The 12 traditions of AA were intended to stabilize the program and keep it freed from outside influences. Individuals who attend AA groups are committed to stop abusing alcohol and remain sober. The meetings offer a multitude of ways to support ongoing recovery, like an effective 12-step program designed to treat alcoholism. Check out how living sober can help your life.
Introduction
In staying true to the program’s name, the meetings tend to focus on alcoholism. But as drug addiction becomes more common, AA has welcomed people with drug problems to attend the program and work the 12 Steps alongside the other members. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable. The first step encourages people with alcoholism to admit that they cannot control their addictive behaviors.
The Rest of the Steps
2 . It also includes the more formal treatment programs that facilitate the 12 steps by guiding people to AA — an approach that more than 70 percent of addiction treatment facilities in the US use, according to federal data. That includes the typical AA meeting, thousands of which happen in churches and treatment centers all over the US on a daily basis. The Cochrane review looked at studies that analyzed the effects of AA or 12-step treatment. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. The second step presents hope, faith and realization. AA believes that people with alcoholism must look to a higher power to recover from addiction.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. Through the third step, individuals with alcoholism turn their lives over to their higher power. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. People with alcoholism take an honest look at their lives. The individual puts his or her trust in this superior being to eliminate addiction.
4. AA believes the identification of past regret, embarrassment or guilt can help individuals through the recovery process.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. This step also incorporates self-evaluation.
The Final Steps
Those looking for a recovery support group after they’ve already sought out addiction treatment may benefit greatly from a 12-step approach. 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 final step encourages people to help others overcome alcoholism. Furthermore, individuals with alcoholism maintain conscious contact with their higher power.
12. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. Monitoring your recovery is integral in sustaining sobriety. Making amends could mean sitting down face-to-face with those they’ve wronged or writing a letter to them.
Conclusion
As seen above, the self help group created by Bill and Bob can be a very useful way to express how you are an alcoholic and make the change to seek sobriety. I hope you enjoyed reading about living sober. Furthermore, please leave your thoughts and comments below. Finally, read some other articles like this one on our frontpage.