this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2025
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Stop Drinking

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This is a place to motivate each other to control or stop drinking. It is also a place for non drinkers to discuss and share.

We welcome anyone who wishes to join in by asking for advice, sharing our experiences and stories, or just encouraging someone who is trying to quit or cut down.

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In my home town I started a dual diagnosis group (for this with substance abuse and mental illness) and I wanted it to be based on DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) as I think its unique and can offer help in ways AA cannot. To start this program I spent a manic winter reading DBT books. I've found this book to be the most approachable and after almost a year of running the program I've found other agree. Good luck and good skill, I will not drink with you today. Remember to take your meds

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

can offer help in ways AA cannot.

When you read up on the history of AA, the original "higher power" was psychoactives:

Between 1933 and 1934, Wilson was hospitalized for his alcoholism four times. After his third admission, he got “the belladonna cure,” a treatment made from a compound extracted from the berries of the Atropa belladonna bush. Also known as “deadly nightshade,” belladonna is an extremely toxic hallucinogenic.

After taking it, Wilson had a vision of a “chain of drunks” all around the world, helping each other recover. This “spiritual experience” would become the foundation of his sobriety and his belief that a spiritual experience is essential to getting sober. It was also the genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Later, LSD would ultimately give Wilson something his first drug-induced spiritual experience never did: relief from depression. He would come to believe LSD might offer other alcoholics the spiritual experience they needed to kickstart their sobriety — but before that, he had to do it himself.

https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/alcoholics-anonymous-lsd-bill-wilson

That lead to AA, but what actually "cured" Bill W was LSD, because it messes with pattern recognition in our brains and can literally "break" the cycle of dependency.

But by that point AA was already up and running and in control it other people. People who didn't want a permanent cure. They wanted lifelong members to the program.

Modern AA won't fix the underlying reason people abuse alcohol, it just replaces alcohol with the meetings.

The root problem is depression, and depression is a rational response to modern society, because modern society is fucked.

[–] Altomes@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

I think I agree to some extent, but I do think that AA can help in a way that's helpful. There is value in any form of sobriety and if AA does replace the alcohol it does allow the brain time to rewrite neuro pathways. Obviously I agree that AA is lacking in it's breadth of working on the underlying issues such as trauma and mental health. I however find that my standpoint is if something is working for someone and is helping their life get better I'm not going to tell them they're doing sobriety wrong.