I understand that the book can also be helpful for other problems and addictions. Can anyone confirm this for me. Did the spiritual portions of the book help you? Thanks,
What do you think? Tell us below!
are there any non alcoholics who have read the Alcoholic Anonymous “big book” for other issues?
June 1, 2011 By 5 Comments
Yes you can use the same book and the same 12 step process to aid in healing from other addictions.
Typically what you would do is, whenever the book refers to alcohol in any way, you replace that word with whatever your addiction is.
You still follow the basic guidelines and try to work through each step at your own pace.
It really does help tremendously
Can a alcoholic be cured think about it if need to drink and can not go with out it and they get help and then they quit drinking but can not have a social drink again because it may start them of again is not cured to me.
Edit – cured to me would be able to drink again without needing it again.
Yes, I’ve read it.
There are some interesting parts but addiction treatment has come a long ways since it was published.
Peace Love Me: Most “alcoholics” can drink again after developing new habits surrounding food and drink. This usually requires a number of years without alcohol or mood altering drugs. At that point most can self regulate and drink in moderation.
Good gracious, the book isn’t even helpful for alcoholics! I’ve read it probably 100 times. It’s completely full of inconsistencies (like in one place it will say you don’t have to believe in anything; someplace else it’ll say you’ll die if you don’t believe in a Higher Power)…and the whole idea that you are “Powerless” is, well, disempowering to the max.
So that’s it for the book. As far as the program itself is concerned, if you were going to copy it and use it for another problem, wouldn’t you want to know that it actually worked for alcoholics? Well, it doesn’t. Alcoholics quit drinking at about the same rate in AA as they do without it, meaning that the critical thing about quitting the booze (or any addictive behavior for that matter) is motivation, not going to a “program.”
AA is based on a spiritual resolution to problems, that in reality is repackaged religious values.
So if you have a desire to resolve your issues via spiritual/relious methods, then you may benefit from reading AA’s big book.
More lately, alcoholics have been looking to cognitive methods to resolve their drinking and/or underlying issues. A good example would be Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy and books on the subject by Abert Ellis, Windy dryden, or smartrecovery.org specifically for drinking