I have sooooo much AA recovery literature; however, I am not denying it anymore, I need NA so much more than AA.....who was I kidding? Drugs have more of a grip on me than alcohol ever has.....I guess I was more ashamed to walk into an NA meeting than an AA meeting.....f_cked up logic, i know.
How much different is the NA literature?
Can anyone recommend some good meetings for tonight, Wednesday Dec. 15 in Maryland (Howard and Anne Arundel counties?)
thanks all for the love, compassion and honesty you've shown me......having been in the program one thing stands out the most......I FEEL LIKE THE FELLOWSHIP IS MORE A FAMILY TO ME THAN MY OWN BIOLOGICAL FAMILY.....if only we could pick and choose our family, eh?
Hi Deb, Glad you keep coming back here. Go to na.org and follow the links to "find a meeting" Asking for meeting recommendations sounds like a good idea, but it never really worked for me. The best way I found was to try out different meetings in my area till I found the ones i felt most comfortable with. As for our literature....Well it's true that the steps and traditions are basically the same, but that's where the similarity ends IMHO. We work the steps VERY different from AA. Much more thorough. Pick up a copy of the step working guide and you'll see. There are 69 questions just for step one. Our basic text while in some ways modeled after the aa big book is also very very different. If you had trouble relating to AA you may be very surprised to find that the NA literature hits you right in the bullseye. Good luck....and please let us know how your doing.
Deb, I know of a few in Baltimore County (I used to live there...) If you want, I'm only right in PA, I'd be happy to go with you to one that's in the middle-ish. If not, go on the na.org website... but call before you drive to a meeting cuz some of them are not updated regularly and have moved...
And according to my sponsor who does mostly AA meetings, the literature is pretty similar. Same concepts, and well... I can't tell a drastic difference, to be honest. Maybe someone else can.
-- Edited by reesiecup722 on Wednesday 15th of December 2010 06:51:04 PM
There are similarities and differences between the AA literature and NA literature. I got to both meetings and I am familiar with both. I do not pass judgment on either program: AA is a good fit for people who primarily have a problem with alcohol; NA is a good fit for people whose main problem was drugs (including alcohol). The big difference is that NA literature focuses on addiction as the problem, not alcohol. Addiction is marked by obsessive and compulsive use of a substance or thing and self-centeredness. One could be addicted to alcohol or drugs. I think it is important for me to recognize that addiction is my main problem, because I (and many other addicts I have known) have tried to substitute one drug for another, with little success. If I try to quit one drug that I am addicted to but still use others, I will end up using other drugs addictively.
I think the biggest difference (I'm not saying it should or shouldn't matter, just that it exists) is the referral to alcoholism as an illness. In NA the approach to recovery is as a "Disease from which there is no known cure."
While many addicts recover and continue to recover in AA their approach as a fellowsip is to an illness, perhaps temporary, and only a specific drug is adressed.
This even goes back to the interperetation of the traditions, the nature of alcoholism is considered an outside issue. In NA addiction is adressed in its nature as a disease.
-- Edited by JoeB on Thursday 16th of December 2010 12:27:25 PM
