How do 12-step programs fit into drug addiction treatment?

Self-help groups can complement and extend the effects of professional treatment.  The most well-known programs are Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), and Cocaine Anonymous (CA), all of which are based on the 12-step model. This group therapy model draws on the social support offered by peer discussion to help promote and sustain drug-free lifestyles.

Twelve Step Programs are one of the most sustainable forms of wellness that I know of. They are self-supporting, free, non-hierarchical, open to the public, available all over the world, (and now available by teleconference call for people in remote areas) and enormously successful at treating addictions, codependency, and more.

Most drug addiction treatment programs encourage patients to participate in group therapy during and after formal treatment. These groups offer an added layer of community-level social support to help people in recovery with abstinence and other healthy lifestyle goals.

The 12 steps of these programs are:

  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 all 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.

If you find yourself in need of help with an addiction of any kind, please give us a call at Above It All Treatment Center at 1-888-971-2816 so we can set up a treatment plan to start you on the road to a drug free life.

Deliberate Drinking and Using

“In some circumstances we have gone out deliberately to get drunk, feeling ourselves justified by nervousness, anger, worry, depression, jealousy or the like.  But even in this type of beginning we are obliged to admit that our justification for a spree was insanely insufficient in the light of what always happened.  We now see that when we began to drink deliberately, instead of casually, there was little serious or effective thought during the period of premeditation of what the terrific consequences might be.” – The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 37

As we travel along this new path of sobriety, we will be squarely confronted with issues in our lives that we may have, in our life previous to this new route of no longer imbibing, used to justify our drinking and/or using.  Issues where we allow a vast power, the power of our reactive feelings, to swoop down over us; in effect supplanting our connection with our Higher Power and replacing it with said feelings regarding our current trials and tribulations.  These might be situations that we would have, previously, used to assert ourselves alongside our beverage or drug of choice.

During these difficult times, we may feel righteously deserving of going out and getting absolutely, wholly, and totally besotted, be it with alcohol and/or drugs.  We may use the excuse of our situation, whatever that may be, like a shield between us and our Higher Power.  We may, possibly, even believe we are due a time out from our entire acquired sobriety thus far since, perhaps, we had been “good” for so long.  Perhaps we may fall prey to the idea of taking that particular moment and using it to jump at what may seem like a golden opportunity to drink and/or use.

These moments can be deadly.  Who knows if we will be able to return to the path of sobriety.  Maybe, just maybe, this self-indulgent, righteous tear we go out on doesn’t lead us, eventually, back to being sober but into an institution or, worse yet, a grave.
In this alcohol and drug rehabilitation center in California, the staff help us learn about the pending potential for our lives to take a turn in a difficult direction or when to recognize we are embroiled in an issue so deeply that it may seem insurmountable without the use of drugs and/or drink in order for us to get through it.  They show us that this is one of the insidious ways our alcoholism and/or drug addiction has aggressively taken hold of us, keeping us pinned to the proverbial ground and separated from what we have learned and experienced thus far.  We learn what to do when these feelings encompass us and these tools, in effect, save our lives; much like CPR saves the lives of so many, our embracing and enacting these new ways of living through difficult times will do the same.

Expectations and the Alcoholic Addict

“Resentment is the “number one” offender.  It destroys more alcoholics than anything else.  From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick.”   The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 64

From where do resentments come?  What makes them such an integral part of our spiritual sickness?  How might we overcome them and why should we?

If we consider situations that disappointed and/or angered us, and subsequently take a look past our immediate emotional reaction, many times there is an unfulfilled expectation lurking in our respective backgrounds.  Perhaps we aren’t even aware of said expectation.  For some reason, in some way, someone or something didn’t behave as we thought they should.  Something in our exchanges with others, or lack thereof, has left us angry and/or sad where we may have been, instead, hoping for the best possible outcome and/or response.. Expectations can easily become resentments and resentments for the alcoholic and/or addict can be not just damaging but actually fatal.

Why is that?  An expectation is a preconceived notion as to what’s going to and/or said to happen or, conversely, what did not occur; be it a phrase from someone who jittered bugged into our  life and jittered bug right on back out, with no warning. This scenario might leave us particularly perturbed and since that feeling can be overwhelming, there are many reasons it becomes the answer to what keeps us mired in our spiritual sickness, which some of us think we can compel and dispel on our own.  More often than not, given we cannot control people, places, and things, our remembering this key issue becomes paramount so we can be relieved of forming new expectations and/or resentments.

