NEWS RELEASE: Immediate


Alcoholics CAN recover and learn to drink safely again!


"Alcoholics Anonymous is a quasi-religious cult that has blocked and
prevented progress in the field of treatment of alcoholism for the
past seventy years," claim Scots couple.

Many alcoholics CAN recover and drink safely again, if and when they
so wish.

That is the message of hope offered on two Internet websites hosted
by a Scots couple whose lives were devastated by alcoholism, but have
now recovered so completely that they now not only lead normal lives
again, but are also able to drink in a perfectly sociable manner once
more.

That diametrically contradicts the teaching of Alcoholics Anonymous,
and of many alcoholism treatment centres throughout the world. But
Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald of Ayr in Scotland believe that the 12-
step programme of lifelong sobriety is not the solution to
alcoholism, as it only treats the symptoms and not the causes of the
problem, and is merely a damage-limitation exercise.

Lilian and Murdoch argue that alcoholism, like other self-harming
disorders including bulimia, anorexia and self-mutilation, is a
behaviour problem, not a disease, often stemming from problems
experienced in childhood. And if these problems can be identified and
properly addressed, then the problem behaviour can be cured.

Ten years ago the couple had hit rock bottom, sleeping rough for two
weeks on the streets of Cambridge, where a quarter of a century
previously as an undergraduate Murdoch had received an honours degree
in English Literature. They had moved there from Ayr with the idea of
Murdoch doing research for a doctorate (PhD), but reverted to their
old habits, started binge drinking, and were thrown out of their
lodgings.

After a fortnight, and when they were just about at the end of their
tether, two nurses on their way home after a Saturday night out took
pity on Lilian and Murdoch, bought them a cup of tea and found them a
place in a homeless hostel.

The couple spent the next twelve months there getting to the roots of
their alcoholism. They tried AA one last time, before concluding that
it was a quasi-religious cult whose ideas on alcoholism were
inadequate and outdated.

Instead, by reading psychology, they decided that the causes of their
alcoholic behaviour lay in problems experienced during childhood. And
that once these problems were realised and addressed, there was no
longer any need for escape through alcoholism, and they could even
drink normally like other people again.

Ten years after selling newspapers from a stand in Market Square,
Cambridge, so that he and Lilian could get back on their feet
financially, Murdoch now writes his own regular column in the local
weekly paper and also runs his own public relations consultancy.

And Lilian is so keen to pass on the benefits of their experience to
others who still have problems with alcohol, that the couple are
building a website www.alcoholicscandrinksafelyagain.com to spread
their message of hope.

They also have a community group website at
http://groups.msn.com/AlcoholicsCanDrinkSafelyAgain which includes a
chat room and message board where members can exchange thoughts,
ideas and experiences.

And Lilian and Murdoch have just completed the first draft of a book
about their experiences, and will shortly start looking for a
suitable publisher.
*
The couple recognise that they are not the first to criticise AA and
advocate that alcoholics can make a complete recovery without having
to commit themselves to a lifetime of abstinence. Indeed as long ago
as 1964, Dr Arthur H Cain published an article in the Saturday
Evening Post in which he claimed that even then that "Alcoholics
Anonymous had become a dogmatic cult that blocks medical progress and
hampers many members' lives," and that "because of its narrow
outlook, Alcoholics Anonymous prevents thousands from ever being
cured. Moreover AA has retarded scientific research into one of
America's most serious health problems."

And more recently, Dr Stanton Peele has criticised the AA movement in
his books and on his website www.peele.net

Dr Peele is currently campaigning against the tendency of American
courts of law to coerce people convicted of drink-related offences
into joining AA as part of their sentence.

Lilian said: "We are campaigning to get freedom of choice for
alcoholics. We are not against people going to AA if that's what they
want. But we believe in individual treatment for individual people –
not one-size fits all."

"As Stanton Peele says: `Oddly enough, while maintaining alcoholism
is a disease, AA and other disease proponents ignore the standard
therapeutic requirement that people be told of the alternatives, and
be allowed to govern their own health care decisions.'"
*
Lilian and Murdoch find it strange that since Arthur Cain's
groundbreaking article in 1964, the media have appeared reluctant to
give any significant coverage to people who are critical of AA. As
Murdoch points out: "The media have traditionally granted AA a quasi-
monopoly in the field of alcoholism, and those of us who want to
promote a more enlightened and progressive attitude towards the
subject find it almost impossible to be heard. It is as if too many
AA members and sympathisers have attained positions of influence in
the media, and are able to censor any opinions that appear to
contradict the AA philosophy."

The couple's final criticism is of the private clinics that have
jumped upon the AA bandwagon and peddle the 12-step philosophy at an
average cost of £3,000 per week in the UK for a typical stay of 5-6
weeks.

Stanton Peele says: "The medical establishment has come to recognize
the financial and other advantages of piggybacking on the AA
movement, as have many recovering alcoholics. AA members frequently
make counselling careers out of their recoveries. They and the
treatment centres then benefit from third-party reimbursement. In a
recent survey of 15 treatment centres across the US, researcher Marie
Bourbine-Twohig found that all of the centres (90 percent of which
were residential) practiced the 12-step philosophy, and two-thirds of
all counsellors in the facilities were recovering alcoholics and
addicts."

Lilian concludes: "When our ideas about alcoholism - of which we are
the living proof - gain more acceptance worldwide, and if more
government money is put into preventative measures, not only will
alcoholics stand a greater chance of getting back to normality, but
we will also have taken the first step towards ensuring that
alcoholism can be stamped out altogether."

-ends-
Notes:

1. Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald are available for interview 0900-
2200 hours Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
E-mail: lilianandmurdoch@...
2. A jpeg image of Lilian and Murdoch is attached to this press
release.
3. Also attached is a copy of the text of the article by Dr
Arthur H Cain in the Saturday Evening Post dated 19 September 1964.
The article can also be accessed online by logging on to:
www.aadeprogramming.com/reclaim/cured.html

Web links:

Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald's websites:
www.alcoholicscandrinksafelyagain.com
http://groups.msn.com/AlcoholicsCanDrinkSafelyAgain

Dr Stanton Peele's Addiction Website: www.peele.net

AA Deprogramming site: www.aadeprogramming.com

Issued by Fame Publicity Services.
E-mail: famepublicity@...