New Book's Authors Address Need of Replacement for Alcoholics Anonymous
According to the authors of "Phoenix in a Bottle" a brand new worldwide organisation is needed to replace Alcoholics Anonymous.
(PRWEB) July 19, 2005 -- Two former alcoholics say there is a need for a
brand new worldwide organisation to replace Alcoholics Anonymous, a fellowship
which is now outdated and stuck in a rut that it is unwilling or unable to get
out of in order to address its own self-confessed abysmal failure
rate.
Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald are a married couple from Ayrshire in
Scotland, whose recently published book “Phoenix in a Bottle” describes how they
recovered from alcoholism without and in spite of AA, and how they are now able
to drink responsibly again, if and when they so wish.
According to both
an independent US government survey and AA’s own secret membership surveys as
revealed on the American Showtime Channel’s Penn & Teller television
programme, AA-style treatment works for only 5% of its
participants.
Leading American addiction expert Dr Marc Kern commented:
“These two surveys clearly show that, after 12 months of attendance, 95% of the
original participants have left the programme and either resumed their
destructive behaviour or hopefully – but less likely – sought help
elsewhere.
"These people have not failed," insists Dr Kern. "The 12-Step
approach has failed them."
Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald attribute the
failure of the 12-Step programme to the fact that Alcoholics Anonymous
stubbornly insists upon treating alcoholism as a progressive and incurable
illness or disease, from which only remission is possible by sticking to a
strict regime of abstinence from alcohol.
AA is wrong, argue Lilian and
Murdoch. In fact, alcoholism is not an illness or a disease at all, but a
self-harming behaviour problem with its roots in childhood. Everybody is capable
of changing their behaviour. If alcoholics are willing to identify and to
address their issues from the past, then they can get truly well and be able
drink responsibly once again if and when they so wish. Advocating lifelong
abstinence from alcohol on the other hand is merely treating the symptom rather
than the underlying problem, and is just a damage-limitation
exercise.
Perpetuation of the disease concept of alcoholism is aided and
abetted by private rehab clinics that have piggybacked AA and hijacked its
12-Step programme for their own profit.
Alcoholics Anonymous has the
solution to its problems in its own hands, continue Lilian and Murdoch. Any
normal organisation would be open to new ideas, and would welcome discussion and
change as new discoveries and progress were made in the field of
alcoholism.
Unfortunately AA has adopted a cult-like attitude, and
regards its so-called programme of recovery as set in stone forever. No changes
have been made or even allowed in the 70 years of its existence, and no
questioning or discussion is tolerated.
So Lilian and Murdoch conclude
that a completely new organisation is the only solution.
An organisation
that does not seek to perpetuate the disease model of alcoholism long after its
sell-by date.
One that does not advocate lifelong sobriety as a
prerequisite for recovery, but instead empowers alcoholics to alter their
behaviour in the way that they choose for themselves.
One that does not
insist upon dragging pseudo-religion into a situation in which it has neither
use nor relevance.
And finally one that welcomes change and progress in
the understanding of alcoholism, and is willing to accept diverse ways of
treating it, instead of dogmatically promulgating and perpetuating a
one-size-fits-all approach that is stuck in the past forever.
"PHOENIX IN
A BOTTLE"
Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald’s book "Phoenix in a Bottle" has
just been published by Melrose Books.
Reviewing the book, American
addiction expert Dr Stanton Peele PhD commented: "Phoenix in a Bottle is a
modern version of The Days of Wine and Roses, and tells the true story of how
two people who entered a period of desperate drinking stayed with one another in
a close loving relationship, and emerged from their alcoholism able to drink
responsibly again.
"Both a wonderful love story and a challenge to
conventional wisdom about how people can recover from drinking problems, Phoenix
in a Bottle gives people hope, and helps them to confront their own demons -
alcohol or otherwise."
"Phoenix in a Bottle" by Lilian and Murdoch
MacDonald is published by Melrose Books price £16.99. It is available through
good bookshops or online direct from the publishers by logging on to http://www.melrosebooks.com
ISBN: 1905226144
It
is also available at http://www.amazon.co.uk
Lilian and Murdoch’s
website:
http://www.alcoholicscandrinksafelyagain.com
Issued by
Fame Publicity Services
10 Miller Road
AYR, Ayrshire
Scotland KA7
2AY
Website: http://www.famepublicity.co.uk
Web links:
http://www.alcoholicscandrinksafelyagain.com/newpage28.html
http://www.alcoholicscandrinksafelyagain.blogspot.com
http://groups.msn.com/Alcoholicsdontneedtostayonthewagon/messageboard1.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=1126&LastModified=4675532912490749736
http://groups.msn.com/Alcoholicsdontneedtostayonthewagon/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=1127&LastModified=4675532912709082012
http://groups.msn.com/AlcoholicsCanDrinkSafelyAgain/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=52&LastModified=4675532912255267814
http://groups.msn.com/JOURNALISTSWRITERSCLUB/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=874&LastModified=4675532912963407705
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AlcoholicsCanDrinkSafelyAgain/message/54
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/12-step-free/message/101670
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/EFTCoaa/message/3503
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/7/prweb262711.htm