Self-help groups for addicts complain about the loss of members

Created: 08.12.2022, 20:00

By: Peter Borchers

Away from alcohol together: Self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous support addicts on their way to a sober life.

In the county, however, some groups are complaining of a waning interest in their meetings.

© Klaus Haag/Archive

Some self-help groups are seeing a decline in membership.

The Wolfratshausen Alcoholics Anonymous are about to be dissolved.

Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen

– The pandemic has changed a lot, including in the lives of addicts.

The isolation during the lockdowns carried the risk of relapsing.

There was a temptation to get drunk, pop a pill, or light a joint to combat loneliness and anxiety about the future.

Not everyone had the opportunity to find support in one of the self-help groups represented in the district, such as the Blue Cross, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and the Kreuzbund - either because they were afraid of contracting the virus or simply because the pandemic Regulations temporarily disallowed meetings of such groups.

Geretsrieder group of the Blue Cross reasonably stable

"In fact, there were some minor relapses," confirms Oskar Neumüller, contact person for the self-help group for those at risk of addiction at the Blue Cross, which meets every Thursday at the Geretsrieder Caritas Center on Graslitzer Strasse.

After all, the group survived the Corona crisis: Every week there are “still between 10 and 14 people” who exchange ideas, says Neumüller.

From time to time someone new comes along, but a few - despite repeated follow-up - stayed away, "but the group size remains about the same".

He's doing better than his Wolfratshausen colleagues.

Uwe, the surname remains unmentioned - as is usually the case with the AA - recently only two people sat in a circle of chairs with his colleague Ernst at the Monday meetings from 7 p.m.

The two dry alcoholics "talked a bit and then went home again" in the evangelical community center on Wolfratshauser Bahnhofstrasse, says Ernst.

Uwe's disinterest prompted him to give up the management of the group at the end of the year.

Ernst wants to continue.

He knows how unstable the construct alcohol addiction is.

He hasn't touched a drop since 1984, interrupted by a serious relapse in 1997 "for which I was to blame.

Since then I've been dry again."

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Ernst can only speculate as to why interest in her AA meetings has waned so much.

"Uwe and I talked about it.

Maybe that has something to do with the fact that addicts are referred directly to the Caritas addiction support groups when they are in the hospital.

So they no longer come to the AA, the Kreuzbund or the Blaues Kreuz.

But we don't know exactly."

Al-Anon: Meeting with five people

Al-Anon, a global self-help organization, offers families of alcoholics a place to talk about the problems and challenges of living alongside an addict.

"We used to be a lot more," says Anneliese, contact person for those affected, who have a fixed appointment every Friday from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Holy Family parish center on Geretsrieder Johannisplatz.

Now, as a rule, there are only five of them.

Anneliese cannot explain the loss either.

"Maybe some people think they no longer need it after two or three visits to us." Some of those affected would probably also use online offers, "but in my opinion that doesn't replace the personal".

Ernst continues to believe that AA, Blue Cross and Kreuzbund can be an important factor in an addict's life.

"When he comes into contact with sober alcoholics, it is not uncommon for him to see for the first time that there is hope for a good life through various steps - sober, sober sober, content sober.

Even if it takes patience.” And that's why Ernst doesn't want to give up the Wolfratshauser Group.

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info

Addicts and their relatives can regularly find contacts and dates under Advice and help on our page 2 (“Tips for the day”).

Read the latest news from the Wolfratshausen/Geretsried region here