Twelve-step program
Introduction to the 12-step program
What are the twelve steps? The Twelve Steps Program is a lifestyle based on spiritual principles written simply in numbered form from 1 to 12 in a simple sequence, started by a group of alcoholics to recover from addiction. And their success in this spiritual way of life, they also formed a group that follows this approach to recovery, so other groups such as Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Addicts Anonymous, Gambling Addicts, etc. have followed them. Until the number of groups or fellowships reaches more than 52 in the past 72 years, all these fellowships follow the same steps with little change in the wording of the first step
The twelve steps of the 12-step addiction treatment program
1- We admitted that we were bereft of our addiction and that our lives had become unmanageable.
• The concept of addiction in the Twelve Steps Program. • Denial and recognition. • Reaching the bottom (isolation and despair). • The concept of inability to manage life. • Reservations, delivery. • The spiritual principles of the first step (honesty - open-mindedness - intention - humility - acceptance).
2- We have come to believe that a force greater than that can restore us to righteousness.
•Hope . • The concept of incorrectness. • The process of reaching trust and security. • The concept of the greatest power and why. • Back to the right (request for support). The spiritual principles of the second step (open-mindedness, faith, trust, humility)
3- We decided to entrust our will and our lives to the care of God as much as we can understand. (The Twelve Steps Program)
•Make decision . • What is the will and the debate with the intention? • The meaning of “God is the measure of our understanding of Him.” • How to delegate the will and life to God. • The spiritual principles of the third step (recognition, intention, and the transformation of hope into faith and commitment)
4- We did a thorough and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
• The motives for carrying out the inventory and its objective. • Courage, confidence, faith and honesty are qualities for taking inventory. • Ethical inventory. • Inventory for ourselves and not for others
Writing inventory for:
Resentments, feelings, guilt, and shame. •the fear . •relations . • Sex. • Abuse. •Advantages . • Secrets
5- We confess to God, to ourselves, and to another person the true nature of our mistakes.
How to apply:
• Also the key to the freedom to share the true nature of our mistakes frees us to live.
• Therefore, it is said that keeping these defects within us leads to a return to abuse.
• Then sit down with another person and share our inventory with audible voice.
• God already knows in advance all these things (justification).
• Although he already knows, confession must come from our mouths to be truly effective.
• Confronting ourselves for the first time in our lives, and besieging our mistakes, scaling them and dealing with them.
• Defects grow in the dark, and die when exposed to light.
Fear of rejection
• Also the belief that no one can understand the things we have done.
• Fear that people will reject us after revealing our true selves.
Person Specifications:
• The person who will help us in carrying out this step must be chosen carefully, and there are no certain conditions other than that he should be worthy of our full confidence.
• Therefore, it is preferable to be a member of Narcotics Anonymous to be more understanding to us.
• Then the two people sit separately, and the step is carried out with complete accuracy and honesty, realizing that this is a matter of life or death.
• Also trying to hide part of the past. There are addicts who prefer the secret life.
• When sharing the other person's experiences, we discover what we considered terrible is not, and that we are accepted with all our shortcomings and weaknesses.
6- We were fully prepared for God to remove all these personal defects.
• Why do we ask for something when we are not ready for it? Isn't this an invitation to trouble? .
• As addicts, we seek results without doing the required work.
• Do we really want to get rid of our grudges, anger and fears? Some cling to their fears, doubts and hatred because they find a sense of safety in the midst of negative emotions.
• Feeling reassured in sticking to what they are accustomed to instead of leaving it and facing the unknown.
• Pride, fear, anger, deceit, and self-pity prevent us from thinking logically and selfishness has become a destructive constraint, binds us to our bad habits and drains our energy.
List of defects:
• Also examine the list and reflect on what it does in our lives, so we yearn to be free from it.
• Therefore, the longing for liberation and the willingness to request its removal from God, with a desire for change, to remain abstained.
• When we see the nature of defects in our life and accept them, we can leave them and start a new life and growth occurs by committing new mistakes instead of the old ones.
