Comment by MaybiusStrip | Hacker News Reader

Comment by MaybiusStrip | Hacker News Reader

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I think you should rephrase that to "you shouldn't solely rely on aa" rather than excluding it entirely. Maybe this just struck a personal chord, because AA helped save me from life-threatening alcoholism, but this seems like a highly irresponsible suggestion (which is why the author of the article you link is very careful not to make it).

If you are an alcoholic, you probably should check out AA in addition to checking in to a detox/rehab program where you will have a therapist and a psychiatrist. As a matter of fact, many "real trained and certified therapists" will suggest that you at least check out a few meetings.

What's important is to know that if it doesn't work out, it doesn't mean you've failed. But it's really, really hard to stop drinking when you are an alcoholic, and it would be foolish to exclude any safe solution that could potentially help you recover from a fatal condition.

When getting sober, there are worst things you could be doing with your time than socializing with other recovering alcoholics for an hour or two, even if you don't like the message.

I should add, I am an atheist and it was never an issue in all my time in AA.

> because AA helped save me from life-threatening alcoholism

Given that there's pretty good evidence at this point that AA doesn't work on average, either a) AA didn't actually help you (you would have done it on your own anyway) or b) AA did help you, but that is balanced by an equal amount of harm so that the average still comes out as "not effective".

In either case the conclusion is unescapable that AA should not be relied on at all. At best, you're going to get nothing out of it and you're wasting psychological resources you can't spare. At worst, you're gambling that you're the kind of person it helps, rather than the kind of person it makes things worse for.

I don't want to sound harsh here, but people who have both used AA and recovered from alcoholism seem to have a rationality blindspot around it. From an objective perspective, this is not all that different from a cancer survivor crediting their remission to the "energy crystals" their guru recommended.

I'm super glad for you that your cancer cleared up, but I'm going to keep telling people that those crystals are bullshit.

You start Speaking on average and then conclude that it did not work FOR HIM.

Does not compute, sorry.

Nope, I concluded that it either didn't work for him OR it works for some people, but causes enough harm to others that it balances out any good it does.

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