“...follow AA and completely abstain.”
You can achieve recovery from alcoholism without AA but if you are a true alcoholic you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT ever return to controlled drinking.....EVER.
Alcohol to an alcoholic is poison and it WILL eventually destroy or kill them period.
Good example of the irrationality. That statement is inherently non-disprovable, but orthodox AA member treat it as Holy Writ. The truth or falsity of the statement is irrelevant to its provability.