The 12 steps are a set of guiding principles in addiction treatment that outline a course of recovery from compulsive, out-of-control behaviors and restore manageability and order to one's life
. They were developed in the 1930s by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and have since been adapted by various other organizations to address different types of addictions and compulsions
. The original 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are as follows:
- 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 designed to be addressed in sequential order, but there is no one "right" way to work through them. The 12 steps provide a framework for personal recovery from addiction and offer a supportive network of peers for those struggling with substance abuse
