Alcoholics Anonymous

20 Stories

Working From Home During Virus? Beware of 'Zoombombs'
Working From Home During
Virus? Beware of 'Zoombombs'
THE RUNDOWN
Apr 1, 2020 12:27 PM CDT

Working From Home During Virus? Beware of 'Zoombombs'

FBI warns that hackers are 'hijacking' videoconferencing app

(Newser) - As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, people stuck at home have taken to using videoconferencing apps to hold work meetings and chat with family and friends. One such app that's become ubiquitous: Zoom, founded by Cisco engineer Eric Yuan. But be careful before you log in for that virtual...

The Science Is In: AA Works
The Science Is In: AA Works
Mar 11, 2020 6:30 PM CDT

The Science Is In: AA Works

Alcoholics Anonymous works better than professional therapy, in fact

(Newser) - An extensive new study confirms that Alcoholics Anonymous works. In fact, AA not only helps alcoholics get sober, the free program was found to be more effective than professional mental health therapy in terms of participants staying sober. The research, a review of dozens of studies involving more than 10,...

Original Copy of AA's Iconic 'Big Book' Could Sell for $3M

It's going up for auction after court battle was settled

(Newser) - The founding document of Alcoholics Anonymous, known to adherents as the "Big Book," is heading back to auction after a lawsuit disputing its ownership was settled. Auction house Profiles in History announced Wednesday that the manuscript and manifesto is going up for auction on May 5 in Los...

Scientists: Prayer Can Help Alcoholics Through Temptation

Small study uses brain scans to demonstrate changes after prayer vs. reading newspaper

(Newser) - Does prayer have the power to help recovering alcoholics squash temptation? A small new study out of the NYU Langone Medical Center finds that at least among 20 long-term Alcoholics Anonymous members who reported no cravings in the week leading up to the test, prayer reduced cravings that arose when...

Cops: Drunk Driver Kills Man Driving to AA Meeting

Reed Hindle had been sober 4 years

(Newser) - A 61-year-old recovering addict was killed by a suspected drunk driver while riding his motorcycle to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in New Hampshire. "Alcohol got to him in the end but not by his own doing," the man's sister, Meredith Patrick, tells CBS Boston . After struggling with...

AA Sponsor Turns in Mom Who Hosted Teen Sex Party

Georgia woman loses custody of all 5 kids

(Newser) - A Georgia woman who decided she needed to stop drinking was arrested after telling her Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor the reason why. According to an arrest report , the sponsor went to the cops after Rachel Lenhardt confessed to allowing her 16-year-old daughter and her daughter's friends to party at her...

Science Better for Alcoholics Than Faith-Based AA

Gabrielle Glaser says some alcohol abusers can even learn to drink in moderation

(Newser) - Trying to beat addiction through a faith-based 12-step program—Alcoholics Anonymous being the best known of the bunch—typically means you can never take a sip of alcohol again. But Gabrielle Glaser writes for the Atlantic that AA was founded 80 years ago , "when knowledge of the brain was...

Robin Williams Performed The Godfather at AA Meeting

Founder of NYC organization says he attended meetings there in 2008

(Newser) - Apparently what goes on at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting only stays anonymous while the attendee in question is still alive. Eddie Baca, screenwriter and founder of New York's 46th Street Club House , tells Page Six the Robin Williams attended AA meetings at the Club House a few times a...

It's Time We Challenged Alcoholics Anonymous
It's Time We Challenged
Alcoholics Anonymous
OPINION
Feb 11, 2014 5:45 PM CST

It's Time We Challenged Alcoholics Anonymous

Columnist: New books are right to question its reputation as the only solution

(Newser) - A slew of new books is challenging the 75-year "hegemony" of Alcoholics Anonymous, and Maia Szalavitz at Pacific Standard thinks it's about time. Over the decades, it's become nearly an accepted truth in this country that AA is the one and only path to sobriety. And sure,...

Drunk Driver Nabbed on AA Founder's Lawn

Donald Blood III apparently thought it was a parking lot

(Newser) - Today, in Ironyland: A Massachusetts man was nailed for driving under the influence on Christmas Eve—after depositing his car on the front lawn of the former home of the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Rutland Herald reports that Donald Blood III apparently thought the Wilson House lawn was a...

