"only you can decide whether you want to give A.A. a try- whether you think it can help you" (World Services, Inc,1973)

What is A.A.?

It was founded in 1935 by William Griffith Wilson.(Addiction Alternatives for Recovery.By: Lemanski, Michael J.2000, p.1) in hopes to indentify and help those with addictions to alcohol and evoved into something that is now part of pop culture.

Alcoholics Anonymous is an international fellowship of men and women who have had a drinking problem. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, nondemominational, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem.

What does A.A. do?

• A.A. members share their experience with anyone seeking help with a drinking problem; they give person-to-person service or "sponsorship" to the alcoholic coming to A.A. from any source.
• The A.A. program, set forth in our Twelve Steps, offers the alcoholic a way to develop a satisfying life without alcohol.
• The AA model characterizes addiction as a progressive, chronic, and ultimately fatal disease that leaves the addict "powerless," experiencing a "loss of control" in the ability to refrain from a drug of choice. The model requires a commitment to total abstinence, the embrace of spirituality, and life-long participation in AA or another twelve-step program, because addiction is defined as treatable but never entirely curable (Lemanski,M.J.2000.p.1)

What are the twelve steps?

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.

The Hard Part

• Brissett, Laundergan, Kammeier, and Biele (1980) found that 20% of the abstinent alcoholics they surveyed perceived themselves as having a duller life than before their abstinence. Although most of the participants in the current studystated that their quality of life was better than when they were drinking,some still reported feeling bored or feeling that life was dull at times. Interestingly, the participants reporting those feelings were the ones with the least amount of time abstinent. Therefore, it seems that those feelings of boredom may subside with the length of abstinence; this may be due to the alcohol addict developing other ways to have fun (Zakrzewski, Robert F., Hector, Mark A.2004.p.12)
• Most of the participants also stated that they had to re-learn how to live since achieving sobriety and that they had to learn how to cope with problems that were previously dealt with by alcohol. They also had to learn how to forgive and let go of some of their desire for control, and to just generally live life. (Zakrzewski, Robert F., Hector, Mark A.2004.p.13)