The Twelve Steps

If you have ever been to an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting or know someone who is a member, then you have probably heard about the 12 steps. They were written by Bill Wilson the man credited with co-founding Alcoholics Anonymous, with Dr. Bob Smith. AA was founded in 1935, over 75 years ago. For 75 years drug and alcohol treatment centers have placed the 12 steps at the very core of their programs. The mental health industry has come to know a great deal more about the diseases of alcoholism and drug addiction during that period of time. Although the twelve steps make several references to God and a Higher Power, they are considered to be spiritual, rather than religious, in nature.

These are the Twelve Steps

1. We admitted we were powerless over drugs and or 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.

History of the Twelve Steps

The 12 steps is the core of the recovery process as first outlined in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous back in 1935. Since the inception of AA, the twelve step ideology has spread to many other recovery programs, such as Narcotics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous and Alanon.

Bill Wilson (November 26, 1895 – January 24, 1971), co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous, and is considered to be the primary author of the 12 steps. The twelve steps help people clean up the wreckage they caused while they were drinking and start to practice the principles of honesty, responsibility and service to others.

The Goal of the Twelve Steps

The 12 Steps are a process of self discovery and growing spiritually. The objective of walking the 12 Steps is to become honest, develop integrity and ultimately, have a spiritual awakening. They ask that you turn your life and will over to the care of a Higher Power, "as you understood him" (step 3). In steps four and five, you are asked to "make a fearless and searching moral inventory" of yourself and make your wrongdoings to God, yourself and another human being. The middle steps are about making amends to the people hurt by you and your drinking and drug induced behaviors. The remainder of the steps state that you must ask your Higher Power to remove your defects of character, make amends to the people whom you have harmed, pray, meditate and monitor your daily activity and admit it whenever you are wrong.

Basically, the process of the Twelve Steps is surrendering to a higher power and cleaning up your past and using the 12 steps of honesty anf integrity to guide you today and tomorrow. They ask that you admit that you are powerless over whatever drug you are abusing and admit substance abuse has made your life unmanageable.

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