Understanding the AA 12 Step Program: A Path to Lasting Recovery

An Introduction to Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of people working together toward achieving sobriety from alcohol. The program focuses on spiritual growth as a means of overcoming alcohol dependence. Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935, and while it focuses on alcoholism, there are now numerous other twelve step programs that treat other substance use disorders, as well as other common problems that people deal with.

Alcoholics Anonymous is one of the most successful and widespread self hep groups in the world. It is not a medical program, but has been endorsed by some medical professionals.

If you or a loved one are seeking to overcome alcoholism, residential rehab at a facility like Turning Point of Tampa is a great start. But joining the fellowship and working the Twelve Steps of AA can help you maintain sobriety in the long term. Read on to learn about this program and how the twelve steps can help you find a “higher power” that will enable you to combat the progressive illness of addiction.

The Origins of Alcoholics Anonymous

AA was founded in 1935 in Akron, Ohio, by Bill Wilson and Robert Holbrook Smith, better known within the fellowship as Bill W. and Dr. Bob. Although AA has no official leaders, its founders are still held in high regard.

Bill Wilson struggled with alcoholism for many years. He eventually had a spiritual awakening as a result of practicing a program recommended to him by a friend. He then found that he could only remain sober by sharing what he had learned with other alcoholics. The first person he successfully helped into recovery was Dr. Bob. The fellowship dates its founding to Dr. Bob’s first day of sobriety, June 10, 1935.

Discover more about Bill Wilson and his significant contributions to Alcoholics Anonymous.

The pair began spreading their message to other alcoholics, eventually naming their fellowship Alcoholics Anonymous to reflect its emphasis on the well-being of the group over the individual. Their traditions state that “personal recovery depends on AA unity,” to reflect this ethical principle.

The fellowship has spread via the publication and dissemination of the Big Book, officially titled “Alcoholics Anonymous,” written primarily by Wilson and now published by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services. Alcoholics Anonymous World Services was founded in 1969 to manage the needs of the global fellowship, which now numbers in the millions.

To understand how the Twelve Steps can help you or your loved ones overcome alcoholism, let’s take a look at the contents of the Big Book, a “textbook for recovery.”

The Doctor’s Opinion

In The Doctor’s Opinion, William Silkworth explains his conception of the illness of alcoholism, which differed widely from the common thinking at the time. When the Big Book was written, alcoholism was still largely looked at as a matter of willpower. Silkworth instead explains it as a combination of two factors, physical and mental.

The Physical Allergy

Silkworth proposes that alcoholics have a physical allergy to alcohol. They have a “phenomenon of craving” that develops when they begin to drink, such that they cannot control how much they consume. He notes that people of this type can never safely consume alcohol. But they still do, due to the mental component of alcoholism. (Note: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recognizes alcoholism as a mental illness, confirming Silkworth’s hypothesis).

The Mental Obsession

Silkworth describes the obsession that alcoholics develop with drinking, even after it causes them problems. They become “restless, irritable, and discontent” when they try to stop.

Silkworth describes various ways this obsession manifests itself. Some alcoholics plan new methods of controlling their drinking, like changing their brand or surroundings. Others believe they can drink again after they have been abstinent for a period. Others are manic-depressive and lack control of their mental faculties.

Hope for Alcoholics

Silkworth ends by noting that there are no medical treatment options he is aware of that can eradicate the allergy, and that many of his peers thus think of alcoholics as doomed. But he then endorses the methods employed by Bill and others to overcome the mental obsession. He endorses their program of action as the only one he has seen to demonstrate significant results for recovery.

Bill’s Story

The Big Book opens in earnest with “Bill’s Story,” Bill Wilson’s personal narrative of alcoholism and recovery. with the goal of illustrating how a power greater than himself was necessary for him to overcome his addiction.

Bill Wilson was a stockbroker who had succumbed to severe alcoholism in his 30s. He had brief periods of sobriety, but could not sustain his abstinence from alcohol for more than a few months. He suffered serious consequences, including the loss of his livelihood, and had periods of insanity during which he contemplated suicide.

