Not just that, but AA is tailored around a certain personality type. There's a certain type of personality, certain type of big ego, that left to its own devices will always justify itself. We all are rationalizers, but these are the kings of rationalization, and also bullshit. What AA does for these people is provide them with a community of fellow bullshitters who see right through all their bullshit and will call them on it. The whole disease label is first and foremost a way of framing the social function of the group, the actual epidemiological subtleties of what constitutes a disease is really neither her nor there.
What I find irritating about these scientists crusading for "real science" and denouncing AA is that not a one of them would have the first clue how to get through to this type of alcoholic personality. All their ivory tower rhetoric just washes right off their back.
I wasn't sure if you're advocating for or against AA but it all boils down to it being a support system of one addict/alcoholic speaking (getting through) to another. That being said I disagree that there is "a certain type of big ego". Sorry but that is just simply not the case from my own personal experience. There are literally millions of people that walk through the doors of AA and other 12 step programs from all walks of life, all types of personalities and a high variance of ego. It is the last stop on the block...
For. Let me try to clarify, I'm not saying that everyone who goes to AA, or even everyone that AA helps is one personality type. Also when I say "big ego" I don't necessarily mean an externally facing ego in the popular sense, but rather the way the person relates to themselves and how they justify things in their own mind.
What I'm saying is AA is uniquely suited to this personality type in a way that no other program is.
What I find irritating about these scientists crusading for "real science" and denouncing AA is that not a one of them would have the first clue how to get through to this type of alcoholic personality. All their ivory tower rhetoric just washes right off their back.