Anything you wish to share about your knowledge of AL-ANON would be appreciated and gratefully acknowledged:
Not just AL-ANON, but treatment as a whole.
My brother was a pretty serious drinker for quite some years. Vodka in his vehicle, never without a glass in his hand. His wife started to follow this also. Needless to say they BOTH needed to stop this and stop it fast. Liquor is a hard task-master...
Well, they enrolled at a detox center, paid for by company insurance. They were lucky. Now this was the result of many, many years of constant drinking. It was their "normal" personality -- cloaked with alchohol.
The (I think) month long treatment had the desired effect. After sobering up and leaving the facility they enrolled in AL-ANON. (I also believe that is a condition of the treatment.)
Three years of sobriety and counting. So far, so good. But .......... I (and others) secretly feel they have given up one addiction (alchohol) for another (AL-ANON).
Their house is now a shrine to all the books about the evils of drinking, etc. They love to talk about their new-found sobriety. Don't get me wrong, this is not, by itself, a bad thing. At least they aren't drinking anymore.
But it reminds me of the "born-agains" who don't know when to SHUT UP!!! I'm glad you aren't drinking, but since I was not and am not afflicted by drunkenness, I don't need to hear the preachy shit all the time. The slogans and all. Give it a rest.
My opinion is that treatment is hugely important, as is an attitude of wanting to do it. It won't work by itself. And afterwards, AL-ANON is a good way to ease back to reality. But don't embrace this new philosophy as your new addiction.
Do it for a while and then ease out of that, too. The first part is real and the last part is (mostly) my opinion. But it does work if you are serious.
Good luck in yout attempt to initiate any sort of intervention...
