AA eases depression

So apparently AA can make you less depressed, which is good, since most of us came in severely depressed.

"Some critics of AA have claimed that the organization's emphasis on 'powerlessness' against alcohol use and the need to work on 'character defects' cultivates a pessimistic world view, but this suggests the opposite is true..."

Once you take a good look at yourself, which can be kind of depressing at times, you can make changes and take steps to improvement. I think that's a pretty powerful thing. It's something people look for in therapy, and often don't find. AA gives you that outline for how to take steps, and they're simple. 1. Don't drink. 2. Don't drink. 3. Rely on others and your higher power to not drink. Pretty easy. I mean, the only requirement is a desire to stop drinking, not even the ability to stop. Just the desire. And once you have the desire and the support system, the rest follows along (hopefully).