just received the results of the AA UK Survey 2010 - makes interesting reading.
How did you hear about AA
31% via exisitng member, 20% out the phone book, 14% from their doctor, 13% via Treatment Centre, 5% Internet, 4% returning member, 2 % each Radio, newspaper, Leaflet, Probation and 1% other notice.
Gender of AA members
60% male, 40% female - pretty static since 2002.
age profile - 5% under 30, 18% 31-40, 30% 41-50, 25% 51 - 60, 22% over 60
Meeting Attendance 14% at 5+ a week, 49% at 3-4 times a week, 35% at 1-2 times a week and 1% at less than once a month
Length of sobriety - 18% less than 7 months, 8% 7-12 months, 9% 1-2 years, 34% 2-10 years, 31% over 10 years.
length of membership - same ranges as above at 8%, 6%,8% 36%, 43%
what aspects have significantly helped your recovery
regular group meetings - 91%
Learning from others - 80%
acceptance - 79%
not feeling alone - 74%
higher Power - 69%
helping other people - 68%
Sponsor - 68%
Nothing - 2%.
In the spirit of it doesn't take a clever man to interpret stats to their own benefit, I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions, but mine are there are a lot of long term members, a lot of long term sobriety, who attend meetings regularly and often and found us by word of mouth.
Similarly I could say that 32% polled do not use a higher power, a sponsor or help others.???????????
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
Alcoholics Anonymous is a program that's based on attraction not promotion and this survey is proof of that. It's Just another shred of proof to why 'AA' is so successful and the program that has saved countless lives does work (if you work it). 'AA' has been successful in so many ways and has stood the test of time despite it's critics and the evidence to prove that theory correct is now irrefutable. Thanks Bill...
~God bless~
-- Edited by Mr_David on Friday 10th of June 2011 01:30:37 AM
The public relations policy is based on attraction, not promotion. It was never intended as a philosophy we should adopt with the suffering alcoholic. Our textbook gives us plenty of guidance as to how we should seek out suffering alcoholics, and quickly explain to them how dire their situation is.
AA is not successful. Less than 1 in 20 people who attend an AA meeting actually sustain any sobriety. I say this as an AA member, who believes in the program of recovery. We've distorted the traditions to endorse a laissez-faire attitude about the spiritual program of recovery and promote meetings as the solution. That's why people don't stick around.
The public relations policy is based on attraction, not promotion. It was never intended as a philosophy we should adopt with the suffering alcoholic. Our textbook gives us plenty of guidance as to how we should seek out suffering alcoholics, and quickly explain to them how dire their situation is.
AA is not successful. Less than 1 in 20 people who attend an AA meeting actually sustain any sobriety. I say this as an AA member, who believes in the program of recovery. We've distorted the traditions to endorse a laissez-faire attitude about the spiritual program of recovery and promote meetings as the solution. That's why people don't stick around.
I think 31% with over 10 years of sobriety suggests that people do stick it out.
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
that's 31% of AA members. What about the people who came to a meeting and didn't stick around for the poll? AA members are just the tip of the iceberg. We are good at clapping each other on the back in a meeting where it's working for everyone, but the silence of the legions of people who never came back because they didn't want to sit through an hour of people whining about their problems (without any solution) is deafening.
Well Charles, maybe they aren't desperate enough. It had to hurt enough for me to put up with what appeared to be self congratulatory bullshit in the early days, to put up with the drunkalogs, to put up with what I saw as a load of quasi religious bollocks, but fortunately for me it hurt enough for me to stay the course.
plus let's not forget we do not have a monopoly on recovery and certainly not on controlled drinking
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
More likely, it's because no one clearly presents to them the program of recovery as its outlined in our literature. They are told to "not drink" and "keep coming back." Instead of asking them to be more desperate, how bout AAers actually present the program of action right away that has been proven to work? It's because very few people in AA have actually had an experience with it. They view meetings as the program, fellowship as the solution. And it's simply not true. It's why AA gets such a bad rap.