• Also, do not forget that we are human. We must set realistic goals.
Our defects. . And its solutions:
• Also for rebellion, malaise, failure, shortcomings that can hold us back and should be fought with constant effort and perseverance.
• So a question from a colleague in Narcotics Anonymous may help us a lot and encourage us.
• Also accept the simple suggestions that are presented to us.
So in the end faith, humility, and acceptance will replace pride and rebellion, and the desire will turn into hope and work in salvation, so we move to the seventh step.
7- We humbly asked God to rid us of our shortcomings.
• Also the main goal of the seventh step is to get out of our isolation to achieve God's will for us. • Therefore, after we have decided to ask God to save us from the destructive aspects of our personalities, we have reached the seventh step. • Humility is the main element in the seventh step. There is a close link between humility and honesty with oneself, which began to be practiced in the first step. • Humility is accepting ourselves as we are and trying to live as we are. • Also, there is no one who is good and who is bad, but we are all human. • Therefore, personality defects are the reason behind misery and pain. • Also, the step is a positive action by asking God for help. • It must be understood that our way of thinking is not the only one, but that we can be guided by others. • Therefore, we should not be hard on ourselves, and this can be achieved through participation. • Also, the hand of God is with the group, accepting the faults of others helps us to become humble enough to get rid of our own faults.
8- We have prepared a list of all the people we have hurt, and we are determined to fix what we have done to all of them. (The Twelve Steps Program)
This step is intended to test the level of humility • The time has come to be free from the feeling of guilt that has always haunted us and to confront others without fear. • The question here is, are we willing to prepare a list? This is something that requires a new kind of honesty in our relationship with others. • The beginning of tolerance with others and with ourselves instead of seeking to understand others. • We can live and let others live
Secretariat to prepare the list:
• We need real honesty to prepare an accurate list without believing that we are victims. • We must get rid of all justifications and ideas of being a victim. • Purifying our lives by getting rid of guilt makes us feel comfortable instead of judging the mistakes of others. • Acknowledgment of harming others directly or indirectly through an act, a lie, a failure to fulfill a promise, negligence, or any other thing. • The fourth step can be used in preparing the list. • Develop a list of people who owe them financially. • One of the problems that disrupts the eighth step is to think of making apologies in the ninth step, so the step must be done as if there is no ninth. • The step made a big change for us in our lives after it was dominated by a sense of guilt and remorse, so we no longer needed to avoid those whom we offended, and we no longer caused misery to others during our treatment. • We are now free to offer apologies at nine o'clock
9- We provided direct compensation to these persons whenever possible, unless this would harm them or others.
• The role of the previous eight steps in preparing for this step. • The meaning of the word compensation. • Fears and expectations. • Direct and indirect compensation. • Tolerance. • Provide direct compensation. • The spiritual principles of the step (love, service, tolerance, responsibility, freedom)
10- We continued the process of personal inventory and admitted our mistakes first hand. (The Twelve-Step Program)
• Feeling vs. Action.
• Tenth Step Feature.
• Right and Wrong.
• Personal inventory (selfishness, fear, anger, dishonesty, pride).
• The spiritual principles of the step (honesty, commitment, acting consciously)
11- We sought, through prayer and meditation, to strengthen our conscious connection with God to the extent that each of us understands Him, calling only to know His will for us and to give us the strength to implement it.
• Also supplication - prayer - meditation.
• Our Conscious Connection.
• God's will.
• Therefore, the power to implement it.
• Spiritual principles (commitment, humility, courage, faith)
12- As a result of achieving our spiritual awakening by following these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
• Also spiritual awakening and spiritual experience.
• So he carried the message (What is the message?).
• Also practicing these principles in all our affairs.
• Therefore, the spiritual principles of the step (unconditional love, self-denial, adherence to all the principles of the previous steps).
Also, the world has always been developing, so addiction treatment programs have developed, and with the passage of time many programs have been developed to treat drug addiction, and the effective programs in the treatment of addiction have also differed, and the twelve-step 12 program is still the main pillar in the treatment of drug addiction