12 Step Program For Addiction
Picture yourself in a position where you can slowly see your entire life crumble to dust. You gradually lose everything you built for yourself; a family, your dream career, friends, and social value. Gradually sinking in a pit of remorse with no rational control over yourself, you struggle to get on your feet, only to lose the ground again. This is what life for an addict is like.
Initiation of addiction can have varied reasons. Sometimes, it all starts as fun and ends up as a disaster. Other times, it’s a way to silent negative thoughts or find an escape from problems. Either way, none of this relief is permanent. In fact, the consequences and the setbacks start to kick in as soon as it starts, only to grow in magnitude until the damage is great.
The 12 Step Program
Life doesn’t end here; in fact, there are ways out. Rehabilitation centers offer so many treatment programs that can help you tackle your addiction and get over it to become sober. Along with these treatment plans, so many institutes make use of the 12-Step Rehab Program Massachusetts for Alcohol and Drug Addiction. During the rehab period, so many people lose the courage to go on or become demotivated because of their withdrawal conditions. People struggle with low self-esteem and lack the willpower to fight their burning desires. 12-Step Program is a plan that ensures support to addicts and encourages them not to give up. This is done so by means of forming support groups. These 12 steps were introduced in the 1930s and have proved to be effective. Not everyone benefits from the 12-Step Recovery program, but thousands and thousands of people managed to get their lives back on track because of the support and courage rendered to them. The program has a spiritual element to it; therefore, it has been altered according to people of different faith so that no one is bound by religion when it comes to earning support.
What Are The 12 Steps of Recovery?
The 12-Step rehab program Massachusetts approach by AA is a step by step, complete recovery guideline. The patients can easily revisit the following steps.
- We confessed that we were helpless and couldn’t manage our lives over alcohol.
- We believed that heavenly power could help us on the road to recovery and bring sanity.
- We understood the existence of God and decided to give our lives and will in His care.
- We constructed ourselves a courageous and penetrating inventory.
- We admitted to God, others, and ourselves that our character was defective in certain aspects.
- We were all set for God to eliminate these defects.
- We modestly requested him to end our weaknesses.
- We listed all the people we had done wrong to and sworn to make amends.
- Made amends to those people at the appropriate time and in the right situation to not harm them or others anymore.
- Continued on the righteous path and accepted our mistake on the way.
- Took aid of meditation and prayers to improve our conscience and connection with God; we prayed for his acceptance and knowledge to not stray from the right path.
- As a result of these steps, we had a spiritual awakening and pledged to practice these principles in the very worldly matter; and preached this message to other alcoholics,
- Waseeeeeeem
How Effective is the 12-Step Recovery Program?
There have been mixed views about this program. It has definitely been subjected to criticism too, but then again, some people benefitted from it too. One thing that needs to be understood is that this is NOT a treatment program; it is merely a support program. It cannot be effective if an addict does not get professional medical and psychiatric help to fight his addiction.
It is not possible to put an end to prolonged addiction simply by implementing moral or spiritual conditions. The withdrawal symptoms associated with abrupt or even gradual cessation of the drug abuse can range from mild to very severe. They require medical and psychiatric supervision if things are not to go down a dangerous path.
Under such context, the 12-Step Recovery Program has proven to be effective for people when they carry it along with the individual medical and psychiatric treatment. Even after the treatment is complete, it has helped people in their dark times to prevent them from opting for the same lifestyle again. Therefore, it is like life support for addicts and becomes an essential part of a person’s life who is either getting treated for addiction or was successfully treated for it.
Remorse, guilt, and regret can often force people to shy away from getting any help without realizing that support can help them go a long way. 12-Step Recovery Program can help you find the kind of support you need, coming from people who understand your problems, who have gone through what you are going through, and who can provide genuine advice to get you going. Treatment centers like ours are designed to help patients facing the worst addictions.