Does Alcoholics Anonymous Work?
Some data and ideas therein.
I’ll start this one with an anecdote.
I used to spend a lot of time day-side drinking. Like, a lot of time. It was a curse of two things: (1) being an addict, and (2) when I went freelance/contract in late 2015, I had more time on my hands. I could write 3–4 things in the morning, invoice/make money on them, and be “free” by 11:30am. Instead of scaling the next e-commerce brand, I often chose to drink by the Trinity River in Fort Worth.
Why Would Someone Drink 10 Beers On A Random Thursday?
Great question, right? Let me try to trace it for you. Last Thursday I finished core work around 11am. I knew it was the last day before my wife and I started IVF, and I knew she had a thing until 10pm that night, so I think I viewed it as some kind of “last hurrah” in my brain. I went to this place by my old apartment, Woodshed Smokehouse, and had some …
I had kicked tires on the idea of AA a few times. I think I went to one meeting in 2010 in New York City in a church basement. I honestly probably only went to that one because my ex-wife, who at the time was my girlfriend, had encouraged me to. I didn’t love that meeting. I lived in NYC until June 2012 and in those intervening two years, I didn’t go back.
My ex and I were married by the time we lived in Minneapolis for a short span, and I went once or twice while there. Minneapolis AA meetings were exactly what you might expect, i.e. a scene out of Fargo. Didn’t love it, but I was going to show something to my then-wife — and also still drinking when I had time in between this dumb graduate school program I was in.
Since I’ve been in Texas (now close to nine years), I’ve had three different phases where I went sporadically to not at all. One time with my ex I said I was going, drove near TCU to the location of one, and went to a bar instead. That was a nice swerve. I’m a fucking mess.
Well, after one of those 10-beer Wednesdays with my current wife, I decided to go again. I went to a place called, I believe, Harbor Group. It was OK, but it was an older crowd, and a din of smoke hung over the room — both AA stereotypes. They went to the Bible and the “Big Book” really fast. Again, AA stereotypes. It seemed older and conventional and more religious. I never went back to that one.
In the last 25 or so days, I haven’t drank.
So, it’s been a good year (ish) around drinking.
And I haven’t gone to AA once this year.
Which now begs the question: does AA work?
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to What Is Even Happening? to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.