When AA Doesn't Work For You: Rational Steps to Quitting Alcohol (Paperback)

by Albert Ellis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
According to the authors, the irrational thoughts and beliefs of the alcoholic--as opposed to the concept of "powerlessness" taught by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)--contribute greatly to alcoholism. Recognizing that AA may not work for everyone, they present a form of cognitive therapy known as Rational Emotive Therapy (RET). In RET, the alcoholic's irrational beliefs about drinking are consistently flushed out, challenged, and replaced with more rational ones. The authors also address "stinking thinking," a phrase coined by AA to describe the negative thoughts that often lead to relapse. Exercises in positive self-talk, creative imagery, and daily self-care are included. The ideas presented are similar to those found in a growing number of titles that offer alternatives to AA, including Jack Trimpey's The Small Book: Revolutionary Alternatives for Overcoming Alcohol and Drug Dependence (Delacorte, 1991). However, the information may be more beneficial when coupled with professional guidance. Purchase for self-help, psychology, and medical collections.
- Linda S. Greene, Chicago P.L.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
This highly effective book deals with the thoughts and emotions of the problem drinker and provides step-by-step formula to discover, understand, and change them.

Of the many methods that have been devised to help people quit their problem drinking and change their lives, few have had considerable success. Unfortunately, these programs do not work for everyone.

When AA Doesn't Work For You is the first book that applies the powerful insights of rational-emotive therapy specifically to the recovery from problem drinking. RET is truly a rational guide to quitting alcohol.

This book covers the entire range of problem drinking. It shows readers how to know when they have a drinking problem, how to understand and eliminate denial, and why they drink too much.

Product Details

• Paperback: 329 pages
• Publisher: Barricade Books (July 25, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0942637534
• ISBN-13: 978-0942637533
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #161,070 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Alternative for Cognitively-Oriented People, November 3, 2003

By A Customer

Virtually everyone knows of AA and its efforts to address problem drinking -- it is the largest, most visible and most accessible group, and the group that most entering recovery will either gravitate towards or be directed to by the therapy community. Yet, AA, for all of its benefits, doesn't work as a program for everyone -- particularly for those who are not spiritually inclined (and don't want to have to become spiritually inclined in order to recover) or those who are more cognitively-oriented people. There are thankfully alternatives to AA available for those who seek them out, and the "RET" (rational-emotive therapy) approach founded by Dr. Ellis, and which is the foundation of the SMART Recovery approach to recovery, is well outlined in this easy-to-read, easy-to-understand book.

The basic idea is very simple ... you are not powerless over alcohol as AA says but rather you are empowered, or exercising your power, every time you make a decision in life about anything, including the decision to drink. When you drink even in spite of the fact that your drinking is interfering with your life goals (as you define them) or causing you tangible problems (legal, financial, relationship, career, etc.), then you have a good sign that your decision-making process around drinking alcohol needs some examination. RET is a technique that helps the individual drill down into her cognitive processes and isolate the real mental issues underlying her decision to keep drinking under these circumstances. In particular, a lot of attention is paid to "stinking thinking", which in RET terms means underlying beliefs we may have about ourselves, the world around us and others that are irrational, self-defeating, and lead us to make the decision to drink. RET teaches the individual how to unearth these often hidden, reflexive beliefs, examine them, challenge them, and replace them with healthier, rational, self-helping beliefs, ones which will not lead one to make the irrational decision to problem drink. RET also teaches how to relate more healthily to life's frustrations and disappointments by placing them in perspective, not overblowing them, and developing a higher frustration tolerance over time ... in other words, how to deal more effectively with the frustrating things in life, in ourselves, and in others that may have led us in the past to decide to drink. In all, RET teaches the individual to be much more aware of what is going on inside themselves, to be much more in control of that interior situation, or at least be able to manage it and relate to it more effectively, and thereby to make better choices about how to act ---- rather than being largely unaware of what is happening interiorly, but nonetheless being subjected to what may be a somewhat or largely irrational set of interior beliefs, whether we are aware or not, and acting accordingly.

In all, it is a wonderful approach, for some people. I don't believe that this approach is for everyone (and neither is AA), but if the AA approach isn't working for you (see title of the book), and particularly if you are the kind of person who is more cognitively oriented, then Ellis' approach of RET is certainly worth a read, and just may hold the key to your own recovery.

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book for thinkers. Indisputable approach for me, January 1, 2000

By A Customer

As someone who feels that the only self-help book that anyone ever needs is David Burns' "Feeling Good," I was charmed to learn that Albert Ellis was the vanguard thinker of this cognitive approach to all. And here I find it applied to abusive drinking! What a treat, and at a crucial time.

Basically, the book shows you how you can teach yourself to analyze thoughts about drinking and to re-channel your actions. I find its logic unquestionable. VERY, very accepting of people, it makes me feel markedly more tranquil just reading it.

This book is not only helpful, but it's funny, also. Ellis is a rather salty person, sprinkling his writing with expletives here and there, which makes this logical, very useful book a giggle right when I needed one. I have heard some say that he's too rough in his language, but I find it a refreshing change, and a necessary one in the face of the real crudeness of alcohol abuse and the life it entails.

In response to the other reviewer who suggests that somehow his brother's suicide was precipitated by Ellis (!), I simply have to recap his constant allusion to the idea that no one can "make" you do anything. You choose to do everything that you do. Obviously, some people are too disturbed to think through it (this man evidently was)-- but for those who can -- it's awesome.

I found this title in a mainstream bookstore, among tomes of 12-step books...a ratio I propose to change if I am at all able to do so!

I am going to buy another title on the next "click!"

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best alternative to the Big Book around! Read it!, August 4, 1997

By A Customer

This is easily one of the best books on addictions around. Ellis and his co-author lucidly describe the dynamics of abusive and self-destructive drinking in such a way that the individual's self-responsibility is maximized and the "addiction excuse" eliminated. While this approach often brings wails of protest from persons still committed to drinking as much as they want to while still "looking good" (at least to themselves), in the long run it is precisely the honesty of the Ellis approach which is the most effective means around to overcome abusive, self-defeating and suicidal drinking habits. Ellis also looks at issues relating to life without alcohol, and in his typical "take no prisoners" approach using the principles of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, shows how to overcome the most common "after the party's over" problems of the ex-abusive drinker. This book is a must read if you either drink destructively yourself, or interact with an abusive drinker