Bill’s Experiences With Substance Abuse Treatment

Bill underwent numerous medical interventions based on contemporary addiction research, including the “belladonna treatment,” in which the deadly nightshade plant was administered along with other chemicals to clean out the intestinal tract, and hydrotherapy. Still, he could not stop drinking.

How Bill Achieved Continuous Abstinence

Resigned to his fate, Bill continued to drink, until one day he was contacted by a formerly alcoholic friend, Ebby Thatcher. Ebby described a “practical program of action” he had been given by two men who were part of a religious organization (now known to be an Oxford Group). This made a major impression on Bill, who had never encountered another person who drank the way that he did and recovered.

As Bill struggled with himself over his resentments against organized religion, his friend made a novel suggestion: “Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?” This was a major turning point for Bill. He realized that belief in a power greater than himself was a necessity for him to recover.

Bill then went through his final detox experience. He adapted the program of action he had learned from Ebby into what would become the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and applied himself to sharing it with others. To this day, members of AA still identify one another in public by asking if they are “friends of Bill.”

The Twelve Steps

The Big Book’s most famous and important passage, from “How It Works,” describes the twelve step model for achieving conscious contact with God and overcoming alcoholism. The twelve steps are as follows:

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,g 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.

How AA Members Work The Steps

The Twelve Steps are described in detail in the Big Book chapters “How It Works,” “Into Action,” and “Working With Others.”

It is highly recommended that people with addictive diseases work with a sponsor. In sponsorship, recovered alcoholics describe how they attained recovery and guide newcomers through the twelve steps. Twelve step programs are often referred to as “self help groups,” but “mutual help groups” is a more accurate term. People in AA rely heavily on one another for support, guidance, and wisdom. Getting a sponsor is highly recommended.

Steps 1-3

The Steps begin by asking the alcoholic to recognize that their own methods of controlling their drinking have failed. Alcoholics have lost internal control of their drinking. Their lives have suffered as a result, becoming impossible to manage.

They are then asked to believe that a higher power can help them recover. Surrendering to a higher power is an important step toward overcoming their dependence on alcohol.

It’s important to note that this power does not need to be a traditional religious figure. As noted in Bill’s Story, members of Alcoholics Anonymous are encouraged to use their own conception of “God” to recover.

For some people, “God” can be an acronym for Group of Drunks, meaning the AA fellowship itself is their higher power. For others, “God” means Good Orderly Direction, a non-religious conception of something greater than an individual human. All that is important is that they can give over control to this power in the third step.

Steps 4-9

Many refer to these as the “action steps.” Having turned over their problem to a power greater than themselves, alcoholics commence on creating a moral inventory. This means cataloguing their fears, resentments, and relationship problems, typically in a written document referred to as a Fourth Step.

In the Fifth Step, this document is then shared with another human being- typically the person’s sponsor. This process can be painful, but it is often cathartic, as deeply held secrets are revealed in the presence of a supportive person and greeted with empathy, rather than judgment.

The Sixth and Seventh Steps build on the progress made with this personal inventory, asking the alcoholic to reflect on what character flaws they have relied on in the past. They then ask God to remove these flaws.

In Steps Eight and Nine, alcoholics enumerate the people they have done damage to in their past, and reach out to make things right. However, the step makes it clear that they reach out to these people “wherever possible except when to do so would injure them or others,” meaning that alcoholics are advised against contacting people who would be better off left alone. A sponsor can help decide which amends need to be made.

Steps 10-12

Referred to as the maintenance steps, these steps are practiced on a daily basis. In Step 10, alcoholics pay attention to ways in which they still fall short of their ideals, and make a point to disclose to others when they have done so.

In Step 11, they build an improved “conscious contact with God” (or whatever they call their higher power) through prayer and meditation, ancient practices that are still effective today.

In Step 12, they share the message of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) through sponsorship and by sharing their stories with others. They also seek to practice what they have learned in every area of their lives.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Sources:

JSAD: Matching Alcoholism Treatments to Client Heterogeneity

Cochrane Library: Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12‐step programs for alcohol use disorder