On Friday, October 28, 2016, I attended my very first open meeting for Overeaters Anonymous located in the Beebe Memorial CME Temple next to a church in 3900 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA at 6pm. This was the first time in a long time that I felt welcomed into a community of people whom I had just met. I arrived thirty minutes before the meeting and spoke to Louis, the meeting advisor for the night. I let him know I was a student who was taking a class on Addiction and wanted to know if it was okay if I sit in the meeting that night. When I finished explaining he was more than welcome to share any information of the program with me and offered me a newcomer’s packet. As he shared more information of the 12-step program they follow, Louis also
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However, this class has made me more aware of seeing addiction as a disease and a person cannot just stop their addictions within a day. By attending this meeting, it helped me see the process of ending an addiction as a true battle people experience and continue to face daily. As a way to start the meeting, the 12 traditions and 12 steps of the program were read out loud. Soon after, the speaker for the night shared her story of being abstinent from Bulimia for more than ten years already. As she shared her story, she mentioned she received therapy and even though it did not work for her, she lied her way through it. For many years, she put up a front about being okay and avoided talking to anyone about her constant purging. The only thing that helped her improve was attending Overeaters Anonymous meetings. This was also the case for many people who participated in the …show more content…
She expressed her political side made her build up anger and feel powerless towards situations such as police brutality and the other injustices happening in the country. Therefore, she would resort to compulsive eating to temporarily get rid of those feelings only to feel guilt and shame soon after. Previous to attending OA Meetings, she mentioned she did the traditional treatment of seeing a therapist and taking medication. During this time, she felt like it was not working as much and once she attended her first OA meeting, she found it to be more beneficial. She discontinued her therapeutic services and continued coming to meetings. With the help of the program she has been abstinent for half a year
However, this class has made me more aware of seeing addiction as a disease and a person cannot just stop their addictions within a day. By attending this meeting, it helped me see the process of ending an addiction as a true battle people experience and continue to face daily. As a way to start the meeting, the 12 traditions and 12 steps of the program were read out loud. Soon after, the speaker for the night shared her story of being abstinent from Bulimia for more than ten years already. As she shared her story, she mentioned she received therapy and even though it did not work for her, she lied her way through it. For many years, she put up a front about being okay and avoided talking to anyone about her constant purging. The only thing that helped her improve was attending Overeaters Anonymous meetings. This was also the case for many people who participated in the …show more content…
She expressed her political side made her build up anger and feel powerless towards situations such as police brutality and the other injustices happening in the country. Therefore, she would resort to compulsive eating to temporarily get rid of those feelings only to feel guilt and shame soon after. Previous to attending OA Meetings, she mentioned she did the traditional treatment of seeing a therapist and taking medication. During this time, she felt like it was not working as much and once she attended her first OA meeting, she found it to be more beneficial. She discontinued her therapeutic services and continued coming to meetings. With the help of the program she has been abstinent for half a year