Twelve-step program

[edit] History

The first such program was Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which was begun in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, known to A.A. members as "Bill W." and "Dr. Bob", in Akron, Ohio. They established the tradition within the "Anonymous" twelve-step programs of using only first names. The Twelve Steps were originally written by Wilson and represented Wilson's incorporation of the teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker about the Oxford Group life-changing program. And it included many additional thoughts from Dr. Carl Jung about Conversion, Rowland Hazard's message about conversion, Professor William James's validation of such conversions, the "no cure" ideas of Richard Peabody, some materials from the Bible, and many New Thought writer ideas such as "higher power."

Upon recognizing a surprising level of recovery among alcoholics working the program, Wilson had the idea to write a book about the program. The original Akron program was developed in 1935 by Wilson and Smith in a Christian Fellowship that derived most of its simple ideas from the Christian Endeavor Movement of Dr. Bob's youth as well as ideas about abstinence, conversion, reliance on the Creator, elimination of sin, obedience to God, and growth in Fellowship through Bible study and prayer and religious literature. Working with others to help them get straightened out was essential. These fundamental ideas came primarily from the Rescue Missions, the Salvation Army, and the YMCA. Early hospitalization was considered a "must." The program was investigated by A.A. Trustee-to-be Frank Amos who, in 1938, reported on its elements and successes. His report is fully described in A.A.'s DR. BOB AND THE GOOD OLDTIMERS. The Akron success rate had produced 75% cures and astonished the New York people. Wilson returned to New York and wrote of a program based primarily on what he had learned from the Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in New York, and a leader of the Oxford Group people in America. To Shoemaker's ideas, which are found almost verbatim in the Twelve Steps, Bill added in his Big Book (the new basic text) ideas about alcoholism from Dr. William D. Silkworth, ideas about the necessity for a conversion from Dr. Carl G. Jung, ideas about a so-called "higher power" primarily from psychologist William James and practical techniques from Richard Peabody set forth in his Common Sense of Drinking book, and a variety of words and phrases thought to originate from New Thought teachings such as "Creative Intelligence," "Spirit of the Universe," "fourth dimension of existence," and "higher power." Then Wilson announced this "program of recovery" which consisted of Twelve Steps the pioneers had taken to find God. Bill asked Shoemaker to write the Steps, but Shoemaker declined. The Steps can be recognized in the Oxford Group teachings Wilson received from Rowland Hazard and Ebby Thacher in late 1934 and early 1935, but neither the Oxford Group nor early A.A. in New York or Akron had any "steps" at all. Instead the Oxford Group had what it called Four Absolutes: absolute purity, absolute honesty, absolute unselfishness and absolute love coupled with a moral inventory, confession and restitution.

A.A. was, at its origins, a "religious organization." The concept of "spiritual, not religious," seems to have derived from the desire to keep religion separate from A.A. even though the precepts and practices of A.A. Early A.A. meetings in New York were those of "A First Century Christian Fellowship" then also known as the "Oxford Group."

Some say that since the publication of the book Alcoholics Anonymous, New Thought substitute words have driven A.A. talk and writing towards unbelief and substitutionary, secular universalism rather than toward a relationship with God �?the avowed Big Book purpose of the Steps. Then again, A.A. speakers can often be heard to say things like "if 'God' ran you out of A.A., alcoholism can run you back in again."

The Twelve Steps were eventually matched with Twelve Traditions, a set of guidelines for running individual groups and a sort of constitution for the fellowship (i.e., A.A.) as a whole.

Many other programs since have adapted AA's original steps to their own ends. Related programs exist to help family and friends of those with addictions as well as those with problems other than alcohol. These programs also follow modified versions of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and include groups like Al-Anon/Alateen, Overeaters Anonymous (OA), Gamblers Anonymous (GA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Emotions Anonymous (EA), and Nar-Anon.

One organization which is often confused with an "Anonymous" twelve-step program, due to the intentional similarity of its name �?but is not one �?is Narconon. Narconon is a branch of the Church of Scientology, presenting Scientology doctrine and practices as a therapy for drug abusers. Narconon does not use the Twelve Steps, and is not related to either Narcotics Anonymous (NA) or to Nar-Anon, despite the similarity of names.

Some adventerous individuals report that they have experienced similar, if nor higher, rates of success with 7 and even 2 step programs. The benefit of such programs is fewer steps and thus a more focused and comprehensible approach.

[edit] Acceptance of a Higher Power

A primary tenet of 12-step recovery requires a member to surrender willful self-reliance (a purported characteristic of afflicted persons), to adopt the practice of reliance on God, or another "Higher Power" of the member's own understanding. Proponents of twelve-step programs allege that agnostics and even atheists can be helped by the program, as a member’s concept of a "Higher Power" may originate (and/or remain) with the 12-step group itself. With time, any other entity, thing(s) or object(s) that aid a member in accepting their powerlessness over their problem, are claimed to become the "Higher Power" that will help them to recover. It is colloquially stated that any Power perceived as being greater than oneself will do, provided the power is not any other, single individual, or one's own unaided will.

The success of Twelve-step groups in aiding in recovery of addictive illnesses is an argument of significance in some parts of the United States, where the criminal justice system has ordered 12-step group participation to convicted felons as well as inmate addicts as a condition of parole or shortened sentences. U.S. judges have often required attendance at AA meetings as a condition of probation or parole or as an element of a sentence for defendants convicted of a crime. The New York Court of Appeals ruled in Griffin v. Coughlin, 88 N.Y.2d 674 (1996) that doing so compromises the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution on the grounds that A.A. practices and doctrine are (in the words of the district court judge who wrote the decision) "unequivocally religious". The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari and allowed the New York court's decision to stand.

Critics of the 12-step programs, however, often hold that this reliance is ineffective, and offensive or inapplicable to atheists and others who do not believe in a salvific deity. Other critics see forms of authoritarian mind control in the 12 step approach.

Some critics state that 12-step groups are religious in nature. The only authorized literature in most 12-step groups is their own publications. The members of 12-step groups make the distinction that the groups are spiritual, and not religious; members of 12-step groups are also members of a wide variety of religious bodies. Nearly every meeting begins with the Serenity Prayer, a prayer addressed to "God." The Big Book states that its "main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem." ^[2]

Some critics also question the idea of giving up on self-reliance, which can be seen as a form of idealized despair. Secular alternatives to twelve-step programs, such as Rational Recovery, are for this reason in many ways opposite to the twelve-step process. Others, such as YES Recovery, acknowledge a debt to the twelve-steps movement but do not have a culture of belief in God.

[edit] Relation to religion