It doesn’t matter how long someone has been struggling from addiction, only that they are ready to take steps to become sober. Online meetings are digital meetings held on platforms such as Zoom. Offline meetings, also called “face to face”, “brick and mortar”, or “in-person” meetings, are held in a shared physical real-world location. Some meetings are hybrid meetings, where people can meet in a specified physical location, but people can also join the meeting virtually.
Another difference between AA and NA is the fact that one focuses on a legal substance (alcohol) and the other focuses on all substances, many of which are illegal. This difference tends to draw different types of people to each meeting. For those who are trying to decide which approach works for them, they should consider that fact before choosing which program to attend.
Among outpatients, relationships between AA attendance and reduced drinks per drinking day as well as percentage of days abstinent were mediated by pro-abstinence social networks, pro-drinking social networks, and positive social self-efficacy [37]. In their longitudinal research, Kaskutas et al. [38] proved that involvement in AA both directly and indirectly—through support from other AA participants—influenced lower alcohol consumption and less severe problems. This effect was noticed both at the start and after 30 days of abstinence. Besides social and cognitive mechanisms of change as a result of involvement in AA, the literature also describes a spiritual mechanism of change. According to this mechanism, involvement in AA has a positive, indirect influence on reducing alcohol consumption through spirituality/religiousness [39,40,41,42]. Spirituality and religiousness are similar and overlapping constructs, but spirituality is a wider conception includes religiousness as one form of express spirituality [43].
If you aren’t ready to share, you can also benefit from simply listening and observing. If you have questions, consider asking a member about it personally, and they can explain further. It is not affiliated with any religion, government, or other organization, even if the meeting is held in a church or other religious space.
In looking at the key differences between these two groups, you can find the right one for you. Here at Northpoint Recovery, we recognize the fact that AA and NA are both important. Both of these organizations have been instrumental in people’s lives.
His theories have changed the field, stimulated additional research, and led to new understanding and treatments for opioid use disorders, cocaine use disorders, overeating, smoking, and depression. This pamphlet describes who A.A.s are and what we have learned about alcoholism. We are not anti-alcohol and we have no wish to reform the world. We are not allied with any group, cause or religious denomination. We are people who have discovered and admitted that we cannot control alcohol.
We know our own sobriety depends on connecting with other alcoholics. While many of the 12-steps of the NA program or focused on drawing on spiritual influences, you don’t need to be religious or spiritual to attend or benefit from NA. The steps of the program can be adapted to suit your individual belief system. NA meetings include people of every demographic and at various recovery levels, from many years to just a few days of sobriety. Founded in 1953, NA is a global organization of people recovering from drug addiction with 67,000 weekly, locally organized meetings in 139 countries. The Big Book in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a foundational text outlining the principles of recovery for individuals struggling with alcohol use disorder (AUD).
In addition, he also becomes passionate about and learns the skills to help others as they begin and complete their own journey toward sobriety. AA is built upon the premise of therapy via a support group. This has proven to be a very effective model for treating alcoholism because people can draw upon each other for the support they need. In this spiritual mechanism, a positive role fills existential well-being, which connects AA involvement with subjective well-being. The idea that meaning in life, as well as hope, are important factors in the recovery of individuals with alcohol dependence is present both in the theory and practice of counselling [77,107]. Given the existing research that links AA involvement and well-being, the current study aimed to understand further how AA involvement is related to subjective well-being among AA participants from Poland.
CBT costs money and often requires insurance, but some people may benefit from its more holistic and individualized approach. Patterson believes CBT can be a helpful tool when done in conjunction with a 12-step program or SMART Recovery, though plenty of people find CBT helpful on its own. AA uses a 12-step model that begins with a person admitting that they’re powerless over alcohol and that their lives had become unmanageable. An alcoholic black, trans woman got sober young, and realized that she did not have to be drunk to be creative.
Generalizability of the results is limited to alcohol-dependent individuals from Poland participating in AA. The research sample was homogeneous with regards to religious denomination. The mean of abstinence duration for participants was relatively long, which means that they can be treated as addicts with stable abstinence. Existential well-being is a secular dimension of spiritual well-being [17]. Meaning in https://sober-home.org/scared-of-being-sober-why-is-sobriety-so-hard/ life and hope are components of existential well-being, which includes realizing values, having goals, controlling one’s destiny, and finding self-acceptance [95]. Involvement in AA was the latent variable consisting of aggregate responses with dichotomous items from AAIS [88] and, separately, two items regarding frequency of AA attendance in the last year and frequency of being chairman in the last year.
