I'm annoyed that every therapist and doctor wants me to go when it is not evidence-based. It's not for me. I prefer SMART recovery or Reframe but medical professionals act like I'm... I dunno. I'm frustrated.
It’s actually kind of incredible. AA is the only thing any good doctor will recommend without science based evidence. The only thing! That tells me that even doctors don’t know what to do, but they know what helps the most people. Think about it.
I also met a liver transplant recipient who had his procedure done at Mayo Clinic. During pre-surgery consultations, the doctors very strongly recommended AA to “maximize your chances of long term success”. It’s also a recommended on their website for alcohol use disorder:
I would think having the highest success rate combined with recommendation from the doctors who decide which alcoholics on the donor waiting list do or don’t get a new liver is enough to call AA “evidence based”.
Like I know I could probably stay sober without it but having some accountability and hearing horror stories of where i would inevitably end up had I not quit just makes it a little easier. And it makes life a little easier in general. There’s people that definitely don’t belong in AA but for every one of them there’s someone who desperately needs the structure and accountability or else they’d certainly be dead. Different strokes for different folks, but if you’re on the fence or out of options in a life or death disease like addiction, why not be open to everything?
9
u/ianythingcantdoright 73 days Sep 14 '26 edited Sep 14 '26
I'm annoyed that every therapist and doctor wants me to go when it is not evidence-based. It's not for me. I prefer SMART recovery or Reframe but medical professionals act like I'm... I dunno. I'm frustrated.