I've been through an addiction program, ask me about it!

The 12 Steps of Recovery

1.We admitted we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe 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 understand God.

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 God 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 God, praying only for the knowledge of God’s 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 other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Nice

You lose me on 1. and 2, and 3.... yea for that matter, I dismiss all steps that mention God... thats what churches are for. Hope it worked for you, and glad it works for some. For most though, its just a sneaky way to shove religion down people with a real problems throat. Sorry thats how I feel.

I totally understand where you're coming from and your opinion is not an isolated one. Athiests have indeed found recovery through the 12 steps and I'd love to tell you more about it when I'm not busy putting kids to bed :) stay tuned and thanks for commenting

The religion part is to comfort them by thinking that somebody has their back

Religion aside, anyone who needs help to get through an addiction has a "real problem"...to put it the way you did is pretty disrespectful especially for a program that has helped hundreds of thousands of people. Seems the way you feel is just to denounce the religious aspect, and that's fine, but dont bash the process and especially the result. If I'm wrong in saying that, forgive me for filling in the gaps of your opinion, but have respect for anyone who has overcome an addiction and how they got there. We can all agree that beating that affliction is a good thing, yes? By whatever means works for the individual of course. Cheers.

Yes "whatever works".... however

For starters, the Big Book claims AA has about a 50 percent success rate, with another 25 percent staying sober after relapsing once or several times. AA's 2014 Membership Survey also provides the following statistics about the fellowship: 27 percent of AA members stay sober for less than a year.Dec 31, 2018

and

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/the-surprising-failures-of-12-steps/284616/

Irony is about 15 years ago when I was drinking more than I should, I tried AA... if I did not want a drink before a meeting, definately needed one after.

For the 50%, good for them, for the rest like me it can do more harm than good.

Have you heard of Secular AA? Might be more up your alley and was actually written by Bill W for those who struggled with the idea of a higher power.

Do these steps make more sense to you?

in Chapter 1 of Twelve Secular Steps:

1. I admitted that I am an addict (alcoholic), and that my life had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that through honesty and effort, combined with the help of others, I could recover from addiction.
3. Made a decision to actively work a Twelve Step recovery plan to the best of my ability.
4. Completed a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself.
5. Honestly admitted to myself and to another human being the results of my inventory, including my defects of character.
6. Became willing to change defects in my character.
7. Accepted responsibility for my actions.
8. Listed all persons I 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 I was wrong, promptly admitted it.
11.Sought to improve my conscious awareness of ethical principles and values, and to use them consistently as standards for my decisions and actions.
12.Having matured as a person as a result of these Steps, I acknowledge my commitment to help others and to continue to use these principles in my daily life.

So 50% isnt good enough? Good for you for finding success outside of the program, and congratulations for giving up drinking in excess, but you have to realize your comments here have to be demoralizing for those in that 50% that are finding success with the program. I admire your overcoming, but don't trash others' means of relief just based on your own distaste for their methods. Again, cheers. And upvotes.

Clarification on my part, I would love to see more than 50% success, but many aren't able to find it given the nature of addiction. I've been addicted before myself, and overcoming it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. But I'm better for it having been through it, and all the positive I could find was tremendous help. I'd just rather not give anyone trying to overcome something despair even if unintentional. We all have our demons.

You're so right and even on the flip side I try to find ways to help non believers find recovery. I asked an Athiest member of my group how she stays recovered and I listen in at alternative 12 step programs because I wouldn't want the idea of God and a Higher Power to become a barrier to someone being freed of the very real problem of addiction.

and to be clear, no dispargement meant to anyone, the OM asked "what are your thoughts on it?" if anything you owe me a "thanks for sharing".... lol... jk, and thanks for sharing ;)

No worries, you did answer the question in your own way so fair enough...and thanks for sharing ;)

IMO and If I were to give advice to someone with a problem (and admittetly it was a problem for me by every metric) it would be

a), its not going to happen if you dont want it to, one has to truly want to get a grip over it, if someone feels its not a problem, nothing will work, one must first believe it is a problem.

b) dont sweat quitting, just start with slowing down,

c) as you take the first drink of the day, try to think of friends and family and the nonsense they are put through with every drunken episode,

d) remember that no matter how good it feels right now, tommorow (and maybe even the next day or two) will be spent feeling miserable and in hang over mode...

It takes time, its a slow process, for most thinking or counting on some divine intevention will happen is just setting oneself up for failure.

To steal Nike's tag line... Just Do It.

Congrats on your success!

All great thoughts, and I agree with most of it. The slowing down part wasnt an option for me but if others find success that way then more power to them. My addiction was tobacco/nicotine, but I've seen others suffer through alcohol, pills, heck even BC powders which is strange but it happens. The Nike tag line is definitely appropriate!

That's mostly because throug the years branches of AA have added their own literature, have eliminated the idea of sponsers and many people aren't willing to work the steps long term. It's a simple program but not an easy one. It works for those who work it correctly.

Not been through it, but I know several who have and they seem much better for having done it. I commend anyone committed enough to reflect on themselves that deeply and recognize that they have a problem. Especially those who are able to overcome their problems, regardless the means.

It takes alot of self reflection which can be difficult for those who aren't guided correctly or try to do it on their own,, but basically it's getting to the root of the problem that leads to people getting into addiction, a certain need is not being met and there's something in their past that has brought them to this point.

Wat was the addiction, if u dont mind me asking?