A.A. Not So Anonymous Anymore

Anonymity isn’t as big a part of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) as it used to be, according to The New York Times. Whether or not this is a good thing is a matter of debate, particularly in the professional recovery world, the article says.

The newspaper points out that when A.A. got its start in the Great Depression, alcoholism was seen as both a weakness and a disgrace. But with so many memoirs about recovery being penned by celebrities, that image is changing.

Last year A.A. issued an expanded statement on anonymity that explained the importance of being discrete on social networking sites. Some people have posted pictures taken at A.A. meetings and accidentally outed others in the photos.

Maer Roshan, the Editor of The Fix, a web magazine for those in recovery, said the recovery world is at a stage where the gay world was in the early 1990s. “Back then, there was still a stigma to saying you were gay,” he said. “There was a community, but it was mired in self-doubt and self-hatred, and it’s changed considerably.”