12 Step programme people, need advice

[buzzardbuzzard]

Sorry if this isn't in an appropriate place, there don't seem to be any addiction threads so I though this would be close enough...

I have been attending a 12 step programme for 2 years now. It's called Overeaters Anonymous and has helped me gain power over my compulsive over eating and may other aspects of my unmanageable life.

The group used to be quite big and now it's dwindled so that I travel for 40 minutes each way to get there and it's just me or just me and one other person.

Ideally I would have therapy but can't afford this so this has been the next best thing.

I'm not getting much from it because of this and am tempted to just give up entirely.

This programme has helped me with many aspects of my emotional life and feel like my life is 10 times better since I started and have received the support of a generous and insightful sponsor.

If I stop going there I'm worried that I will upset my sponsor who has worked tirelessly to keep the group going.

I am very busy at work and uni so simply can't afford to be driving all that way to sit in a room alone for the evening.

Anyone else got any experience of this?

Thanks

Why don't you start a group up closer to home?

Because I don't have enough time.

No experience but I certainly don't think you should be feeling obliged to go there each week. Maybe you should gradually reduce it to say, once a fortnight. Then see how you get on?

Then once you see you are coping without it just tell your sponsor you feel as though you are strong enough to to tackle things independently

If you want to carry on working the 12-step programme, you could try AA or CA or NA... They're all the same programme, it doesn't matter what the substance is. I had an eating disorder and went to OA but I had other addiction issues so used to go to all or any of them. There are hardly any CA meetings where I live but plenty of AAs.

I think a meeting of one person alone isn't actually a meeting. I tend to take an approximate view of the programme and follow the advice of 'take what you want and leave the rest'. So I don't really go to any meetings any more, not because I feel I'm 'cured' but because I feel ok, on the understanding that abstinence is the only way I can go, and that the moment I feel smug or complacent about it is the moment I start to relapse.

Good luck with dealing with your issues. X

OK I think I will try AA, as there's one near me I just worry I'll be looked down upon for food based addiction rather than something "harder". The thing is its addict ways of operating, even if my food's under control I am not peaceful like I have been in the past when I've been abstinent from compulsive behaviour.

I am procrastinating to a damaging degree, I am over spending, my mind feels foggy, I am isolating myself from my friends Im feeling depressed and fearful and angry. All of these things don't happen when I'm in recovery and gaining benefit from the therapeutic value of a 12 step group.

I think I've allowed my sponsor to almost control me and now everyone has left the group except her. I think these groups need to be a democratic equal powered entity and if there's someone there who is bossing everyone about and being super controlling people just fall away.

Im starting to hit the nail on te head now. It's my rl with my sponsor that's become bad. She is in relapse so I don't see how she can help me.

When my own recovery isn't strong, the last thing I want to do is go to a meeting that isnt really addressing my issues.

As I said I think I'd be better off with therapy but it's so expensive.

Thanks for your understanding sorry for the rambling reply!