Alcoholics Anonymous

Introduction to Alcoholics Anonymous 12-Step

Alcoholism is a tragic and lonely disease!

Like other forms of addiction, as people they become more dependent on alcohol, they isolate themselves, cutting themselves off from family, friends and activities they used to enjoy. Even when they want to come out of that world, they think they can or must do it alone.

Not true!

The last thing a person needs at the very beginning of recovery is to be alone. The alcoholic will say, “I’ll cut back,” or “I just have to have the will power to stop doing drugs.”

Most Try To "Go It Alone" and FAIL!

One alcoholic told me that the only way for him to get clean was for him to do all of the work, there was no other way. What he was not considering is that as human beings, we are not wired that way. We are wired for relationship. We are not meant for isolation.

Moreover, what if I told you that you can’t do it all on your own strength, that you need something from somebody else? The Alcoholics Anonymous 12-Step process for recovery was first created in the 1930’s, by Alcoholics Anonymous, but over the last 70 plus years, over 250 self-help groups have adopted these steps.

Why? Because they work!

In my group discussions at a residential drug and alcohol rehab center, we discuss how people are body, mind and spirit. Granted, our spirits can be strong and our determination staunch, but the greater power is outside of us. That is the power that only God can provide.

Alcoholics Anonymous 12-Step -- What is it like?

Imagine yourself in the kitchen to make a piece of toast. You have everything you need. But when you push down the lever to lower the bread into the toaster, nothing happens.

You have done every correctly, so you double check -- bread, butter, jam, knife, plate – and you see that everything is in place. But there is one item missing. You have no power to make the toaster work. After a brief “ah ha” moment you plug the toaster in and shortly thereafter enjoy your toast.

The 12-Step process is similar to making toast in one respect, you have to plug into a power source, and when you do, everything can start to work. We believe that people are not meant to be alone, to handle the everyday challenges of life. It follows that people are certainly not meant to be alone during the very hard times. Whatever the power source, it is vital to the process.

It Works If You Work It

There are so many strange little sayings in life, like “When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” or perhaps “They put their pants on one leg at a time.” Sometimes those sayings have an immediate and obvious impact. We can relate to them because there is an element of encouragement and a kind of home-spun wisdom attached to them.

People around Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) are familiar with the saying, “It works if you work it.” It’s a simple enough statement, but it can either spur one on to make a concerted effort to make progress, or it can be a frivolous, if not downright irritating truism that has no particular meaning other than it sounds good. “Oh sure,” you say, “That’s a lot easier said than done.”

What we are talking about here is the basic attitude towards working a 12 Step recovery program. If there is a program out there that gets more scrutiny, criticism or absolute scorn than 12 Step, I am not sure what it is. “It works if you work it” describes the core of the program, our own attitude.

Easier Said Then Done

It is easier said than done, because the individual has the power at all times to completely shut down the process. There is a type of discipline that is required; not so much the stick to it discipline that an athlete has when preparing for competition, but a kind of willingness to allow the process to move forward, however slowly, resulting in a remake of the individual. As much as the 12 Step is associated with AA, that does not mean that EVERY AA group will use the steps to help its members. Sometimes AA groups are more social encounters, sort of like a daily or weekly “check-in” with the recovery community, but the steps are not the major part of the gathering. Other groups may use the steps, but they add on religion and turn the original intent into something different.

A self-described AA “purist” once confronted me about the effectiveness of meetings that swayed from the original design of the organization and had morphed into something very different. He talked of the need to work the steps and hold closely to the original principles. Although he was not anti-religion by any means, he railed against how religious groups change the 12 Steps to meet their own needs and impede the process by introducing their own ideas and constructs. It works if you work it, so leave it alone. Attaching any particular organizational meaning to the 12 Steps defeats the purpose, because the process is one of self-discovery, and so the individual finds meaning in life through understanding his/her own experience. That is why 12 Step is difficult.

Self-preservation is a powerful force that sometimes disallows any personal discovery. Something is too painful to look at, or admit, or revisit. We all tend to sweep our shortcomings under the carpet, because it is much easier to slide over them and focus on somebody else.

Alcoholics Anonymous work takes much more than a year.

It is not uncommon for people to spend a year or more on an individual step, mainly because they cannot get past themselves. When they face themselves in the mirror, it may be overwhelming and the process is shut down. “Oh, the 12 Steps didn’t work for me.” They are, of course, right because the process was stopped.

