Re: Moderation and other issues (was: Digest Number 658)

[Guest guest]

>

> If my 13+ years of being " in and out " of AA have

> taught me anything, it is that I can drink in

> moderation consistently for several months. I can

> even abstain from drinking without AA for several

> months. What I cannot do is practice either

> moderation or abstinence for any extended period of

> time (a year or more) without consistent social

> support.

>

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Well, I accept your self-assessment and reality -- but what does it have to

do with AA? Your reactions to alcohol would be as is had you never attended AA,

no? AA didn't " teach " you to drink in moderation for several months, certainly?

And apparently didn't teach you to remain abstinent, either. Actually, AA

teaches just about nothing about how to either drink safely OR how to abstain.

AA teaches about confession and salvation and " spiritual awakening " of the

Pentacostal variety. Sobriety is merely a hoped-for side effect of all that.

But, as you say, there is the feeling of belonging to a group, which some find

very beneficial.

Am I correct that you live in the metro N.Y. area? There are several

chapters of SMART in the area -- have you checked them out? They may provide

the group support you seek, without the religiosity and dogma of AA.

>

> I am definitely an alcoholic, albeit of the

> " episodic/cyclic " variety, with a physical allergy to

> and a mental obsession with alcohol.

>

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That is AA/superstition talk. You may be an episodic alcohol abuser, but

where is there any evidence of an " allergy " ?? Allergic reactions are

consistent, not episodic. And mental obsessions can occur with anything, and

need not be " permanent " or " incurable " .

>

> By the way, along those lines, I applaud Audrey

> Kishline for creating Moderation Management. If

> anything, her " vehicular homicide " incident shows that

> her program, and the social support and belief in

> " self-efficacy " that it provides, can actually work,

> as that incident only occurred after she left the

> program she created with many years of allegedly

> successful moderation.

>

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I, on the other hand, have mixed feelings about the efficacy of MM as it

currently exists. For instance, though MM advocates an absolute of " don't drink

before driving " , what concrete strategies are offered? Does MM offer a list of

designated drivers willing to be on-call on scheduled days/nights for members?

Does MM advocate ignition-interlock Breathalyzers, and get them at a discount?

Without concrete harm-reduction strategies, MM is just a bunch of hollow advice

that anyone can tell someone else in a laundromat, etc. -- " Don't drink and

drive! " I also think it would serve the needs of its members more if the groups

were led by professionals, rather than being informal lay support groups. At

the very least there should be an open-minded professional psychologist willing

to be available for consultation for a member in crisis. As with AA, the

" forever non-professional " status has severe drawbacks, in that totally

untrained persons are giving inadequate and sometimes dangerous advice to

persons who really need professional assistance.

>The only

> reason I haven't started a local MM chapter is

> because, as a user of daily psychiatric medications, I

> don't qualify to be a member, nor would I want to risk

> the dangerous interactions highly probable between

> those medications and alcohol.

>

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I don't understand your last statement. Why would taking prescribed

medication disqualify you from joining MM, or any other support group for that

matter?

Also, please realize that MM never insists or even suggests that anyone

" ought " to drink -- abstinence is a perfectly acceptable lifestyle in MM, and

many if not most professionals consider moderation and total abstinence to be on

the same continuum. After all, to responsibly moderate, one has to abstain on

many occasions. Learning to not give in to urges is intrinsic to both

moderation and total abstinence. The big problem with AA in this is that it

does not teach people how to have an urge but resist it -- rather, it teaches

people to AVOID and FEAR urges, because it

assumes that no-one can possibly resist giving in to them! Small wonder that

AA'ers who are not sufficiently distracted from their drinking urges by

inventories and steps, etc., often go on binges!

~Rita