At what age do people become alcoholic?
The age of people drinking alcoholically is falling There is absolutely no question that the age of people being[...]
The Twelve Step programme of recovery was created by Dr Robert Smith and Bill Wilson, the two men responsible for founding Alcoholics Anonymous. Millions of alcoholics have used and use this programme of recovery to this day to maintain their sobriety. It is the most successful way of keeping people sober, certainly based on the numbers of people who have got and stayed well who have used it. It has even been adopted by other recovery groups, including those for drug addicts (adopted by Cocaine Anonymous – CA – and Narcotics Anonymous – NA). It has also been adopted by groups such as Co Dependents Anonymous (CODA), Gamblers Anonymous (GA) and Sex and Love Addiction Anonymous (SLAA).
This is why many addiction treatment centres use the Twelve Step Programme as the fundamental basis of what they teach people who want and need to get into recovery. They will also advise people in treatment to attend 12 Step Fellowship meetings – the ones most appropriate for their addiction.
Many people look at the 12 Steps and fix on the word – God. They then say that they are not religious and that the 12 Steps are not for them. However, the 12 Step programme as practised in treatment centres and AA is not religious. It is more spiritual, recognising that we cannot get well on our own and need to have some sort of help. Everyone has an inner spirit that is unique and individual to them (the essence of their personality) and present from the day they were born. When we are in the midst of an addiction that spirit is dead. The inner spirit needs to be stirred and moved and to have hope for the future. Something from outside of us (referred to as a Higher Power) will help us get that spirit raised.
So to summarise the 12 Step programme – our lives are chaotic and unmanageable. Our behaviour is ‘insane and our inner spirit is dead. We need to stop behaving in the way we have been and get help to change. Other people can help us but there is only so much they can do. Our inner spirit needs to feel hope and to want to live.
Something from outside can awaken it (the beauty of nature, the wonder of the universe , a God ‘of our understanding’.) We need to look at our character and what aspects of it are not good either for us or for other people and we need to admit to another human that we have these defects. There is a need to want to change and become better people and recognise that we need help to do it. We need to look at the things we have done wrong in the past and make amends to people we have harmed (to set our consciences free).
Then on a daily basis we need to make sure we live our lives as we would wish and as we should, correcting our wrongs as we go along and keeping our inner spirit healthy. We then share our experience with others and help them to recover with hope.
Not everyone wants to follow the 12 Step Programme sometimes because they want to believe that they can be in control of their drinking, using and lives. However all the evidence is that we cannot control our drinking and using – if we could we would have done so. And obviously we are not entirely in control of everything in our lives. So believing that there is something out there looking out for us is comforting.
The Haynes Clinic is a 12 Step Treatment Centre. We have seen many hundreds of people get well and thrive on the programme. If you have an addiction – even if you do not! – try it!