These days the Internet is loaded with a lot of chatter regarding 12 step recovery.

Of course, the 12 step recovery folks have been posting things for years, and there are a lot of helpful sites and blogs on the topic of recovery from their perspective. However, in the last several years I’ve noticed a surge of negativity and lies about 12 step recovery, with one of the chief claims being the 12-steps espouse disempowerment. The basis of this negativity seems to be that one must publicly admit they are an alcoholic and that they have absolutely no power to make decisions in their life, therefore they must submit to the cult of AA, and let other people run their lives, tell them what to do – a total disempowerment of an individual. This is, of course, a complete distortion of the infinite empowerment of 12-step recovery philosophy and principles.

Yes, in 12 step recovery one does admit that left to their own devices they have utterly failed at moderating and/or abstaining substance use, and that this use has led to negative consequences in their lives. In the same way one humbles themselves to any other external self set-ups in life, such as failing for years to get a promotion we think we must have at work, or the finding the perfect mate rather than being the perfect mate, making lots of money rather than being appreciative for what we have, etc. When the goal is control of an external circumstance which must result in a certain way or we are not OK, we’re in trouble. You see, destructive substance use is only a symptom of an internal struggle caused by a distorted (false) view of external conditions. The difference between a person who struggles with an outside circumstance, such as one of the examples above, and an addictive substance user is not that great. But most people come to grips with these realities and see that they do not have the intrinsic value they thought and they eventually adjust. Not so for the chronic addictive substance user. But let’s presume for a moment that a person who doesn’t get that promotion they think they need begins to accumulate resentment and anger about it, obsesses about the situation, constantly tries to manage the problem, sinking to less-than-scrupulous means to change the outcome. Is this a destructive process? Of course it is. Do it long enough and they’ll get just as sick as an addict, minus the direct effects chronic destructive substance use itself brings. Believing that they must have this or that to be OK creates misery.

In each case, there is warped and faulty belief system in place, a distorted view of how the world should be, as it relates to the individual, who has placed themselves in the center of it. The world is collection of life, either acting in harmony with one another or not. When the view of the world is centric to a person, rather than this collective ideal, spiritual sickness occurs. What stands out about the addicted person is that the process is more visible and it is grossly destructive, not just to them, but to everyone around them and the entire collective life as well. Everyone is affected. If you are saying to yourself as you read this, “I am not affected, there is no addiction in my life,” then you are wrong. If it’s true that you personally don’t suffer from addictive substance use, and that no one in your family or among your friends does, you are still affected by it as you are a part of the collective life of this world, which has been wholly affected by it. For example, you have paid for it through forced adherence to laws created by society designed to deal with it and limit it’s destruction. You pay for it in the marketplace in the cost of goods you buy which have been adjusted for the expense of this destruction, and you pay for it in many other forms as well. You are affected by it.

Let’s get on to empowerment of 12 step recovery. The first of the 12 steps reads, “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable.” This is where the non-steppers provide the first distortion. They read this to mean to we must make a public admission that we are alcoholic, and that we don’t have any power – thus disempowered. This is a fallacy and is being taken out of context. Ironically, this is even true in many AA and other 12 step recovery groups, as it is often misunderstood by them as well. First of all, this admission is to our innermost selves, not to media outlets through a press release. By the way, identification as an alcoholic in an AA meeting is optional, not required. This identification is not designed to shame anyone, or label anyone for that matter. It is designed to put one’s self out there as help to a newcomer who may be sitting the room and who has no idea which way is up. But the admission is optional at the level of the group. Simply attend open meetings.

Second of all, in 12 step recovery, this admission of personal powerlessness to our innermost selves in regards to alcohol is simply recognizing that we have not been able to stop or moderate using the methods we’ve used up to this point. The step is also written in the past tense, because when the needed power is accessed, which has been left completely and fully open by the authors of the steps to the discretion of the person practicing this way of life, the life of an addictive substance user begins to change in an empowered way. Remember the statement above that destructive substance use is only a symptom of an internal struggle caused by a distorted view of external conditions? This realization comes through taking the action of the remaining 11 steps of 12 step recovery. When practiced, a paradigm shift occurs. The self-centric belief system is replaced by a collective life belief system. An inward focus is transformed into an outward focus. Empowerment is realized when we practice adding to life rather than subtracting from it because we fear we won’t survive if we don’t grab it from someone else. It is the gradual realization that when we become concerned for our fellow human beings and take action to be helpful that we will always get what we need and more. People have realized this axiom for millennia, not just for the 71 years the 12 step recovery movement has been around. The non-steppers, at least the negative ones, seem to be trying to keep the addicted substance user in isolation by telling them they need not engage in social processes to recover. They seem to prey on the ego-centric nature of the disease.

I know what you might be thinking: this guy is just some tree-hugging, remnant hippie with a free love philosophy. Nope, I’m actually just a 12 step recovery guy who has had some critical awakenings and in other ways is still asleep seeking continued awakenings. Just a guy who had nothing in those final days of substance use, and who has a life of purpose and meaning today. I’m just a guy who, through practicing 12 step recovery, deals with life’s circumstances much much better than I once did. The outward focus and its attendant action continues to slowly rewire my brain and I feel more peace than I ever have. Nothing more. A very imperfect process, but a very empowered one. I don’t live in the prison I once did, and I don’t live in a prison of being labelled an addict and confined to AA meetings as the non 12 steppers claim. I’m a free guy today. And in that freedom I choose to attend meetings and share my experience with others, and once in a while, somebody will approach me and say, “I want what you seem to have, can you show me how to get it?”

Imagine their surprise when I inform them that they have it already, it’s just obscured by all the mental noise of the internal struggle. Then I show them how I became an empowered individual whose responsibility it is to add to the collective life, of which I am very gratefully a small part , albeit with an important role.

12 step recovery isn’t for everyone, and not everyone will choose to take the steps. But my experience is that they rarely fail when thoroughly followed. And out of the masses of people who come through the revolving door of 12 step recovery programs, only a small percentage actually get down to business for one reason or another. The remaining were just visiting, it seems – and some of these visitors just might have misunderstood these steps completely.

Curt