Instead of connecting with our Higher Power, we have, in essence, given that expectation/resentment all the power and we immediately neglect our relationship with that Higher Power of our understanding.  Our resentments become our guiding force, our God, in which we bow and cater to throughout our day.  With that, there are times when, say sitting through a long meeting at work, everyone might head out for a beer afterwards in order to process and unwind.  Alas, we cannot join them in a relaxing-post work beverage.  If we are seething with resentment and replaying over and over again the very moment from which our sense of betrayal stems, we open ourselves up to being eaten alive.  Lo and behold, in the very next frame in the moving picture of our live, a “forget this” may come our way and without the ability to not only actively recall our past, we throw our caution to the wind and pick up a drink.  What else might give us that ease and comfort, quelling, albeit temporarily, that feeling of resentment which might now be residing inside of us.

All in all, our expectations becoming resentments becoming something to “drink over” can lead us straight to the grave.  They are not to be taken lightly.

CA Drug Rehabs Save Lives

A California drug rehabilitation center knows that being an addict is one of the hardest things a person can go through during their entire lifetime. But, seeking treatment to come out of it sober and healthy can seem even harder to someone who has lived this life for as long as some addicts have. Even though substance abuse has taken away part of a person’s life that they can’t get back, they can build a new one that can be better because it will be free of drugs and alcohol.

If you are thinking it is time to make the step to becoming a clean and sober person who takes control of their life, looking in to a California drug rehabilitation facility is going to give you the confidence you need to finally make the right choice. Being able to be amongst the trees, scenic mountains, far removed from the preconceived notions you might have of California and relaxing while learning how to recover from the addiction is going to help you maintain the clear and level head that you need while still reveling in the beauty you might have missed while on drugs or abusing alcohol.

When you are looking in to a California drug rehabilitation treatment center to possibly bring someone you love, the objective you have is saving their life. You have watched them spiral downward and out of control for who knows how long, and all you want is for them to get better. Having medically trained professionals on staff who have the expertise and knowledge to not only take care of your loved one physically by helping them to get off of drugs and alcohol, but also treat them mentally to prepare them for becoming productive members of your family, friends, and the society in which they want live soberly should be make a great case for why this person should check themselves in.

No matter what substances you or your loved one may have been abusing, the one universal truth about all of them is that you cannot quit alone; you need help to become healthy again. Admitting that is the first step and getting therapy in a California drug rehabilitation clinic is the second. The third and final step is to take the teachings that you have learned from everyone you encounter inside of the treatment facility and putting them in to practice in the real world.

A California rehab is the best of all worlds: a beautiful location, amazing physicians, remarkable therapists, and people just like you or your loved one who are seeking to live a life free from the chains of addiction. California rehab centers save lives; as many as they can. Every time someone enters a clinic they are given the same opportunity to live a healthy life that the last person who walked through the doors was, and the next person to come in will. What they do with it is up to them and their loved ones.

The Alcoholic Addict and Hitting Bottom

We may hear the phrase “hit bottom” more than once as we begin our journey into the world of sobriety.  What does “hit bottom” mean?  Maybe we have a preconceived notion about what hitting bottom looks like.  Is it someone clutching a bottle of the cheapest booze, half propped up on yellowed newspapers against a rusted out dumpster in a rat infested alleyway using a cardboard box for shelter?  There are bottoms that do, in fact, look like that however many more bottoms do not resemble that particular image.

The fact of the matter is that our “bottom” isn’t really about how awful our life may or may not look outside of us.  There are bottoms that people have hit where they did not lose their jobs, their places to live, their cars, had their children taken away, divorced or split from their partners, lost their businesses, etc.
What “hitting bottom” actually means is that we get to that place where we feel ever-so-lost, writhing in agonizing emotional pain, empty, and very, very alone.  What we may have done, be it drank, took drugs, numbed ourselves out in some way, no longer keeps that soul-suffering at bay.  We are wholly and totally broken, from the inside out.

In this California drug rehabilitation center, the staff is able to help us see how our outside differences are not the defining factor when it comes to measuring our respective bottoms.  Instead, they show us it’s that misery which we can tolerate no longer that is the binding factor between us.  We are now at a place where we can no longer ease our way by drinking alcohol and/or using drugs.  Our stories may differ about how we arrived but our sense of utter hopeless desperation is the same.  This is hitting bottom.

