You have a very valid point. In fact its one I never really thought about until my boyfriend and I got into a tiff last night over the meeting. He was saying that many mental health professionals don't go to meetings because the mental health topic isn't talked about. He said its very frustrating to him, working in the field and all, and is a big advocate of SMART Recovery, which is a 12 step program that focuses on mental health as well as alcoholism and addiction. His sponsor is also in the mental health field, so we have agreed not to discuss the issue.

Digging deeper into AA's 12 traditions.....2 of them apply well to this situation. The 3rd tradition is that the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. Basically this means if one has an honest desire not to drink, he or she is welcome.

Tradition Ten states that AA has no opinion on outside issues, hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

The traditions were developed to protect AA from its members, really. If we didn't have tradition ten, then any average joe could give medical advice about mental illness, and that would be highly dangerous. Though we may have doctors in the rooms, they're there for their own recovery, not to dispense medical advice.

For me, Tradition Ten is why we can't discuss mental health issues. My boyfriend was upset with the meeting yesterday because no one touched on this woman's mental issues. On one hand, I can understand his frustration. On the other hand, not everyone knew she suffered from these things, and Tradition 10 keeps us from talking about it anyway.

Its because of Tradition 10, in my opinion, that other groups were started, ie Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymouse, Over Eaters Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, the list goes on.

Where there's a need, it seems an Anonymous group pops up. That is I think why the SMART Recovery was started. And there's also groups starting to form for the duely diagnosed, ie alcoholics/addicts with mental health related issues etc.

A group of women from my group who have chronic illness have discussed starting a 12 step group revolving around chronic illness, like I have multiple sclerosis, but I don't really talk about it directly in an AA meeting, because its an AA meeting, not an MS meeting. So we talked about starting a group, though we haven't.

The possibilities are really quite endless for the types of fellowships that could be started. Just like we joke that all you need for a new AA meeting is a coffee pot and a resentment, it seems to me that any 12 step group could be started. Just need a cheap church hall or community center room, and a few people suffering from the same thing, and bam, you got a meeting.

I don't know where this all came from or if its even relevant, but the idea struck me because my boyfriend and I were just discussing this last night, so I thought I'd shed some light on why we don't talk about things other than alcohol in an AA meeting.

We get many people though, who attend open meetings, who aren't alcoholics. They come for the fellowship and listen. They don't share since it is an AA meeting, but they're still getting the benefits of it. So anyway, I think I'm done......