Go To Several Meetings Before You Choose

My purist friend said that people should go to several meetings and check them out before deciding on which one to attend, and then only attend those that incorporate the 12 Step program and stick to the original; by the book.

There is a collective generosity to the steps, because they were created by alcoholics, not by a psychiatrist, or a family practice doctor. It isn’t the only way to happiness and sobriety, but if a person is willing to allow the process to unfold, it is effective.

Alcoholics Anonymous:
Other Methods May Work For You

There are other methods, good methods, so praise of the 12 Steps does not exclude an appreciation and respect for programs that render solid results. But like the Big Book says, overcoming a substance use disorder may require a spiritual solution, and so the 12 Step program can offer an amazing journey for the one willing to walk that path. There is another old saying that I have used repeatedly over the years. “If it were easy, everybody would be doing it.” That describes the degree of difficulty in doing most anything.

When I was a child I dreamed of playing professional baseball, but never got past pitching middle relief on my college team. Some kids never get to play in high school, so I was successful on one level, but I never achieved the goal. Had I known about steroids back then, would I have been tempted to cheat the system?

In treatment and recovery some people want to cheat the system by choosing the easiest possible program. Have you ever been behind the scenes and seen for yourself the torture that a professional athlete goes through in preparation for competition? It’s really no different from what an addict/alcoholic must do to reclaim their life and give them a chance for a bright and productive future.

Alcoholics Anonymous:
It’s About Finding Out What Works

It works if you work it is very true and effective if it is allowed to move forward in the original way. It is difficult, sometimes heart-wrenching, but people who have worked the steps over the years and not tried to circumvent the system are the ones who can testify to its effectiveness.

They will also tell you that the most important thing is for a person to find help and stay clean and sober. The 12 Steps aren’t the only way, just a good way and millions will swear by that, because it saved their lives.

Alcoholics Anonymous 12-Step History

To appreciate the roots of the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-Step program we need to spend a moment to look into the personal history of Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson. Click here for History of the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-Step program

Please consider using the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-Step program

There are an abundance of web sites and books written about the alcohol programs, and we’ll share a few of them with you to give you a broader base of understanding and point you to a few excellence resources.

The 12-Step program is steeped in tradition and firmly supported by spiritual truth, give us all a model of humanity that points us to a better life, a stronger relationship with our neighbors, and an eternal loving relationship with the one who made us.

As you look through this program, think of them as a process.

Like a path you walk on to go from A to Z, only you must take all of the steps and go through each in order, otherwise the path does not lead to your final destination. You go at your own pace and move forward as you see fit.

Along the way, remember that these steps were written by people just like you, who needed help and had the courage to accept the help. Regardless of your Alcoholism, 12-Step offers improvement for the human condition. Enjoy your reading.

Maybe you like Rev. Buchman and Bill Wilson will go through a spiritual experience of your own. If you do, please share it with us.

The 12-Step Program

Please review each step and try to either begin following them yourself or enroll in a local program. Let’s take a look at the steps. You will see quickly that the process includes others and that we are not meant to go through this alone.

Alcoholics Anonymous:


Step One:

We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable.

Alcoholics Anonymous:


Step Two:

Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Alcoholics Anonymous:


Step Three:

Make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understand Him.

Alcoholics Anonymous:


Step Four:

Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Alcoholics Anonymous:


Step Five:

Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Alcoholics Anonymous:


Step Six:

Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Alcoholics Anonymous:


Step Seven:

Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Alcoholics Anonymous:


Step Eight:

Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

Alcoholics Anonymous:


Step Nine:

Made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Alcoholics Anonymous:


Step Ten:

Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

Alcoholics Anonymous:


Step Eleven:

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.

Alcoholics Anonymous:


Step Twelve:

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 our affairs.

Alcoholics Anonymous:
For more Alcoholism Recovery click for Intervention

Alcoholics Anonymous

HOW TO USE THIS SITE:

This site contains five MAIN pages that EVERYONE should read:

ABOUT…

SYMPTOMS…

CAUSES…

TREATMENT…

RECOVERY…

Read these five pages and learn what you need to know to spot alcoholism in:

Yourself... Your Family... Your Friends... Your Community...

The rest of the pages are there for your reference to explain important topics in more detail.

Finally don’t miss the Spiritual and 12-step sections to fully explore how understanding THE SPIRIT can lead to recovery!