The Alcoholic Addict and Life’s Hardships

When we embark on our road to sobriety we may fall prey to the delusion that everything is all going to be a-okay from here on in.  Perhaps we have forgotten that, previous to our imbibing, be it alcohol or drugs or both, life existed on its own terms.

Hardships will, more than likely, crop up as life goes on.  Perhaps there’s been something with which we’ve been dealing during our drinking and/or using and is now continuing into our sobriety.  When we are drunk and/or high, it may seem like those hardships are easier with which to contend.  When we are sober, and we come upon a challenging event; it may feel insurmountable.  The exact opposite has a tendency to be the truth.  When we are loaded and ignoring anything that happens in the “outside world”, those problems and issues don’t go away.   They not only remain in our lives but sometimes their difficultly is compounded by our ignoring them.  When we are sober, and are in need of dealing with problems, knowing full well that ignoring them will not make them disappear, we will now have the necessary tools to use.

The staff at this California alcohol rehab will assist us in the laying of our foundation in sobriety.  Teaching us the way to have a life built using those very skills which will then assist us in getting past those seemingly overwhelming moments.  They will take the time to explain that whether or not we understand why something is happening, that, if it is in motion it is happening and guide us toward a place of accepting what’s actually occurring, painful, difficult or otherwise and that there are other options to explore instead of getting high and/or drunk.  Life will continue and there is no guarantee that it will be smooth sailing in sobriety.  We, however, now get to negotiate our way through those moments with grace, dignity and without getting loaded.

Talking to Your Family About Alcohol Drug Rehab

For some, the most difficult things about entering drug addiction detox is breaking the news to family members. Before you check in, there are a few things that you can do to help others understand your decision, and to make the entire process easier on yourself, while ensuring you get all the support you need.

If your struggle with addiction has been a long one, It’s often a good idea to make arrangements prior to telling your family  – this shows that you are committed to getting help and getting sober. If, on the other hand, your loved ones have been kept in the dark regarding your addiction, your big news may be met with silence, tears, shock or even anger. Write down a few notes on what you want to say, and ask the people present not ask questions until you are finished speaking. Be honest and stay calm. Don’t procrastinate or make excuses – this is a conversation that needs to happen, and once it’s over you’ll be glad it did.

Explain the nature of your addiction. Alcohol and drug addiction is a disease, and for many – especially children – emphasizing the fact that you’ll be undergoing medical treatment, not having a “vacation”, will make your absence more understandable.

Educate family members on what will happen to you while you’re in rehab. Removing the unknowns will help family members feel more comfortable with the entire process. Begin by getting as much information as you can from your drug addiction rehab treatment about the day to day happenings in your treatment center, Visitation schedules and the rules of the program. Knowing that you’re safe in capable hands will help them relax and support you during this difficult time. Before you leave for rehab, sit down with family members and talk to them about  the treatment center. Show them pictures, and share brochures.

Let your loved ones know how often they can expect to hear from you. There are often restrictions placed on when and even if people undergoing treatment can contact their family members. Let everyone know that you won’t be able to talk or have visits with them very often, especially in the beginning of your treatment. If you have small children, find out when the first family visiting day is and mark this date together on a calendar before you leave. Make sure that any adults who will be caring for your children while you are in treatment knows this information as well, so that they can remind them when they get confused or are missing you. Informing everyone in advance will prevent unnecessary worry or hurt feelings. If possible, invite your family members to visit you during your stay in California rehab. Many drug and alcohol rehab centers offer family therapy sessions during treatment.

Let everyone know how things will be different when you return home from treatment. Sharing your goals for the future will enable your family members to do everything they can to support you and ensure your continued sobriety.

Discarding Old Ideas for New

“Is not our age characterized by the ease with which we discard old ideas for new, by the complete readiness with which we throw away the theory or gadget which does not work for something new which does?”  – The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 52

How many times have we changed our minds about a situation, a person, an idea?  Our beliefs may have fluctuated throughout our lives depending on what we’ve learned, seen, heard and/or come to understand regarding a situation where initially we may have thought differently.  So, in this, we can look back and realize that perhaps our initial ideas weren’t always correct or as informed as we may have thought.

