The Promises of the First Step, Part Two

LOS ANGELES - Jan. 19, 2015 - PRLog -- *This is the second post in a series featuring the 150+ promises as they appear in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Step One
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our
lives had become unmanageable.

Promise:
(Forward from first edition) To show other alcoholics precisely how
we have recovered is the main purpose of this book.

This is an amazing promise. It’s should also be a relief to newcomers to drug and alcohol rehabilitation. There’s no figuring anything out, no guesswork and they’re too tired anyway from the hustle it takes to stay high on a daily basis.

Countless writings and speeches by Bill W. suggest the founding members of A.A. considered themselves recovered, even though before the 1930’s they knew the alcoholic could never reverse things and go back to social drinking.

If someone is living with a serious medical condition like cancer, leukemia or bipolar disease, and there was a book with precise steps on how to achieve recovery, it would be flying off the shelves. That’s what makes substance abuse one of the least understood and most devastating disorders of our day. It’s a disease of stubbornness, isolation and heartbreak. It’s also the only disease that is self-diagnosed; no one can tell you if you are an alcoholic or addict, and only you know when it’s time to throw in the towel, drag yourself to the drug and alcohol rehab center and give it a go, which is the last thing you want to do.

Recovery vs. recovered. This is one of the all-time most debated subjects in 12-step groups and alcohol treatment centers. Is it just old-fashioned language? Does anyone ever “recover” from alcoholism? There are plenty of snake charmers out there, taking your money and promising you the world. Alcohol treatment centers in Los Angeles who “guarantee” sobriety—not that there’s a way to prove it—with a view of the ocean sounds great, if not hugely unrealistic when it comes to navigating your way through life on the outside. And other, less deluxe alcohol rehabs off the map make even more outrageous claims, as if you’ll be “struck” sober after a three day visit.

The Authentic Recovery Center in Los Angeles, California agrees. Their abstinence-based approach to rehabilitation is centered more on empirical evidence, comprehensive services and client and family education then it is on lofty claims. There is no documented “alcoholism and addiction cure,” and to say that you’ve found the cure for addiction is essentially saying you have changed an individual’s genetic code, healed their brain, reshaped the cellular structure in their body, solved a lifetime of emotional distress, reorganized their individual belief systems, and oh yes, all in the course of a 28-day treatment program.

A Dr. Silkworth was a specialist in the field of alcoholism and drug addiction at the time the first edition of the Big Book was published in 1939. He was the first to suggest to Bill Wilson that “the body of the alcoholic was quite as abnormal as his mind,” and that alcoholism was more than just an issue of lack of willpower or morality. He believed in the disease model, that it was an allergy of the body marked by the phenomenon of craving once the first drink is taken. And the vicious cycle of constant drunkenness, remorse and swearing off the stuff begins.

Even after being in A.A. for years, many people refer to themselves as “recovering alcoholics.” There will probably always be debate over it in the two million AA groups around the world. No matter how you identify yourself, the important thing is to stay strong, clean and sober. And let the rest go.

To know more click here http://www.arctreatment.com/contact/