he was glad he was free of their controlling behavior and lack of help for his addiction problem (Trimpey). The first step of AA is to admit that the addict was powerless over alcohol (Alcoholics Anonymous).

This will only hurt their chances of recovering. They need to know they have the power in themselves to overcome this addiction to alcohol. If they suggest that alcohol has power over them then they will never have a chance. Starting with the first step, AA hurts the chances of recovery for the addict.

The second and third steps want you to place your faith in God and believe that only a higher power could help you return back to sanity (Alcoholics Anonymous). Trimpey's program does not believe you need to give your life or even your will over to God in order to recover from you addiction. The addiction has to be helped by you and you alone. He's not saying that you shouldn't believe in God, but simply that you don't need to put your trust in God in order to help yourself. Once again the fourth step is wrong. It states that you need to take a moral inventory of yourself (Alcoholics Anonymous).

This is saying you have done something wrong that was within your control. Alcoholism is a disease and there is no way that you would be able to overcome that completely by yourself (Trimpey). You had no control over whether you would be able to stop when you wanted because you already had the disease inside you. Steps five, six, and seven also deal with God or another higher power.

They say they have admitted to God, themselves, and other humans that they were wrong and they are now ready to have God remove these harmful defects of their character. Step seven states they also need to ask God to forgive them for all of their shortcomings (Alcoholics Anonymous). Once more they bring God into the program when they should be helping the addicts help solve the problem themselves. They also have to admit to having character flaws because they have a problem, but it is not their fault, it is a disease that took them over. Their character is not the problem. Steps eight, nine, and ten deal directly with how the addicts have harmed other people.

It says they need to make amends with all of the people they have hurt because of their disease and continue to apologize for any future things they would possibly do wrong (Alcoholics Anonymous). These three steps definitely go over the limit of blaming the addicts for their problem. This would cause them to feel ashamed of themselves and to think that for the rest of their lives, they have to make up for everything they did while they were suffering from their disease (Trimpey). To me, this seems unreasonable. I don't think they should be blamed for what they did while they were under the influence of this disease. They should be supported by their family and friends for even trying to breech the cycle they have been spinning out of control in for years.

They shouldn't have to apologize for their unfortunate disease. Finally, the last two steps are also about God. You should improve your connection with God through prayer and meditation and by praying only for his divine knowledge and the power to carry it out. They also expect you to have had a spiritual awakening because of these steps and to practice the principles of AA in all of your affairs (Alcoholics Anonymous).

These expectations are also unreasonable. For one thing, the last step is designed to keep you in the program and try to help others, but your experiences won't help others, they have to figure it out on their own, not just try and make what someone else did work for them. Also, they once again bring God into the program. The addicts don't need God to overcome their addiction.

What they need is to find their own way through learning planned and permanent abstinence. What if you don't believe in God or any other religious faction? Are they going to try and kick you out of the program or refuse your entrance completely? With RR, you don't need to be a religious person at all. It wouldn't matter if you didn't believe in God or even if you worshipped the devil. These steps are highly unreasonable and should not be taken seriously by anyone.

Half of the steps have to do with believing in God and letting him take care of you by admitting that everything you did was wrong. The only way you could possibly get better was by putting complete trust in God because you would, of course, not be capable of handling the situation yourself. The only thing spiritual RR believes in is not spiritual at all. What I'm talking about is the human spirit (Trimpey). This is the sole driving force in RR. The human spirit is the only spirit any addict needs to believe in.

Anyone who believes in them self will achieve success in meeting their sobriety goals. Of course it won't come instantly, but if you believe enough in yourself and feel you believe in your own judgment, then you will make it through your disease and obtain permanent abstinence. AA is a highly irrational program that tries to push people beyond their recovery limits by forcing them to reach for unobtainable goals. The individuals need to be supported and realize they are the only ones who can truly help cure their disease. The only way they will overcome their addiction is to acknowledge the fact that it is a disease and that it cannot be helped by any support group or even by God himself.

You have to want to achieve sobriety and want to learn how to practice planned abstinence. "Recovery from a drinking problem requires a change of living habits and changes of thinking habits", (Vaughan 72). This is a fundamental fact to the process. There is no question about this. You can do it on your own. It is not your fault.

All you need to do is put a little faith in yourself and learn how to practice planned, permanent abstinence. Whitehead, Paul. Alcohol and Other Drugs. Toronto: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1973. Galanter, Marc. Recent Developments in Alcoholism.

New York: Plenum, 2001. Vaughan, Clark. Addictive Drinking. New York: Viking, 1982. Kurnit, Scott. Alcoholism. about. com.

12 Nov. 2002. Rational Recovery... Trimpey, Jack. Hall medicine. com.

13 Nov. 2002. Rational Recovery... Stallman, Richard. Wikipedia. org. 13 Nov. 2002. Rational Recovery...

Trimpey, Jack. Rational. org. 12 Nov. 2002. Rational Recovery... Recovery. org.

21 Nov. 2002. The 12 Suggested Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.