Review: Some thought-provoking ideas about addiction
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 18, 2012
"Sober Is My New Drunk" was a very enjoyable and thought-provoking read. As I'm writing this review, author Paul Carr's blog showed that he has been clean and sober for 882 days. He credits his success with his own approach to breaking his alcohol addiction. His views of twelve-step programs, especially AA, are considerably different from my own long-held beliefs. I've known a number of friends, co-workers, and relatives who have successfully found sobriety through twelve-step programs like AA and CA, but I've also known people who bounced in and out of these programs and were never successful. I assumed that it was these folks' own shortcomings or lack of commitment, not the programs' failure.The truth, according to Paul Carr, may lie somewhere in between. For him, AA didn't work, but he acknowledges that it may be the answer for some alcoholics, even though he poked holes in several tenets of twelve-step programs. I'm sure that some of his beliefs about these programs will be controversial, but in all fairness, he supported his statements with what he believes to be the truth. For example, the first step of AA's approach is "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable." Carr refutes that step by asserting that no one is powerless against alcohol - if they were truly powerless, then AA would be useless to an alcoholic.The author presents his own twelve steps, although they're actually more like personal observations of his experience in becoming sober. It's an interesting read, with plenty of soul-baring, brutal honesty, and even a bit of humor.Recommended reading that may challenge some of your beliefs about alcoholism and the path to sobriety.