Episode 112
In this episode we chatted with Sam Kent, Sobriety Coach and founder of Proactive Treatment. Sam has helped many of Hollywood's smarter set embark on a sober life once they leave rehab. For more information visit his website at www.slowbriety.com.
We spoke about Alcoholics Anonymous as a treatment modality and a means for helping people reclaim their lives. It seems that one of the central principles of maintaining a sober life is some connection to the divine. It doesn't seem to matter how you define it, you don't have to be Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Hindu; you only need to have some sense of a higher power.
Regardless of what type of higher power you believe or don't believe in there is no question that alcoholism and drug abuse are alive and well in our society.
Prevelance of Addiction in the U.S.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), there are an estimated 14 alcoholics in America. Conservative estimates indicate that there are over 2 million cocaine addicts and an estimated 1.3 million people are reportedly dependent on or abusing illicit drugs annually.
Abuse of prescription drugs to get high has become increasingly common among teens and young adults. Past year abuse of painkillers now ranks second-only behind marijuana-as the nation's most prevalent illegal drug problem.
In fact, the amount of five major painkillers sold at retail establishments rose 90 percent between 1997 and 2005. More than 200,000 pounds of codeine, morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and demerol were purchased at retail stores during the most recent year represented in the data. (That's about 300 milligrams for everyone in the country - you'd think we'd be more mellow.)
AA is Still Going Strong
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an informal society for recovering alcoholics. Members meet in local groups that vary in size from a handful to many hundreds of individuals. In 2001 there were 100,000 groups worldwide, making a global
community of more than two million recovering alcoholics.
The stated primary purpose of the society is "to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety." AA teaches that an alcoholic, in order to recover, should abstain completely from alcohol on a daily basis; the society in turn offers a community of recovering people who support each other by "sharing experience, strength and hope" and often by working he suggested Twelve Steps together.
Alcoholics Anonymous was the first 12-step program and has been the model or similar recovery groups such as Al-Anon/Alateen, Gamblers Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Sexaholics Anonymous, and Overeaters Anonymous.
Al-Anon and Alateen are companion programs designed to provide support or relatives and friends of alcoholics.
AA Began with One Alcoholic Helping Another
In the 1930s, when AA was founded, public opinion saw alcoholism as a moral failing, and the medical profession saw it as a condition that in many cases was incurable and lethal.
One contemporary doctor who would have a great influence on AA was William Duncan Silkworth, M.D, who specialised in the treatment of alcoholics. Silkworth believed that the two primary protectors of health -- reason and will -- were of no use against this disease.
AA was founded by Bill Wilson (on the left in the picture above), a Wall Street stock speculator, and Dr. Bob Smith, a proctologist ( that would drive anyone to drink) from Akron, Ohio, both alcoholics. The chain of events that led to the meeting of these men began in Europe, where American business executive Rowland Hazard sought treatment for alcoholism with the famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (brilliant man, just had difficulty with his glasses).
After a prolonged and unsuccessful period of therapy, Jung told Hazard that his case, like that of most alcoholics, was nearly hopeless —the only possibility for a cure was through spiritual conversion.
Back in America, Rowland Hazard joined the Oxford Group, a Christian Evangelical association. The group advocated finding God through a spiritual surrender, moral inventory, confession of defects, elimination of sin, restitution, reliance upon God, and helping others. (Bill Wilson later gave credit for the concepts behind Steps Three through Twelve to the teachings of Rev. Samuel Moor Shoemaker of the Oxford Group.
In keeping with the practices of the Oxford Group, Wilson found that his own sobriety seemed to grow stronger when he shared his personal alcoholic experience with other alcoholics. At one point Wilson was on a business trip in Akron, OH, and was tempted to relapse. In a hotel lobby, he decided to phone local ministers and ask if they knew of alcoholics he could talk to.
He eventually reached Oxford Group member Henrietta Seiberling, whose group had been trying to help alcoholic Dr. Bob Smith. Smith's last drink is said to have been on June 10, 1935—a beer to steady his hand for surgery
—and that is considered within AA to be the date of the founding of AA.
Wilson returned to New York, establishing a second group, he later revisited Akron and reviewed the movement with Smith. They estimated that by 1937, the two groups numbered forty recovered alcoholics with continuous sobriety.
In these early days, the basic program had developed from the works of William James, Dr Silkworth and the Oxford Group (from which the AA groups separated in 1937), although several of the Oxford Group's ideas and attitudes were deliberately rejected, particularly any which would involve AA in theological controversy.
Wilson, with contributions from others in the groups including several atheists who restrained the religious content, expanded these principles and the final version of the Twelve Steps was completed by the fall of 1938. Ironically, it was the influence of those atheists that has helped AA endure because they left the understanding of God to each individual and this has allowed many who want to distance themselves from organized religion to still benefit from the program.
The book, Alcoholics Anonymous, was published in 1939 and has been a perennial best-seller ever since. While several titles for the book were proposed (including "The Way Out", which was already in use), Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob
finally settled on "Alcoholics Anonymous", and the fellowship itself took its name from the book.
Research on the Success of AA
Based on information from Dr. Mark Willenbring of the NIAAA, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Newsweek reported in their February 2007 issue that "A year after completing a rehab program, about a third of alcoholics are sober, an additional 40 percent are substantially improved but still drink heavily on occasion, and a quarter have completely relapsed."
In a 16-year follow-up study, Rudolf and Bernice Moos examined the effectiveness of clinical treatment and participation in AA. They reported that clients who had 27 weeks or more of treatment in the first year had better outcomes 16 years later. After the first year, continued clinical treatment had little effect on the 16-year outcomes, whereas continued involvement in AA did help. A conclusion was that "Some of the association between treatment and long-term alcohol-related outcomes appears to be due to participation in AA."
Moos, Mood, and Humphreys carried out a study of 1,774 low-income, substance-dependent men who had been enrolled in inpatient substance abuse treatment programs at 10 Department of Veteran Affairs medical enters around the U.S. Five of the programs were 12-step based, and five used cognitive-behavioral therapy. The 12-step programs were
found to be effective in terms of cost and recovery: over 45% of the men in 12-step programs were abstinent one year after discharge, compared to 6% of those treated by cognitive-behavioral therapy. In answer to the often-posed question as to which comes first, AA participation or reduced drinking, the study concluded that the answer is AA.
Tonigan's study found the largest benefit associated with AA attendance was increased abstinence, followed by reductions in alcohol-related consequences. The magnitude of these benefits did not differ between sites." A slight positive association was also found between AA attendance and increased purpose in life the study found that AA attendance was associated with psychosocial improvement.
Whether or not you find those results to be impressive, no one can deny that AA and its off shoots have saved the lives of countless drug addicts and alcoholics and allowed them to resume normal lives and to become succesful members of society again. When we asked Sam (who himself has 16 years of continuous sobriety) what he thought the keys to success were he said "Having some type of higher power, learning to have fun without drugs and alcohol and staying close to the program of Alcoholics Anonymous". Excellent advice for anyone who is serious about staying sober.
This product was added to our catalog on Friday 23 May, 2008.
