To Have Gone To Recovery Or To Not Have Gone To Recovery.....

This post is going to date me, perhaps even make me look prehistoric.  But what I am about to post is true nonetheless. 

I came to the Roomz of AA due to a drinking problem in 1988.  Society was a bit different then - one difference as it relates to this blog is that back in the late 1980's, health care and insurance costs were not the nightmare they are today and it was not at all unusual for someone with a drinking problem - or in many cases, someone who was passing through a phase of heavy drinking with no real problem - to be sent to inpatient treatment, with an insurance company picking up most of the tab for a 28 day residential treatment program.  (I understand today that treatment is mostly done on an outpatient basis.  No more 28 day stays in treatment these days!  At least not paid for by insurance). 

Treatment.  Uggggggh.  I have heard so many stories of treatment during my time in the roomz.  Basically a spin cycle to dry you out and get you to AA meetings seems to be the overall take I've heard during my time in the Roomz.  Well, I had a bit of a rough upbringing and when I was young back in the late 1980's, I didn't have health insurance.  Treatment was not an option for me realistically.  So I went to the Roomz without the "benefit" of having been to treatment first.

Many of the people I was to meet in the rooms in Flagstaff, Arizona, AA, went to treatment at swanky treatment centers in Sedona - a very upscale town about forty five minutes to the South.  People would actually introduce themselves to other members at meetings and then share where they had gone to treatment as if they were discussing where they spent their last vacation.  I actually felt less than for not having gone to treatment, and my first sponsor was no help here, as he said that I was going to have a harder time in sobriety not having been giving expert guidance before landing in the Roomz.  Say what?  Uh Huh.

Uh Huh and Say what?  Something that amazed me was how quickly folks who were sent to meetings after treatment either took up drinking again and/or stopped going to meetings.  With the abysmal success rate of AA, and the fact that treatment centers are to this day mostly AA/NA and 12 Step based - meaning they take what money they can get from you and funnel you to meetings that have an abysmal success rate - what a racket that was while it lasted!  I don't blame insurance companies for getting smart and ending the days of 28 days before you too can start your new life in the Roomz. 

I'm glad I didn't go to treatment as I have heard so many stories of rude and abusive behavior towards patients in these facilities by treatment center counselors and employees.  I had endured enough in the Roomz, I sure didn't need to endure 12 Step madness before even starting in the Roomz. 

Anyone out there care to vent about insane treatment center experiences?  The floor is yours.....