Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has helped millions of people and is now a widely accepted and media approved treatment for problem drinkers. Yet while AA’s social worth is rarely challenged its efficacy rate, estimated by some to be as low as 5% or 10%, appears comparable to that of spontaneous remission.

• Can a non-existent “Higher Power” really offer meaningful solutions to the debilitating and frequently fatal condition of alcoholism?
• If so, how do we help all the atheist and skeptic alcoholics?
• How did AA become the go-to treatment modality for one of the great social health scourges of our age?
• It’s the twenty-first century, is this the best we can do?

In a balanced and humorous discussion informed by Prof. Andy Thomson’s research into the role of evolutionary psychology in culture, Jon Stewart explains the ongoing success of AA and explores some new and lesser-known options for treatment.

About the speaker:

Jon Stewart was co-founder, guitarist and co-songwriter for platinum-selling Britpop band Sleeper, with whom he enjoyed three UK Top 10 albums and eight UK Top 40 singles. He now teaches in Higher Education and is a PhD researcher at the University of Southampton. A grateful sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous for 14 years, Jon quit the fellowship in early 2014. His blog “Leaving AA, Staying Sober” is at http://jonsleeper.wordpress.com/

This is event is free to attend, although we will be asking for donations at the end of the talk. Participants are under no obligation whatsoever to donate, however please rest assured that the money we collect doesn’t end up in anyone’s pocket – it is used to fund our overhead costs, and travel/accommodation for our speakers who come from further afield.

Accessibility: As per the policy of the Admiral Bar, access to the venue “can only be provided to patrons who are sufficiently mobile and capable of independently evacuating premises, or with the minimum of assistance”. Unfortunately, this leaves the basement inaccessible to most wheelchair users.