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[edit] Twelve Step Programs
Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Smokers Anonymous, Over-eaters Anonymous, are all variations of the 12 Step Program, billed as a "non-denominational rehabilitation program" for people with substance abuse and other psychological, social and physical issues.
Many in the free thinking community consider programs like Alcoholics Anonymous to be a religion.
The "Big Book" is the "scripture" of 12-step programs. And the "commandments" are the twelve steps:
[edit] The Twelve Steps
AA's 12 steps:
- 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.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Made a searching and 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 of 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 conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
- 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.
[edit] Problems with Alcoholics Anonymous and all 12-Step Programs
- Most significantly, the first step, admitting you are powerless in combating your addiction seems to completely undermine the entire rehabilitation process. Addiction is an issue of self control. Overcoming it requires personal will power. Outside/External influences can help and often make the difference but if you don't change, nothing changes. So the first step sets the stage for not taking responsibility for changing ones' addiction.
- Failure is no longer your fault - Because the first step encourages people to admit they're powerless and subsequent steps demand you ask God to take care of things for you, failure is no longer something you need to accept responsibility for. It's in God's hands.
- The first step sets the stage for steps 2, 3, 6 and 7, where you in essence, pledge to replace one addiction (i.e. alcoholism) with another (the A.A. program itself or religion & dependence upon God to effect positive change in your life).
- Even after one successfully overcomes their addiction, the 12-step programs encourage people to still consider themselves "addicted" and thus incapable of exercising any self-control or self-determination outside the limitations of the program's world view which gives all credit to God.
- Clinical studies have shown that 12 step programs are no more effective than not attending a program at all!
- 12-Step programs are mandated by law/government/courts in many jurisdictions when these programs are clearly religious in nature and a violation of the Separation of church and state.