|
|
| print this
Alcoholics
Anonymous
An Interpretation of
the Twelve Steps
THE DETROIT PAMPHLET
Preface
The following pages contain the
basic material for the discussion meetings for alcoholics
only. These meetings are held for the purpose of acquainting
both old and new members with the twelve steps on which
our program is based. So that all
twelve steps may be covered in a minimum of time they are
divided into four classifications and one evening each week
will be devoted to each of the four subdivisions. Thus,
in one month, a new man can get the basis of our twelve
suggested steps.
- We
admitted we were powerless over alcohol - -that our
lives had become unmanageable.
- Came
to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could
restore us to sanity.
- Made
a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the
care of God as we understood Him.
- Made
a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted
to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the
exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were
entirely ready to have God remove all these defects
of character.
- Humbly
asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made
a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing
to make amends to them all.
- Made
direct amends to such people wherever possible, except
when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued
to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly
admitted it.
- 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.
- 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.
These
steps are divided as follows:
Discussion No. 1 The
Admission
Discussion No. 2 The
Spiritual Phase
Discussion No. 3 The
Inventory and Restitution
Discussion No. 4 The
Active Work
|
Step No. 1.
Steps 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 11.
Steps No. 4, 8, 9 and 10.
which is Step No. 12.
|
DISCUSSION
No. 1
THE ADMISSION
| |
The
material contained herein is merely an outline of
the admission phase of the program and is not intended
to replace or supplant:
|
|
| |
a. The
careful reading and re-reading of the Big Book.
b. Regular attendance at weekly group meetings.
c. Study of the program.
d. Daily practice of the program.
e. Reading of approved printed material on
alcoholism.
f. Informal discussion with other members.
|
|
Step
No. 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol
- - that our lives had become unmanageable.
| |
This
instruction is not a short-cut to A.A. It
is an introduction - - a help - - a brief course in
the fundamentals.
|
|
In
order to determine whether or not a person had drifted from
"social drinking" into pathological drinking it is well
to check over a list of test questions, which each member
may ask himself and answer for himself. We must answer once
and for all these three puzzling questions :
What is an alcoholic? Who is an alcoholic? Am
I an alcoholic?
To
get the right answer the prospective member must start this
course of instruction with:
-
A
willingness to learn. We must not have the attitude
that "you've got to show me."
-
An
open mind. Forget any and all notions we already
have. Set our opinions aside.
-
Complete
honesty. It is possible - - not at all probable
- - that we may fool somebody else. But we must be honest
with ourselves, and it is a good time to start being
honest with others.
Suggested
Test Questions
- Do
you require a drink the next morning?
- Do
you prefer a drink alone?
- Do
you lose time from work due to drinking?
- Is
your drinking harming your family in any way?
- Do
you crave a drink at a definite time daily?
- Do
you get the inner shakes unless you continue drinking?
- Has
drinking made you irritable?
- Does
drinking make you careless of your family's welfare?
- Have
you harmed your husband or wife since drinking?
- Has
drinking changed your personality?
- Does
drinking cause you bodily complaints?
- Does
drinking make you restless?
- Does
drinking cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
- Has
drinking made you more impulsive?
- Have
you less self-control since drinking?
- Has
your initiative decreased since drinking?
- Has
your ambition decreased since drinking?
- Do
you lack perseverance in pursuing a goal since drinking?
- Do
you drink to obtain social ease?
(In shy, timid, self-conscious individuals.)
- Do
you drink for self-encouragement?
(In persons with feelings of inferiority.)
- Do
you drink to relieve marked feelings of inadequacy?
- Has
your sexual potency suffered since drinking?
- Do
you show marked dislikes and hatreds since drinking?
- Has
your jealousy, in general, increased since drinking?
- Do
you show marked moodiness as a result of drinking?
- Has
your efficiency decreased since drinking?
- Has
your drinking made you more sensitive?
- Are
you harder to get along with since drinking?
- Do
you turn to an inferior environment since drinking?
- Is
drinking endangering your health?
- Is
drinking affecting your peace of mind?
- Is
drinking making your home life unhappy?
- Is
drinking jeopardizing your business?
- Is
drinking clouding your reputation?
- Is
drinking disturbing the harmony of your life?
If
you have answered yes to any one of the Test
Questions, there is a definite warning that you may
be alcoholic.
If you answered yes to any two of the Test
Questions, the chances are that you are an alcoholic.
If you answer yes to three or more of the
Test Questions you are definitely an alcoholic.
| |
NOTE: The
Test Questions are not A.A. questions but are the
guide used by Johns Hopkins University Hospital in
deciding whether a patient is alcoholic or not.
|
|
In
addition to the Test Questions, we in A.A. would ask even
more questions. Here are a few:
- Have
you ever had a complete loss of memory while, or after,
drinking?
