Hi my name is Melissa and I’ve been in recovery for about one year and one month now. I’m a senior in college and decided to do a project about how AA works and how people interact with The Big Book in AA meetings and out. I was wondering if anyone could help me by talking about their experience with AA (how their meetings work) and The Big Book (how do you use it in meetings and on your own) in the comments of this topic?
As with AA, I promise to keep everyone anonymous and when writing up my report I will use a number as an identifier or I will create a made up name. Please give as much or as little information as you can! Thank you in advance for those who are willing to share.
Why not go to a local meeting and see for yourself how it works. You can also gather stories from locals in the meetings. im sure they would be happy to help you…
For me personally, AA wasnt for me. NA was. I feel like I was treated with more respect and the atmosphere in an NA meeting was much better than an AA meeting.
I personally think AA meetings are more judge worthy while NA meetings everyone knows everyone there has a problem, not just an alcohol problem.
The meetings helped a little bit for me, I do like the AA style. Dont get me wrong, I still like things about AA. I just feel like people open up way more in an NA meeting.
I would ask someone in a meeting about the Traditions and how they may apply to this situation. Anonymity is more than just keeping people’s identities secret. It’s about members not advertising or reporting on AA. No one speaks on behalf of AA. I suggest you also call your local service center to get some input.
I totally understand your concerns. After speaking with a few people in the program and my professor who has previous knowledge of AA, we decided that since I wasn’t advertising the meetings or mentioning anyone’s name/identity there wouldn’t be an ethical problem. I’m just trying to gain a better understanding about how people learn through socialization how to participate in AA meetings and how they learn to/use the Big Book.
The meetings I go to are basically all open discussion meetings. We open with the 12 steps and traditions and the serenity prayer. Every meeting is on a different subject so you get to see a lot if different people because they Don’t go to every being. For instance one night is in the steps, another is on the big book and so on. A part of the book is read and then basically people talk about what it means to them, how it helped them, how they relate to it, etc. No one seems to be judgemental at all at my meetings and everyone is usually open to sharing their story and trying to hell each other
