Due to the world wide popularity and success of the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), you will most likely have already heard of the 12-Step program, although you may not be familiar with what the steps actually entail.
The 12 steps still remains to this day the most effective way of treating addiction, leading to the highest outcomes for abstinence¹. Also it is shown to have a greater reduction in intensity of drinking than what some consider “state-of-the-art” behavioural interventions¹.
The 12 Steps present a structured and gradual path to recovery, focusing on transforming thoughts, behaviors, and relationships associated with addiction, and also confronting the sobering truth that we cannot help ourselves without the intervention of a Higher Power.
In the 12 Steps, the God as we understand Him is the higher power which can set your free where you are unable to free yourself.
Here's how it works:
Acknowledging the problem, seeking support from others, surrendering our life over to God as you understand Him.
Making inventory and amends for past wrongs and commit to a sober, responsible life.
Establishing a fellowship that provides encouragement and understanding.
Sharing experiences, strength, and hope to combat isolation and stigma.
Staying motivated by being able to continue to connect and having a sponsor for support.
Discovering tools to manage stress, cravings, and triggers.
Finding healing, forgiveness, and a new purpose in life.
Extend a hand to fellow alcoholics (and others) in need.
The Twelve Steps
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
The Twelve Traditions
1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.
2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
6. An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
REFERENCES
[1] Kelly JF, Humphreys K, Ferri M., Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs for alcohol use disorder. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2020, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD012880.DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD012880.pub2. https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD012880.pub2/epdf/full
Alcoholics Anonymous: https://www.aa.org/