Resisting 12-Step Coercion: How to Fight Forced Participation in AA, NA, or 12-Step Treatment (Paperback)

by Stanton Peele (Author), Charles Bufe (Author), Archie Brodsky (Author), Thomas Horvath (Introduction) "This chapter provides an overview of the American alcoholism field..." (more)
Key Phrases: general alcoholism counseling, coerced clients, deistic belief, Alcoholics Anonymous, Establishment Clause, Big Book (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Powerful and penetrating analyses of what is wrong with U.S. substance-abuse policy today."  —Peter Webster, International Journal of Drug Policy

 

Product Description

This book is a guide for the one million-plus Americans per year who face coerced religious indoctrination in the guise of alcohol or drug treatment. It outlines legal strategies and existing court decisions and shows how useless and sometimes harmful 12-step treatment can be. It also contains a considerable amount of material on the routine violation of standard medical ethics by addiction treatment providers, and examples of such violations.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: See Sharp Press; 1 edition (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884365175
• ISBN-13: 978-1884365171
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #450,834 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the original intent., September 4, 2004

By	Reviewer (United States) - See all my reviews

I've been going to 12-Step programs, including AA, since 1986. My life has undoubtedly been saved. In my case this is partly because I was open-minded enough to see that what I needed was a combination of the foundation of AA, without which I couldn't stay sober, & other support groups & resources. I originally experienced AA & other 12-Step programs in New York City, where the 12-Step population mirrored the variety of spiritual beliefs and lifestyle choices of that city's population. But I am alarmed to see how fundamentalist Christianity has been coming to dominate AA, particularly in more provincial areas. While AA stemmed from the very Christian Oxford Group, AA's original members/Big Book writers attempted to open the program to all. Approximately 65 years later, as this book says, some people don't come to AA by choice (the original path). There they may feel they can't fit in without converting to Christianity & being a Republican. I'm one of those who has stayed in AA but who winces when meetings end with the (clearly Christian, exclusionary) Lord's Prayer & when I hear fear-based (the "disease" itself), negative statements supposedly based on a very primitive concept of Christianity. At one point I attended because the program helped my sobriety, spirituality and life - but struggled to piece together a patchwork recovery of which AA was but one, albeit essential, part. And I stayed in case other liberals, or people for whom Christianity isn't the only choice, will feel more welcome. I just finished logging several years in a more rural area where I believe I may have contributed to a more open-minded, tolerant stance at meetings. Now I'm back in a city and relieved to see that things have gotten more progressive than they were here before, as well (ironically, also more like what I think of as "the good old AA"!). While one may still have to hunt for meetings where this is so, I am seeing far more tolerance re: lifestyle, religion, politics, etc. - a focus on the essential tenets of the program. So I didn't "Quit before the miracle," at least this one. As for folks being coerced into AA as the only alternative to jail, I think this is completely wrong. More options should be offered. While AA doesn't seem to want to allow this information, I know people have managed to find sobriety and keep sobriety without AA - it is not the only path. However, I do resonate with Carl Jung (who helped formulate the program with Bill Wilson), who came to the conclusion that alcoholics (&, by extension, other addictive personalities) couldn't stay sober without replacing booze, drugs, etc., with some sort of spiritual connection.

27 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly Informative, April 6, 2000

By	Rebecca Fransway (Davis, CA) - See all my reviews

This is the first book I've read that is really devoted to what I consider to be a major First Amendment problem in the last century--coerced 12-step meeting attendance.

This is an eye-opening read, full of statistics, case histories, and information about actual court cases, where 12 step programs were ruled to be "religious." Attorneys, judges, alcohol-drug counselors, members of 12-step programs, and reps from companies with who send employees to drug-alcohol programs, as well as victims of 12-step coercion, should read this book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ for all "coerced 12-Step attendees!" (and others!), September 12, 2007

By	DUI Counselor "John" (CA) - See all my reviews

This books is modern. current, excellently, and exquisitely researched, and argued! Anyone who has ever been COERCED to attend 12-Step meetings needs to read this work in order to insure that: a.) they do not have it happen to them again, and b.) how others that have not had it happen yet, can PREVENT from having it happen!
I wish every judge, D.A., and anyone with the power to coerce people into 12-Step programs had to read this book first. It would end the "mutual disdain" that exist of coerced 12-Step meeting attendees towards voluntary 12-Step attendees, and the other way around!