 |
|
|
|
| Alcoholics Anonymous is an international fellowship of men and women who have
had a drinking problem. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, non-denominational,
multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education
requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his
or her drinking problem.
|
|
|
|
|
1. A.A. members share their experience with anyone seeking help with a
drinking problem; they give person-to-person service or "sponsorship" to
the alcoholic coming to A.A. from any source.
2. The A.A. program, set forth in our Twelve Steps, offers the alcoholic
a way to develop a satisfying life without alcohol.
3. This program is discussed at A.A. group meetings.
A. Open speaker meetings-open to alcoholics and nonalcoholics.
(Attendance at an open A.A. meeting is the best way to learn what
A.A. is, what it does, and what it does not do.) At speaker meetings,
A.A. members "tell their stories." They describe their experiences
with alcohol, how they came to A.A., and how their lives have
changed as a result of A.A.
B. Open discussion meetings-one member speaks briefly about his or
her drinking experience, and then leads a discussion on A.A. recovery
or any drinking-related problem anyone brings up. (Closed meetings are
for A.A.s or anyone who may have a drinking problem.)
C. Closed discussion meetings-conducted just as open discussions are,
but for alcoholics or prospective A.A.s only.
D. Step meetings (usually closed)-discussion of one of the Twelve Steps.
E. A.A. members may also take meetings into correctional and treatment
facilities.
F. A.A. members may be asked to conduct the informational meetings about
A.A. as a part of A.S.A.P. (Alcohol Safety Action Project) and D.W.I.
(Driving While Intoxicated) programs. These meetings about A.A. are
not regular A.A. group meetings.
|
|
| Characteristics of a 12 step program |
|
|
All twelve-step programs follow some version of the twelve steps.
They meet regularly to discuss their problems and share their victories.
One of the most widely-recognized characteristics of twelve-step groups
is the requirement that members admit that they "have a problem". In this
spirit, many members open their address to the group along the lines of,
"Hi, I'm David, and I'm an alcoholic" -- a catchphrase now widely
identified with support groups.
Visitors to group meetings share their
experiences, challenge successes and failures, and provide peer support
for each other. Many people who have joined these groups report they found
success that previously eluded them, while others -- including some
ex-members -- criticize their efficacy or universal applicability.
|
|
|
|
|
There is no central doctrine or creed of A.A. belief about alcoholism,
since A.A's individual members are free to believe what they wish, based
on their own experience. Even the A.A. 12-step program is presented to
members as suggested rather than mandatory. However, many A.A. members
share common views on alcoholism and most would agree with the following
statements:
A. Alcoholism has no cure. Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.
There is no way to make a "normal" drinker out of an alcoholic. Alcoholics
who do not drink can recover and function in normal society, but should
they drink again, their active alcoholism will re-emerge immediately and
be as debilitating as before. This is true even in cases where alcoholics
have remained sober for many years before relapsing.
B. Alcoholism is a progressive illness. Over time, alcoholics who
continue to drink will get worse. Those who keep drinking will often die
or be institutionalized (prison, hospital or asylum).
C. The first drink does the damage. Once an alcoholic takes a
drink, a powerful compulsion to keep drinking sets in. This makes moderation
or controlled drinking extremely difficult, and in most cases impossible for
the alcoholic. Thus the A.A. approach of abstinence. Without the first
drink, the compulsion to drink is greatly reduced and recovery becomes
possible. Much of the A.A. program is intended to help the alcoholic stay
stopped, thereby preventing the compulsive drinking cycle from starting.
|
|
| The 12 Suggested Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous |
|
|
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.
|
|
| What Do We Mean By Alcoholism? |
|
|
Alcoholism, also known as "alcohol dependence," is a disease that includes
alcohol craving and continued drinking despite repeated alcohol-related problems,
such as losing a job or getting into trouble with the law. It includes four symptoms:
Craving -- A strong need, or compulsion, to drink.
Impaired control -- The inability to limit one's drinking on any given occasion.
Physical dependence -- Withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness,
and anxiety, when alcohol use is stopped after a period of heavy drinking.
Tolerance -- The need for increasing amounts of alcohol in order to feel its effects.
For clinical and research purposes, formal diagnostic criteria for alcoholism also
have been developed. Such criteria are included in the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, published by the American Psychiatric
Association, as well as in the International Classification Diseases, published by
the World Health Organization.
|
|
|
|
|
Narcotics Anonymous is a support group for people who are addicted (or who have
been addicted) to drugs, to help them avoid drug use. It uses a 12 step program
modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous. There are subtle differences between the steps
used by members of Alcoholics Anonymous and by the members of Narcotics Anonymous.
The steps were changed to reflect an all-inclusive program that does not cater to
one specific substance problem. NA members believe that the disease of addiction
is the problem.
Meetings are held regularly, and can be either open (when visitors
are allowed to join) or closed (only addicts can come). They are usually held
in church or community halls.
The group is chaired by one person, and may open
up with the Serenity Prayer. Around the group everyone states their name, and
sometimes how long they have been clean. People who have used drugs that day
are welcome to be in the group, though are not invited to participate.
Various readings are done by participants.
There are several types of meetings. Open discussion, literature study,
speaker meetings, etc. In an open discussion
meeting the chairperson asks for volunteers, and if there are none the chairperson
asks a few members to discuss their life, and how being clean has been going and
the problems they have been facing. While this person is talking the rest of the
group listens.
The session usually ends with a prayer, and a collection box is
passed around the group. Part of the ideology of Narcotics Anonymous is that
they are addicts helping each other, and donations from visitors are not accepted.
Another important ideological point is that Narcotics Anonymous is a spiritual
program, not a religious program. Each member is entitled to freely choose the
"Higher Power" and spiritual practice they want, free from coercion or evangalisim.
|
|
|
|
|
A primary belief of members is that their success is based on giving up on
self-reliance and willpower, and instead relying on God, or a "Higher Power".
Critics of these programs, however, often hold that this reliance is ineffective,
and offensive or inapplicable to atheists and others who do not believe in a
salvific deity. Proponents of 12-step programs argue that many atheists have
been helped by the program.
The role of religion in 12-step groups is an argument of significance
in some parts of the United States, where the criminal justice system has held
out group participation to inmate addicts as a condition of parole or shortened
sentences. Governments in the U.S. are disallowed under the First Amendment from
granting privilege to religious belief. Thus, if 12-step groups are religious
(which a facial reading of the 12 steps makes plain) then this condition is
unconstitutional. Members of 12-step groups commonly attempt to finesse this
conflict by making the semantic distinction that they are "spiritual, but not religious."
Some critics — again, particularly atheists and humanists — also question
directly the idea of giving up on self-reliance, which can be seen as a form of
idealized despair. Secular alternatives to 12-step programs, such as Rational
Recovery, are for this reason in many ways opposite to the 12-step process.
Others, such as YES Recovery, acknowledge a debt to the 12 Steps movement
but do not have a culture of belief in God.
As with the Bible and other similar texts, there are many different
ways of interpreting the intent behind 12-step programs. And as with the Bible,
there are those who argue strongly for a relatively literal adherence to
program literature (often referred to as "Big Book Thumpers"), and then there
are those who take the big book admonition to "take what you like and leave
the rest" very seriously and advocate a much more liberal approach, which also
leaves much room for personal interpretations of 12-step literature. Two books
that look at the 12-step literature from a more liberal point of view are The
Zen of Recovery by Mel Ash and A Skeptic's Guide To The Twelve Steps by Z. Phillips.
|
|
|
|
|
|
