Triggers
Does the concept of "triggers" appear anywhere in AA approved literature? I'm thinking of those things that increase the craving for alcohol.
The only use we know of, apart from two references to guns, is on page 30 of "As Bill Sees It." The text is taken from a 1954 letter Bill once wrote and it contains the line:
"Sometimes, we become depressed. I ought to know; I have been a champion dry-bender case myself. While the surface causes were a part of the picture -- trigger-events that precipitated depression -- the underlying causes, I am satisfied, ran much deeper."
The idea that we must avoid "triggers" is
not part of the traditional AA program. How AA does approach with this is explained on page 101 of the Big Book:
In our belief any scheme of combating alcoholism which proposes to shield the sick man from temptation is doomed to failure. If the alcoholic tries to shield himself he may succeed for a time, but he usually winds up with a bigger explosion than ever. We have tried these methods. These attempts to do the impossible have always failed.