Good points and well made Charles. But maybe the programme of action alone is insufficent and needs to be supported by meetings and fellowship. However the most powerful message I heard was from a long time sober member...........forget it works if you work it, forget the meeting makers make it, forget keep coming back, forget the rehab slogans, forget the 12 and 12, forget living sober, as Bill sees it, just for today, daily reflections, all these are bedtime reading until you have worked the programme as detailed in the first 164 pages. They will just about keep you dry until you get with the programme. The solution is written in the first 164 pages. Get a sponsor, work the steps and be under no illusion that we are talking about life long sobriety and permanent recovery from a seemingly hopeless condition of mind and body. Do this and when you're lost in the congo and you have the programme, a Higher Power and the first 164 pages, you WILL stay sober.
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
More likely, it's because no one clearly presents to them the program of recovery as its outlined in our literature. They are told to "not drink" and "keep coming back." Instead of asking them to be more desperate, how bout AAers actually present the program of action right away that has been proven to work? It's because very few people in AA have actually had an experience with it. They view meetings as the program, fellowship as the solution. And it's simply not true. It's why AA gets such a bad rap.
You can't tell me "rarely have we seen a person fail who has thouroughly followed our path is not true." I've seen hundreds recover who have wanted it, and hundreds not recover who didn't.
We don't pre-screen people coming into the rooms like the early days, so with a "come and check it out" open door policy, many will come in and leave or don't want it or are not ready.
Point taken, there are some meetings not focused on the solution and some bad advise given, but not my homegroup and not most of the meetings in my area.
Solution? Don't just complain about it on internet forums. Become part of the solution.
Join a group, get involved in group meetings, develope policies for chairpeople and sharing, become a trusted servent and get others drinking the Kool-Aid or start your own group and do things right, then other groups in your area will start to follow.
Doing it right is contagious, and so is doing it wrong.
If we don't do it, who will. You are 100% correct, focus on the solution!
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Rob
"There ain't no Coupe DeVille hiding in the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box."
Thanks BikerBill--I use data on substance use disorders in my work--do you have a formal citation for this survey, or an address where I could get a copy of the complete questionnaire?
Charles S---gotta disagree that AA is not "successful". I'm still alive, aren't I? Therefore, believe me, AA is successful!!!
Does it provide a "cure" for the disease of alcoholism---no---because it is a recurrent, chronic, disease for which today there is no known cure. In that regard, clinical treatment, medical interventions and alternative approaches to sustained sobriety seem no more "successful". Relapse is an ever-present factor and -yes- too, too many of us just never "get it" in the first place. I'd even agree that some of that, as far as people staying sober thanks to AA, may be related to the current dilution and distortion of the taking of the steps that has evolved over the decades.
You wrote "...the silence of the legions of people who never came back because they didn't want to sit through an hour of people whining about their problems (without any solution) is deafening." That seems like quite an assumption. I hear all kinds of ignorant crap about what AA is and isn't but I have yet to hear anything of much value in the criticisms. They seem to me to just be excuses to not put in the work and actually deal with the profound depth and demands of the steps.
Leeu- apparently you believe it's a selfish program-- you're sober, so it's successful. That could not be more at odds with the spirit of "being of service" and carrying a message that AA is all about. And it's not an uncommon response I hear when someone points out the placebo-like success rate of AA-- "I got mine, so leave it alone, buddy."
I understand that individual results vary, and there are certainly solution-focused meetings if you look. But it's a needle in a haystack in the U.S. People enjoy their group-therapy sessions, where they can share about their problems-- it's all they've ever known. Hell, it was all I knew for a decade.
I love Alcoholics Anonymous. Finding it is an entirely different manner. And the newcomer today needs a mixture of chance, persistence and dumb luck to find the real message of AA, if they find it at all. That's the issue.
And Bill-- I totally agree we need fellowship to stay sober. What you wrote was spot-on. But our emphasis is completely screwed up. It's as if someone was diagnosed with cancer, and the doctor said, look, I'm going to give you some dietary suggestions, vitamins and exercise that will help you fight this. But we've got to get started on chemotherapy right away, or this will kill you. The chemo is the steps, the other stuff is fellowship and slogans, etc. We're not focused on the chemo.
Charles sez "apparently you believe it's a selfish program-- you're sober, so it's successful".
I came to A.A. with a desire to stop drinking and I haven't had a drink in 28 years. That "selfish" (as in, please God, I (me-me-me) want to live) success is not at all at odds with the spirit of being of service...that is what enables my 28 years of service and carrying the message, in gratitude, to exist and continue.