As we approach sobriety, we may need to reevaluate our belief systems, recognizing that the ones we have relied upon have not always led us to make the best choices and/or place ourselves in the optimum situations.  Perhaps it is time to rely on a different source for direction.  In this, we begin to realize our own concepts haven’t been as reliable.  Maybe, in our initial belief systems we were sure there was nothing greater than ourselves, that there wasn’t a greater Intelligent Power to guide us.

If we are as inclined to discard old ideas for new based on what we’ve learned through our lives, doesn’t it stand to reason that, perhaps, we may want to reevaluate our idea of relying on a Power greater than ourselves?  Even if we are still unable to fully grasp that idea, an idea which is constructed as we move forward by our own respective understanding, it could be conceivable that we function under the premise that there is a Power greater than us, whether we are ready to accept that in full or not.  When we live through the idea of something bigger than merely ourselves, we begin to live in a way that allows us to extend past our own designs and schemes and we bring the better part of ourselves into the world.

The Alcoholic Addict and Our Initial Desperation

“If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it – then you are ready to take certain steps.” – The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 58

When we are in a state of pure, unadulterated desperation, we easily agree to the idea of being “willing to go to any length”.  We are desperate in such a wholly and complete way that we may be inclined to think our dedication will last without fail.  If we can hold onto this sense of desperation, then, more than likely, we will, in fact, do whatever we have to do in order to get sober.

As we begin to rebuild our lives, we may, in fact, lose a sense of the driving pain that initially propelled us forward in our pursuit of relief.  The Recovery that we’ve been shown is legitimately possible by others has been constructed upon a very concrete foundation of misery.  When we are new, that agonizing despair is so close to and riding on the nerves of the very surface of our soul, it easy to access and overwhelming to feel.  All of this lends itself to being willing to do anything to return to a state of sanity.

What happens when our lives kick back in and begin to expand with newly-discovered opportunities?  Perhaps we go back to work, reacquire items we had lost, begin authentic friendships which differ from the lower companions and fair-weather company we may have kept.  What happens to that sense of desperation?  We may lose our grip on those feelings which firmly tethered us to our start in a Program and as we become more involved in life, we may become less and less overtly desperate.

This potentially eventual side-winding can be thwarted by working with newcomers and in seeing their fight to find a way to stay alive; we can be reinvigorated with the spirit of our desperation.  This gives us the resolve to continue living in Recovery as opposed to slowly sliding away, which becomes a slippery slope no true alcoholic and/or addict can afford.

Alcohol Drug Rehab Twelve Step Lingo

Drug addiction detox often includes Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. The Twelve Steps make up the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous, which was founded in 1935 and now has over 2 million members. Utilizing the twelve steps of spiritual and character development  helps people in recovery stay sober. (Narcotics Anonymous groups also use these same twelve steps.) Aside from the Twelve Steps themselves, many AA and NA meetings might also make use of some or all  of the following terms or phrases listed below:

Birthday

When someone involved in AA says, “Today is my birthday,” they are referring to the anniversary of the day they became sober. At California rehab centers, this date is also called an “anniversary.”

Old-Timer

It’s length of sobriety time, not age that people are referring to when they call someone an “old-timer.” In some drug addiction rehab treatment groups, one qualifies as an old-timer 10 years; in others many more. Young people can be old-timers, and elderly people can be newcomers.

Time

At Los Angeles treatment centers, when someone talks about  their “time,” they’re not referring to time spent in rehab or jail, but are referring to the length of time they have been continuously sober.

Out

When a member of  AA says they “went out,” they’re talking about having a relapse into drinking or drug use after time spent sober. If you know someone who’s gone out, and is looking for help, contact us for drug rehab in California.

Think (Think, Think)

A common AA slogan, “Think, think think” is a reminder to take a pause before making a rash move such as using drugs or drinking.

Drug of Choice

“Drug of choice” is the primary way addicts chose to get high.

Last Drunk

This phrase refers to an alcoholic’s final binge, and most likely the one that caused them to hit rock bottom and seek drug addiction rehab treatment either in a rehab center or through attending 12 Step meetings.

Acceptance

In the 12 Step program, acceptance is realizing that alcoholism or addiction is a disease and a permanent part of one’s life. Finding an affordable drug treatment center is a way to accept the truth of an inability to stop drinking or using drugs without help.