Members meet regularly to share their experiences and support each other to quit drugs. The 12-step philosophy was first introduced by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) as a way of life and a path to recovery from alcoholism. It has since been adopted by many other types of addiction recovery groups, including NA and Cocaine Anonymous (CA), among others. The conducted study has confirmed the benefits resulting from involvement in AA. Engagement in this form of support of alcohol-dependent individuals from Poland was positively connected with existential well-being, which in turn positively related to subjective well-being.
In the study sample, 12-Step participation was common and intensive after inpatient treatment but fell off over time. However, despite declining attendance, early posttreatment attendance, even in relatively small amounts, predicted long-term helpful outcomes. Specifically, it was found that for every meeting attended there was a subsequent gain of approximately 2 days of abstinence. Although the drop in attendance was noted, consistent attendance over time predicted favorable outcomes. At first glance, it may seem as though your choice between AA and NA should be an obvious one.
It is recommended to create therapeutic programmes and interventions focusing on inducing, facilitating, and promoting hope and meaning in life as an effective way to achieve the subjective well-being of alcohol-addicted patients. This kind of solution could constitute an additional therapeutic offer addressed to alcohol-dependent patients. When you attend AA, you are attending a group that is based upon helping people who struggle with alcoholism. NA focuses on helping people who struggle with all drugs, including alcohol. In addition, there is a small difference in each group’s approach to The Twelve Step Program, and it all begins with the very first step. However, it’s a difference that goes much deeper than that.
Understanding these failings and being willing to ask for help and draw on spiritual strength is important. This step stresses that humility is essential because it prevents people from minimizing their own weaknesses when facing addiction. This step focuses on letting go of the old coping mechanisms and behaviors identified and acknowledged in the earlier step. It signifies that a person is willing to let these things go and move toward healthier behaviors that will support long-term recovery. This step involves acknowledging the addiction and the damaging impact it has had on the individual’s life.
The alternative direction between research variables was not examined, which means that the potential role of subjective well-being as a consequence of involvement in AA and the antecedent of existential well-being should not be excluded. Additional research in the longitudinal model is necessary to investigate the relationships examined from the cause-and-effect perspective and confirm their directions. Structural models were tested by applying path analysis to investigate the relationships among the latent variables such as involvement in AA, existential well-being, and subjective well-being. Models were tested using multiple goodness-of-fit indices, as recommended by Brown [97], including the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), the comparative fit index (CFI), and goodness-of-fit index (GFI). For the RMSEA, values less than 0.08, and ideally below 0.05, were used to indicate an adequate and reasonable fit to the data [98].
At first, Smith tried valiantly to obtain funding for his free clinic from the state to treat all these problems in one place, but to no avail. Rock stars and promoters of the time, aware of the kindness of Dr. Dave and his staff, helped fund the clinic, which became known as the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic (HAFC). David Smith was a role model to other physicians and became known as one of the fathers of addiction medicine in the United States, a title of which he is rightfully proud. When practiced as a way of life, they can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to recover from alcoholism. By Buddy TBuddy T is a writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism.
Hope in its relational aspect refers to bonding feeling with others. It seems that this forms the basis for achieving unity at AA. The sharing of common aims, mutual understanding, and trust are fundamental for shaping relationships with others. According to Yalom [79], hope is based on being aware of the similarities of life’s experiences with others.
In general, 12-Step attendance and involvement decrease over time. Evidence from multiple lines of research supports the effectiveness and practical importance of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Conference presenters discussed the relationship between 12-Step participation and abstinence among various populations, https://sober-home.org/ including adolescents, women, and urban drug users. Insight from the arts and humanities placed empirical findings in a holistic context. In some meetings, attendees are invited to share burning desires. Other times, speakers may share their journeys with a major focus on their previous drug or alcohol use.
Anyone with a desire to stop drinking is welcome, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, income or profession. Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about. However, current AA members who use substances like ayahuasca or cannabis are often viewed as violating the group’s premise of total abstinence. Ayahuasca use is controversial within AA, despite the organization having no official stance on the matter.