- Have
you ever felt, when or after drinking, an inability to
concentrate?
- Have
you ever felt remorse after drinking?
- Has
a physician ever treated you for drinking?
- Have
you ever been hospitalized for drinking?
Many
other questions could be asked, but the foregoing are sufficient
for the purpose of this instruction.
Why
Does An Alcoholic Drink?
Having
decided that we are alcoholics, it is well to consider what
competent mental doctors consider as the reasons why an
alcoholic drinks:
- As
an escape from situations of life which he cannot face.
- As
evidence of a maladjusted personality (including sexual
maladjustments).
- As
a development from social drinking to pathological drinking.
- As
a symptom of a major abnormal mental state.
- As
an escape from incurable physical pain.
- As
a symptom of constitutional inferiority - - a psychopathic
personality.
| |
For example, an individual who drinks because he likes
alcohol, knows he cannot handle it, but does not care.
|
|
-
Many
times one cannot determine any great and glaring mechanism
as the basis of why the drinker drinks, but the revealing
fact may be elicited:
| |
That alcohol is taken to relieve a certain vague restlessness
in the individual, incident to friction between his
biological and emotional makeup and the ordinary strains
of life. |
|
The
above reasons are general reasons. Where the individuality
or personality of the alcoholic is concerned these reasons
may be divided as follows:
-
A
self-pampering tendency which manifests itself in refusal
to tolerate, even temporarily, unpleasant states of
mind such as boredom, sorrow, anger, disappointment,
worry, depression, dissatisfaction, and feelings of
inferiority and inadequacy.
| |
"I want what I want when I want it" seems to express
the attitude of many alcoholics toward life. |
|
-
An
instinctive urge for self-expression, unaccompanied
by determination to translate the urge into creative
action.
-
An
abnormal craving for emotional experience which calls
for removal of intellectual restraint.
-
Powerful
hidden ambitions, without the necessary resolve to take
practical steps to attain them, and with resultant discontent,
irritability, depression, disgruntledness, and general
restlessness.
-
A
tendency to flinch from the worries of life and to seek
escape from reality by the easiest means available.
-
An
unreasonable demand for continuous happiness or excitement.
-
An
insistent craving for the feeling of self-confidence,
calm, and poise that some obtain temporarily from alcohol.
We
Admit
If
after carefully considering the foregoing, we admit we are
alcoholics, we must realize that, once a person becomes
a pathological drinker, he can never again become a controlled
drinker, and from that point on, is limited to just
two alternatives:
- Total
permanent abstinence.
- Chronic
alcoholism with all of the handicaps and penalties it
implies.
In
other words, we have gone past the point where we had
a choice. All we have left is a decision
to make.
We
Resolve to Do Something About It
-
We
must change our way of thinking. (This is such an
important matter that it will have to be discussed more
fully in a later discussion).
-
We
must realize that each morning when we wake, we are
potential drunkards for that day.
-
We
resolve that we will practice A.A. for the 24 hours
of that day.
-
We
must study the other eleven steps of the program and
practice each and every one.
-
Attend
the regular group meeting each week without fail.
-
Firmly
believe that by practicing A.A. faithfully each day,
we will achieve sobriety.
-
Believe
that we can be free from alcohol as a problem.
-
Contact
another member before taking a drink, not after.
Tell him what bothers you - - talk it over with him
freely.
-
Work
the program for ourselves alone - - not for our
wife, children, friends, or for our job.
-
Be
absolutely honest and sincere.
-
Be
fully openminded - - no mental reservations.
-
Be
fully willing to work the program. Nothing good in life
comes without work.
Conclusion
-
Alcoholics
are suffering from a threefold disease, not only a physical
illness. Fortunately, we in A.A. have learned how it
may be controlled. (This will be shown in the next eleven
steps of the program.)
-
We
can also learn to be free from alcohol as a problem.
-
We
can achieve a full and happy life without recourse to
alcohol.
| |
ASK
QUESTIONS
No
question pertaining to drinking, or stopping drinking,
is silly or irelevant. The matter is too serious.
Any questions we ask may help someone else. This is
not a shortcut to A.A., it is an introduction, a help,
a brief course in fundamentals. In A.A. we learn by
question and answer; we learn by exchanging our thought
and our experience with each other. Any question you
ask may help someone else. To cover as many questions
as possible in the short time available, all answers
must be limited to three minutes.
|
|
| |
I
know that if this program works for me and I am able
to maintain a sober, peaceful life, it will not be through
any strength of mine, but rather, the Man Upstairs has
reached down and given me a helping hand. Strange
as it may seem - - it works. |
|
|
|
GO
BACK
GO
BACK