Hi Down,

Good to see you around, and I share your doubts about the AA dogma.

Something that is rarely mentioned in the literature on drug and alcohol addiction is the nature of the depressive mind.

If a person suffers from a mental illness, the chances are that they are feeling rough for a lot of the time. Give them something that relieves that feeling, ie, alcohol, a smoke, or a powerful tranq (maybe diazepam) and they are going to want more of it. How can you blame anyone for wanting to feel better? How can you blame anyone for having an illness?

The nightmare is that the ill person suffers terrible hangovers and/or withdrawals as they come down and that IMHO is where the moral courage comes in. Where AA does seem to work is in helping people to deal with suffering, which I believe is the key to much of our problems.

I have spent many years learning to live outside the comfort zone, but I still feel so much better after a glass of wine. It will always be like that, and I will always have the struggle. That's just how it is I guess.

Good thoughts, M