12 step treatment for alcohol and drug addictions

[MORGANCOOK5]

OK 12 step treatment for alcohol and drug addictions. I would like to hear what peoples opinions are on this, from people with personal experience with it, possibly being themselves, a family member,or a friend, to people with no experience with it, maybe just from what you might have heard. Do you feel that it is a positive treatment for people struggling with addiction, does it work, could it possibly be harmfully, are there better ways for a person to overcome an addiction, in what ways do you feel a person should try to overcome an addiction. Do you feel addiction is a disease like the 12 treatment industry suggest? I would like to hear intelligent opinion from people whatever your stance might be on this issue. What I don't want to hear is stupid things like "rehab is for quitters" or other such nonsense. I have my own opinions on this that I will hold back on until I get some feedback from other people so as to not persuade or discourage anyone's opinions

[markko]

Hi Morgan,

I won't go into my personal situation in any great detail, but me and the wife are very familiar with the 12 step idea.

The first thing to say is it most certainly does work. There are many many people who are evidence of that.

Now the reality. First of all, you must be in a position to absolutely want to recover. You must reach rock bottom first. That could be lower than you think.

It is something that takes 100% commitment and help from someone for whom it is working. It is not obvious at first what it all means and how it works.

It seems to be essentially a way of reprogramming your mind and taking on a faith. This does not have to be a traditional higher power. It can be a faith is anything.

The success rate is not huge, but it's probably one of the most successful methods for a very difficult illness. And yes, it is best described as an illness. One from which you can never be cured, but you can a least keep it on hold for as long as you work the steps.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

Markko

[Robbed]

My thoughts on the 12 step program is that it is something that can help people, but is no panacea. It must be remembered that everyone is a little different. And NO 'one size fits all' approach (which 12 step programs ARE) is going to help everybody. By the same token, the AA model of alcoholism is by no means universal, either. It is also unclear whether it is the 12 step philosphy itself that helps those helped by 12 step programs. Or whether it is the support group aspect of it.

As for alcoholism being a disease (and an incurable one at that), I STRONGLY hesitate to use this term to decribe an addiction. Just because a problem may be a very difficult one to deal with, this does not make it a disease (just as anxiety disorder is not necessarily a disease). Furthermore, not everybody who overcomes addiction remains on the brink of relapse for life (as preached by 12 step programs). MANY people successfully get over it. And some former alcoholics can even move on to consume alcohol in a normal matter. Of course, not all can. But to tell EVERYBODY who has a drinking problem that they have this horrible disease from which they are incapable of recovering can do more harm than good for some.

Another thing that needs to be considered is that alcoholism is sometimes more the result of other problems (depression, anxiety, relationship problems, etc) rather than a true addiction. 12 step programs not only fail to deal with these other factors here. They fail to acknowledge that other factors like this can even be the cause, and simply chalk up the drinking to being the result of this 'disease'. This, of course, does NOTHING to deal with the REAL problem here.

Am I saying that 12 step programs are bad, and that you shouldn't even consider them? No. But keep in mind that they DO have their limitations in that they promote only ONE model of alcoholism. And this model may not be applicable to you.

[markko]

Hi Robbed,

100% agree with you about drinking problems being a symptom of an underlying condition such as depression, anxiety etc.

12 step programs do seem to outwardly focus on the drinking as the illness, but I think the content does try to deal with the underlying situation which is usually faulty thinking patterns. In this repect they are a very generalised form of therapy.

Again, 100% agree that the group, social aspect of the programs is vital. You cannot achieve any significant success just by reading the steps at home.

Cheers,

Markko