1. copyright Ed Young, Ph.D 1 PART XV The Question of Support Groups The Dynamics of AA As Cult Rather Than Therapy By Ed young, Ph.D.

2. copyright Ed Young, Ph.D 2 The Procrustean Bed of AA and the 12 Steps Procrustean Bed Neither one size, one recipe, nor one program suits all. Procrustean Bed

3. copyright Ed Young, Ph.D 3 You have to surrender your will to a higher power. You can’t win the battle against alcoholism by trying to use your will power. I am your sponsor. If you feel like you are falling off the wagon or have already fallen, call me to come help. Work your program and get your reward and recognition for the length of time you have stayed sober. We are all like you. We are all anonymous. The outside world looks down on you, but we don’t. Listen to our stories and see how horrible it has been for us and how horrible we have been. We understand. We’re all in the same boat together. No one else understands. Work your program, follow your twelve steps. Even if you don’t feel like it or don’t want to, follow it. We are backing you. Keep to the 12 steps and you will recover. Admit to the group you are an alcoholic. That is who and what you are. That is your identity. Never forget it the rest of your life. I surrender my will to my higher power. I admit I am an Alcoholic. I will depend on my sponsor and the AA group. I promise to keep our anonymity. I will follow the 12 steps to recovery and work for the recognition for staying sober as long as I can. AA Therapy Is Based on a Belief in External Locus of Control and Suppression of Symptoms AA

4. copyright Ed Young, Ph.D 4 The More the Person Feels Like an Outsider, Like They Don’t Belong, Like They Have to Hide Inner Secrets - the More They Use Projection and Imagine That Others Are Focusing on Them and Viewing Them in the Worst Light and Have Negative Feelings Toward Them. Oh my god, I’m an outsider, I’m different, I’m an awful alcoholic. I have to watch my every move and expression because they are all watching me. This is awful, so much pressure. I hope they don’t detect anything. God I wish I had a fix to get me through this!! Addict AA The outside world of non addicts

5. copyright Ed Young, Ph.D 5 A Translation Of The Inner Significance Of Seven Major Concepts Of AA 1. I surrender my will to my higher power. 2. I admit I am an Alcoholic. 3. I admit I have wronged a lot of people and must apologize and try to make it up to them 4. I will depend on my sponsor and the AA group. 5. I promise to keep our anonymity. 6. I will follow the 12 steps to recovery 7. I will work for the recognition from the group for staying sober as long as I can. 1. I give up trying to use my own judgement, to develop my ego skills and strengths, to learn to rely on myself, to test reality and learn from my mistakes. I accept the fact that I can not trust myself. 2. I accept as my self concept that I am an alcoholic, that everything about me is included under the shadow of the alcoholic self concept. This is an identity that is a stigma to the rest of society, so I am no good except to these other Alcoholics in AA. No one else understands or accepts me. 3. I apologize to everyone for being me and accept all of the blame. I don’t learn to understand and cope with the accident of my life history that helped shape me in this direction or confront those whose poor treatment funneled me in this direction. 4. I accept the fact that I have to be a dependent person, I have to depend on my sponsor and the group. I am like a child still dependent on its parents. I don’t try to learn to be emotionally independent and emancipate myself from dependence on others. 5. I accept my status as an outsider that has to belong to a group that has to hide itself from the world and admit I can not belong to the regular outside world. I accept the fact that I am different and no one is going to understand me and I have to hide my private self from everyone else and pretend to them that I don’t have these problems and that I am not as good as others. 6. I accept the fact that I can not look within myself and address my feelings and issues the way I see them and the way they seem important to me. I have to follow a regimen external to me and forget about trying to dig into my own twisted and dysfunctional ways I have learned to feel, perceive, intend, behave, talk, and be, and face these aspects of myself in my own time and way and try to grow and overcome them and become emotionally independent. I have to follow someone else’s plan, step by step, even if this way never reveals me to me. 7. I have to look to someone else’s rewards, to external recognition, to keep me going toward recovery. I can’t depend on intrinsic motivation or the intrinsic rewards I simply feel because I have gained insight, grown, faced old situations and replaced old behavior with new. I can’t rely merely on the joy of growing and learning to be a person, face and overcome my mistakes, and feel the excitement of having my new way of being and doing work for me.

6. copyright Ed Young, Ph.D 6 The Ego, Turning Away From the Inner Self, and Buttressed by the External Support System of AA Eventually Results in Success and Abstinence. In Actuality, This Weakens the Ego, the Guard Is Let Down, and With Some Added Pressure, the Addict Gives Way to the Suppressed Drive to Use a Substance to Escape. X X xxx Oh, No! I’ve been KO’d. Hooray! I’ve won. Now I can relax! I can receive my recognition from my AA group. To be continued in the next episode

7. copyright Ed Young, Ph.D 7 The Battle of the Bottle and Struggle for Recovery Keeps the Focus on the Symptoms. Either the Battle Is Inevitably Lost or the Person Must Maintain a Devotion to the ‘Program’ for Life Oops! Looks like I fell off the wagon! X Hey! We’ll take care of you. We’ll bring you back. That’s what we’re here for, to pick you up when you fall off the wagon.

8. copyright Ed Young, Ph.D 8 Second Verse, Same As First, Could Be Better, Gonna Be Worse! X Hooray! I’ve won. Now I can relax! I can receive my recognition from my AA group. To be continued in the next episode, and on and on! X Oh, No! I’ve been KO’d. xxx

9. copyright Ed Young, Ph.D 9 The Role of Support Groups in Psychotherapy and Recovery If you are struggling with an addiction and have no helpful emotional support from anyone, a support group can be helpful on a short term basis. As soon as possible, develop affiliations with regular [not support groups], special interest or traditional social, business, educational, or religious organizations of your choice. Regular groups do not focus on addictions, tend to emphasize regular activities, and reinforce healthy bonds, language and behavior patterns. You are not rejecting support groups. You are simply using them as a spring board to groups that are not focused on addiction.