The building blocks to recovery in AA depend upon the acceptance of three "facts"...

1. The newcomer must accept that he is an alcoholic.

The logic used in the rooms is that if you've arrived in the rooms of AA, it's not by accident... you're an alcoholic.

If you don't believe that you're an alcoholic, you're simply an alcoholic in denial.

Huh?

Using this logic, it's safe to assume that anyone who walks into a women's restroom is either a woman, or a man in denial about his gender identity!

Very nice...

Read more on this and other of AA's silly catch 22s on the about.com question and answer board, staffed by professional doctors & therapists.

What is the premise for accepting alcoholism as a disease?

Sadly, I think the most common reason is a desire to be accepted by the group, the support of the disease theory by the AA literature and the lack of other immediately available information: If other information is found, the group simply will not accept that theory, even if outside sources confirm that the disease theory is controversial and has never been proven. AA's do enjoy at least one benefit from the "disease theory", namely they are able to shirk responsibility for past crazy behavior. It was "my disease" they say. We're still waiting for the courts to catch on with that one... yaaaawwwwnn... and I think we're going to be waiting for quite a while.

This is a sweeping generalization. Yet another diagnosis that is arrived at without examining the patient. It is sad but true that strange and sometimes tragic things happen when people who can be characterized as martyrs, or people pleasers adopt this diagnosis.

When I questioned the old-timers in the rooms (the ones who "get it"), I was told that being a martyr is actually a form of selfishness. How is the martyr supposed to figure that out?!? Dictionaries and reference books do not support this fact, and many times, people-pleasers and martyrs float around in the rooms for years, thinking that they have to abandon the self and serve others. The Big Book certainly doesn't clear up the confusion with such statements as: "my very life as an ex-problem drinker depends on my constant thought of others and how I can help meet their needs."

The rest of one's days in AA, if one wishes to "work the program" will depend upon the acceptance of the above diagnoses which are arrived at using limited information and shamefully sloppy logic, and influenced greatly by a desire to be accepted.