Swiff, Archmage (Green)Mar 27, 2021
Reminder that Alcoholics Anonymous is a Christian faith, not science, based organization that was founded in the 30s at a time when we understood almost nothing about the actual mechanical function of the brain and addiction, and that their 12 steps have become so ingrained in the US medical system and culture that most people and medical professionals dont realize there are other better researched options available now.
Show threadSwiff, Archmage (Green)Mar 27, 2021

Has AA helped some people, sure absolutely. But, call me a stickler, im very much not a fan of a program for overcoming addiction categorically claiming that anyone who the program doesnt work for just had something inherently sick and wrong about how they were born.

Maybe your Christian Group Huddle just isnt a one size fits all solution, dumbasses.

Show threadSwiff, Archmage (Green)Mar 27, 2021

“Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way.”

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccckkkkkkkkkkkk

Oooooffffffffffffffffffffffffff

Show threadOdo TournesolMar 27, 2021

@swiff plenty of more "scientific" paradigms for treatment have similar axiomatic nonsense at the bedrock. Look up ABA - a "treatment" for Autism that is still the primary in the West - and quotes from the founder if you want to make your skin crawl.

Psychology studies are mostly observational - expose people to a modality, track their success. It is hard to disprove psychological theories.

Show threadSwiff, Archmage (Green)

@dualhammers Oh to be sure, theres plenty of rackets taking advantage of people needing help.

Its just that AA is the biggest game in town, at least in the US, and is regularly recommended by doctors, medical professionals, and just the general populace: for many, myself included until relatively recently, the faith based parts of it are often not known, and its ubiquity gives the organization an air of legitimacy lesser known programs lack. Hence, the reminder

Mar 27, 2021 at 5:04pmWeb
Show threadOdo TournesolMar 27, 2021

@swiff Yep, it is true that ubiquity is a heuristic for validity our brain uses a lot and does not always yield the best choices.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/070674371205700604

Here's a review of psychosocial treatment systems - of which AA is one. The paper spends a bunch of words just explaining how difficult it is to compare effectiveness and collect good data