Whoa, there, fellas... I'm starting to sense some pretty major generalizations in this thread. Of course it's fine to rant about AA/NA. The fellowships have brought disdain on themselves through the kind of bad behavior witnessed in several of the posts on this thread. But I think it's reductive to assert that extroverts do well in AA/NA, while introverts are stifled by it. Likewise, I don't believe that it's generally true that people who used drugs to cope with problematic emotions (as opposed to people who used drugs as social lubricant) find AA/NA unsatisfying. Lastly, I think the choice between participating in AA/NA vs. taking part in healthy hobbies is a false choice...there's no reason at all that a person can't choose 'all of the above.'
I count myself as a very introverted person. Likewise, my own drug use has always been closely linked with self-medicating my depression; I almost never used with other people. And in many ways, it's these exact qualities that have led me to attend NA despite my disagreements with much of its dogma. NA is one of the few places I go where:
- I can sit quietly with other people, listening to those who care to share. i.e. Silence/introversion are perfectly acceptable in NA meetings.
- I can push my boundaries by sharing occasionally, knowing that if I throw up my hands and say, 'I honestly have no idea what I'm trying to say,' people will still respect me for contributing, in however limited a way.
- I hear stories that remind me that in my isolation and introversion, and in my efforts to blot out depression, I'm not alone.
Admittedly, these data come from a sample with N=1 (me). But it is the case that the people I've become close to in NA are, for the most part, similar to me in many emotional ways.
None of this discounts the many real drawbacks of 12-step fellowships. But it really rings false to me to argue that AA/NA is effective only for certain classes of addicted people. That's needlessly divisive, not obviously true, and it comes dangerously close to the common argument that AA/NA are best suited for not-very-smart people.
Again, there are PLENTY of totally legit reasons to criticize AA/NA. But I don't believe that personality type has much real impact on an individual's experience with these groups. Likewise, there's truth to the risk of groupthink in AA/NA, and concomitant risks of isolation within a 12-step community. But these risks are matters of how individuals choose to interact with the groups. As always, it's my contention that a genuinely therapeutic engagement with AA/NA demands setting boundaries between the group and the individual, and maintaining a critical eye in one's relationship to the group. However, the need to own and guard one's own recovery extends to ANY intervention, not just 12-step fellowships.