How AA Helps People Recover from Alcohol Abuse

Alcohol Anonymous groups, better known as AA groups, have been around since the 1930s. AA is proven to help people overcome their addictions and stay clean. Stopping alcohol addiction is psychologically extremely hard for people to accomplish being that alcohol is everywhere and the majority of people cannot just stop at one drink, which leads to alcohol abuse.

How AA helps

AA can help people recover from alcohol abuse with support and counseling services.

How AA helps people recover from alcohol abuse?

Many people ask this question and there are several answers to this question, and many more depending on people’s personal experiences with AA.

Obvious proof that AA is effective can be seen in the years that it has been around. AA was first started in 1938 and now, over 70 years later, the program can be found in almost every city throughout the entire country. That is because the program is highly utilized by recovering alcoholics and provides an environment that recovering alcoholics enjoy being in.

AA groups are beneficial to recovering alcoholics due to the flowing reasons:

• AA groups are convenient and free: Most AA groups can be found in close proximity to a person’s home and they do not cost any money for people to join
• All the people in an AA group are recovering alcoholics: All members of the group have went through the hardships and complications of staying clean and therefore AA group members will not pass judgment on other members, which allows people to feel more welcome and less self-conscious about their struggles
• AA groups are full of support: All members of an AA group support and help the other members and the older members tend to provide guidance to the younger members, which provides a ‘people helping people’ type of environment
• AA groups provide a person with a safe place to go that is completely alcohol free: Alcohol is a very common drug that is located in almost every store a person goes to as well as in many people’s homes; this can make a recovering alcoholic have hard time staying clean
• AA groups provide a person with a sponsor: Sponsors help new members by providing them with support and education on staying clean and are available around the clock for recovering addicts to call if they are going through a difficult time
• AA groups are a place where people can share their inner most feelings without having to pay a therapist a whole bunch of money to do so: AA groups also promote a friend type atmosphere where they go on adventures together and try to have a good time without alcohol

Alcohol addiction is a disease that plagues millions of Americans, and only ten percent of people addicted to alcohol get help. Alcohol abuse can lead to a person having detrimental health issues down the line which could ultimately lead to death. According to www.dosomething.org, alcohol abuse can lead to long-term health issues like cardiovascular disease, cancer of the throat, liver, or mouth, anxiety and depression, dementia, liver disease, and much more.

Given the negative effects that alcohol addiction has on a person, both mental and physical, it is in a person’s best interest to get help and AA groups are an excellent source for helping people stay clean.