What Is The First Step To Recovery From Drug Abuse?

What Is The Twelve Step Method Of Recovery From Substance Abuse?

Addiction to drugs or alcohol is a complex mental illness characterized by a person’s compulsive need to use drugs despite the fact that drug abuse is causing them significant negative consequences. One of the most established methods of addiction recovery is the twelve step recovery process, which is based on a set of spiritual principles developed by Bill Wilson and Bob Smith as they pursued their own recovery from alcoholism.

Since then, twelve step recovery has been used not only to help alcoholics in the now widespread fellowship Alcoholics Anonymous but adapted to help people who are pursuing recovery from other types of substance abuse as well as from behavioral addictions, such as in programs like Narcotics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous.

At our Delray Beach recovery center, Reco Intensive, the twelve steps are an important part of our multifaceted approach to addiction treatment. We find the steps to be a time-tested way of helping them to work through issues related to their addiction and come to a greater spiritual self-understanding. Encouraging our clients to connect with local resources by attending meetings also helps to assure that they have the support needed to maintain a sober life after they complete their time at our treatment center and a safety net in the sober community.

If you’re new to the world of twelve step recovery, you may be curious about what those twelve steps are, so you can find the list as follows, starting with the first step:

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 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.

Along with this by the numbers guide to twelve step recovery, the program also incorporates twelve traditions related to the group as a whole to ensure order and consistency across chapters, which we will also offer below:

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon AA unity.
2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority–a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3. The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or AA as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose–to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
6. An AA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the AA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every AA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. AA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

Though twelve step recovery is not the be-all end-all of treatment for addiction, it does have a higher success rate than many other methods when it comes to helping members achieve long term recovery. In fact, many who utilize twelve step recovery staying a member of their fellowships for life and find their involvement in the program to be powerfully rewarding.

However, both twelve step recovery and other approaches to addiction recovery tend to emphasize the importance of admitting to the fact that you have a problem with alcohol or drug use as an all important first step when it comes to getting back on the road to a sober life.

The Importance Of The First Step In The Recovery Process

One of the many reasons that drug or alcohol addiction can flourish far longer than might be expected given how destructive substance abuse can be is because of the addict’s tendency towards denial. Though it may be obvious to outsiders that a person’s alcohol or drug use has spiraled out of control, barriers of fear, shame, and guilt can prevent them from admitting it to themselves.

This can make the first step the most painful one for many people who struggle with substance use, as it means not only accepting that they have lost control of their life but that they will now have to face a life without drugs or alcohol.

But, for most people who struggle with addiction, there usually comes a point where the consequences of their substance use have become so obvious and excruciating that they find themselves with no choice but to finally take the first step and accept their need for treatment.

It is only once someone has taken this first step and come to terms with the fact that they have an addiction that they can begin to consider the prospect of life without substance use and will be ready to undertake the hard work of recovery and begin to address the underlying issues their addiction was masking.

Take Your First Step Into Recovery With Addiction Treatment At Reco Intensive

Our recovery center, Reco Intensive, offers a wide variety of drug rehabilitation services via our intensive outpatient program, as well as treatment for behavioral as well as substance addiction. Our qualified, empathetic team of fully licensed mental health professionals works with each of our clients to develop an individualized treatment plan incorporating traditional forms of treatment like cognitive and dialectical behavioral therapy.

Our recovery center also utilizes innovative forms of treatment like eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, and more holistic treatment methods like adventure therapy, equine therapy, and yin and vinyasa yoga. We also offer our clients additional resources to help them set the stage for a successful life after treatment in the form of active alumni programming and career counseling.

To learn more about how our addiction treatment center can help you or a loved one take the first towards a brighter future and better mental health, feel free to call us anytime at 844.955.3042.