I wanted to start a topic which discusses the philosophical validity of the well known 12 steps used in both secular and faith based recovery programs.
Specifically, I want to discuss each step and whether the assertion of each step is an appropriate psychological frame of reference.
Anyone who participates in this thread please limit your comments to the philosophy behind each of the twelve steps in relation to recovery from a given addictive process.
I will be commenting from a Christian perspective since I am in
Celebrate Recovery but I want this topic to remain focussed on the philosophy behind the twelve basic steps originated from Alcoholics Anonymous.
The 12 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.
Faith/Belief, please
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