New Pill Could Help Alcoholics Have Just One Drink
New Pill Could Help
Alcoholics Have Just One Drink
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Dec 26, 2010 1:45 PM CST

New Pill Could Help Alcoholics Have Just One Drink

Nalmefene is aimed at easing, not stopping, consumption

(Newser) - Common wisdom holds that in order to recover, alcoholics must completely abstain from liquor—but thanks to a new pill, that may soon no longer be the case. Nalmefene, developed by Denmark’s H. Lundbeck A/S, blocks the signals in the brain that make drinking feel good, Bloomberg reports. Its...

Faithful Hooked on '12-Step' Beck
 Faithful Hooked 
 on '12-Step' Beck 
OPINION
Sep 1, 2010 4:35 AM CDT

Faithful Hooked on '12-Step' Beck

'We're all part of his ego-obsessed recovery'

(Newser) - Recovering alcoholic Glenn Beck has somehow managed to get us all hooked on the emotional, often religion-heavy 12 steps of an "Alcoholics Anonymous playbook," writes Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post . "Addiction has been a defining part" of Beck's life, and "recovery is a process inseparable"...

Rip Torn Pleads Not Guilty
 Rip Torn Pleads Not Guilty 
Mar 30, 2010 12:31 PM CDT

Rip Torn Pleads Not Guilty

Judge orders actor to give up drinking after alleged bank break-in

(Newser) - Rip Torn entered a not guilty plea today to the charges leveled against him after his alleged drunken break-in at a Connecticut bank. At the same time, the judge added another bail condition: that he give up all alcohol. Torn’s lawyer pointed out that the actor is already undergoing...

Most Boozers Sober Up Without AA
Most Boozers Sober Up Without AA
Nov 16, 2009 8:08 AM CST

Most Boozers Sober Up Without AA

70% moderate the drinking on their own, 1% are true alcoholics

(Newser) - Most people who hit the bottle too heavily lay off the booze long before they ever have to stand up and say, "My name is Bill W and I'm an alcoholic." Shooting down conventional wisdom that climbing up on the wagon and staying there was the only way...

Judge Expunges Gibson's Drunk Driving Charges

Conviction overturned after probation, $1,300 in fines

(Newser) - In the eyes of law, it’s as if Mel Gibson has always been a real mensch. A judge today agreed to expunge the drunk driving conviction Gibson earned after his infamous anti-Semitic rant in 2006. The actor’s fulfilled the terms of his three-year probation, including the requisite AA...

Drug Curbs Alcoholism—but Should Addicts Drink at All?

With drug, alcoholics still drink; abstinence is traditional model

(Newser) - More and more doctors are prescribing the anti-craving drug baclofen to alcoholics, and patients describe a “switch” that suddenly allows them to resist temptation—even as they keep drinking in moderation, Time reports. While some argue this can reduce harm—one drink is better than 10—the approach is...

Shia LaBeouf Does AA After Accident
Shia LaBeouf Does AA After Accident
Interview
May 2, 2009 9:44 AM CDT

Shia LaBeouf Does AA After Accident

Transformers star says mangled hand still causes 'extreme pain'

(Newser) - Shia LaBeouf says the hand he mangled in a car crash last July will never be the same. “Permanently f---ed,” he told Playboy recently. “I’ll never be back to 100%. I can’t zipper my zipper without extreme pain.” Though he won’t be charged...

Vaccines, Medicines to Treat Addiction on the Way

Many resist pharmaceutical approach

(Newser) - It's been decades since scientists recognized that addiction is a disease, not just a lack of willpower, but only now are potential treatments coming online that address what Newsweek calls "a chronic, relapsing brain disorder to be managed with all the tools at medicine's disposal." The magazine surveys...

Lindsay Lohan Falls Off the Wagon
Lindsay Lohan Falls Off
the Wagon
Jan 4, 2008 9:56 AM CST

Lindsay Lohan Falls Off the Wagon

Actress chugs from champagne bottle, calls her AA sponsor

(Newser) - Lindsay Lohan fell off the sobriety wagon during a New Year's Eve party in Italy, Access Hollywood reports. The 21-year-old actress, who completed a 63-day stay at a Utah rehab facility in October, was caught on videotape drinking from a champagne bottle while on the dance floor at the party....

'Controlled Drinking' Flies in Face of AA

Strict abstinence not necessary for recovery, doc writes in new book

(Newser) - Alcoholics Anonymous has a great track record, but one doctor writes that AA's strategy isn't the only game in town when treating alcoholism. In "Take Control of Your Drinking … And You May Not Need to Quit," Michael Levy argues that a controlled level of drinking can be...

20 Stories