Surprisingly, there is no standard treatment program for alcohol addiction in the U.S. or in other Western countries. In fact, the recovery options several currently available are confusing and limited.
In the U.S., most residential and outpatient programs based on the 12 steps to sobriety. This philosophy is the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which began in Akron, Ohio, in 1935.
The philosophy calls for total abstinence, and includes emotional support similar to that in the treatment of cancer. The goal is to stay away from one drink, one day at a time, after 12 steps. Sobriety is maintained through sharing experience, strength and hope at group meetings.
AA meetings are held in churches, hospitals, private homes and public services. Some people are put off by the religious tone of 12 steps of AA, who see God as the primary source of healing and strength. As a result, many organizations have started their own separate meetings and various interpretations of the 12 measures that have been created over the years.
Note that the 12-step meetings do not provide alcohol detox, which is a vital component of the addiction. Neither address the immediate physical brain that occurs in alcohol dependence – and the subsequent conversion of the brain that is necessary to reverse the neural pathways of cravings.
However, the 12 steps as essential to offer emotional support and guidance to those who can get lost in the sadness and despair of addiction to alcohol. Therefore, 12 steps serve as a practical basis for a broader recovery plan alcohol.
The 12 steps of AA:
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
The decision to turn our will and our lives to the care of God as we understood Him.
We made a fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our contact conscious with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry out.
Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
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