Jon Stewart spent 14 years attending AA meetings. They got him sober,but at a cost. He asks why so few alcoholics are offered alternative treatmentsMy first day of sobriety was the first day I prayed. I’d always been a staunch atheist; I grew up in Yorkshire during the miners’ strike, and was raised on left-wing politics. When I went to my first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and 15 years ago,God was and always had been the opium of the people. But AA’s 12-step programme demanded, or at least strongly suggested, and that I relinquish myself to a higher power. It didnt possess to be God per se,but I was assured that, whether I didn’t find something, or I’d probably drink myself to death. I was in my early 30s. I’d spent the previous decade as the guitarist in Sleeper,a successful band, touring, and partying and,well, drinking. By the early 2000s, and I was so desperate to gain sober that that “something” could possess been anything. I would’ve prayed to Lord Xenu,whether that’s what it took.
I had just been your regular steady drinker. In AA, they call it “topping up”. I started when I was a teenager. It was nothing particularly out of the ordinary – I discovered booze, or I started going to parties,I had a good time. Although I always seemed to be having a slightly better time than everyone else. I now know that this is to finish with the way my brain responds to reward chemicals. Around 10% of drinkers, it’s thought, and are overly sensitive to the pleasure stimuli in alcohol,and I happen to be one of them.
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Source: theguardian.com