“Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power.” 
 - Alcoholics Anonymous, p.43  

For more than ninety years, people of all races, creeds, cultures, classes, and temperaments have been recovering from addictions and addictive behaviors by way of 12 Step recovery. The formation of the 12 Steps occurred when the organization of Alcoholics Anonymous was in its initial stages (1935-1939). Published first in the “Big Book” of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1939, the 12 Steps had been used by the founding members of the program from the very beginning. And, just as addiction does not discriminate, neither do the 12 Steps. Welcoming of any person who has a desire to be free of addiction and/or the family impact of addiction, groups associated with 12 Step recovery live and operate by a set of 12 Traditions that work to keep the focus on recovering from the disease of addiction and off every other single thing which serves to divide the human race. 

The outsider may look in and speculate all sorts of things that are “wrong” with these groups – but from the inside, it is an oasis of safety in a desert of chaos. When an addict first enters these groups, he/she is free to speak honestly and vulnerably about thoughts, behaviors, and the incessant noise of the disease of addiction, perhaps for the first time. Others in the room will often nod in agreement and recognition. After the meeting, there will be handshakes, hugs, and words of encouragement to “keep coming back” and take things “one day at a time.”  Not long after attending the first meeting, an addict who genuinely wants to get well will ask a fellow member to be a guide through the 12 Steps. When that happens and a commitment is made to follow direction and surrender to a power greater than oneself, the disease of addiction is put on notice.  

If all this is true about how people recover via the 12 Steps and working with others, then what’s with the quotation about “a Higher Power” at the top of this essay? Well, as Hamlet would say, “Ay, there’s the rub.” From the outside, everything written in the preceding paragraphs of this essay is about people helping people. However, from the inside, anyone who has ever attempted to apply the 12 Steps knows that the answer that lies within those Steps is spiritual. But wait, there’s more to the “rub”! That “spiritual” cannot be attained without those “people helping people.” 

For nearly every addict, this is a conundrum. For starters, few of them care to admit that they have a disease called addiction. And, even if they do admit it, addicts don’t care to surrender to the directions of another person or group of people, and especially not to a “Higher Power.” Unfortunately for the addict, these two things must exist before there will ever be a chance at recovery: 1) personal admission of the problem, 2) surrender to a power greater than oneself.   

No thought, no knowledge, no learning, no person has ever been able to relieve an addict of the mental obsession and/or physical allergy that is discussed among academics, physicians, and psychiatrists who specialize in addiction treatment. It seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? The solution to a mental obsession is spiritual. The solution to a physical allergy is spiritual. Isn’t there a pharmaceutical alternative? 

The answer to that question is this: No matter how hard you try, you cannot put spirituality in a pill. Don’t let this world and its charlatans masked as kind-hearted pharmaceutical reps fool you! There are still some things that only get better by committing to the hard work of self-discovery, discipline, and yes, maybe just a little bit of personal suffering. But, if you are a person who is currently active in an addiction, or actively trying to clean up and fix the life of a loved one in an active addiction, aren’t you suffering already? Before you pick up another pill to “fix” yourself, why not put a mirror up to your face by showing up at one of those 12 Step meetings and listening to those just like you who are walking the path of healing without pharmaceuticals? 


Find Help Now:
Alcoholics Anonymous: https://www.aa.org/  
Al-Anon Family Groups: https://al-anon.org/  
Narcotics Anonymous: https://na.org/  
Overeaters Anonymous: https://oa.org/  
Gamblers Anonymous: https://www.gam-anon.org/  
Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous: https://slaafws.org/