How it works…

So, assuming you are someone who has surrendered to the idea that you are powerless over a given behavior or situation (drugs, alcohol, overeating, bad relationships, gambling, shopping, sex, etc.) which has caused your life to become unmanageable (Step 1) and you are willing to embrace the idea that something “bigger than you” can help restore you to sanity (relieve you of the cycle of dependency – Step 2) and you are willing to take suggestions regarding this process (Step 3), then you are ready to take the emotional sobriety steps (Steps 4 – 9).

In these steps, you are asked to take inventories of yourself, admit your shortcomings to other people, ask for impediments to be removed and to make amends to people you have harmed.

And, the immediate response is generally:  “what does any of that have to do with my eating, drinking or drugging?”  The answer is:  “Everything.”

A very wise man once said that he spent his life trying to get to the Sears Tower in Chicago using a map of Detroit.  Steps 4 – 9 are the Steps where addicts come to accept that it is the “thinking behind the drinking” that leads to the unpleasant outcomes.  Step 4 through Step 9 is where we learn to stop, examine our behavior and learn to ask directions from the gas station attendants who have been through the bad neighborhood and know the way out – the folks who spend a great deal of time enjoying the view from the observation deck at the top of the Sears Tower.

From the perspective of the literature in psychology and the disease of addiction, these steps are associated with explanatory style and coping mechanisms. (Seligman, 1990)  As I mentioned in my previous post – there are two sorts of triggers for addictive behavior, physical (falling dopamine levels) and emotional (how a given situation is interpreted and reacted to).  Steps 4 – 9 address the emotional work that must be done in order to get sober and stay that way.

The Twelve Steps are about self-awareness and metacognition– coming to understand what the emotional triggers are and developing strategies that will help you not react to them.  The first few words of Step 12, “having had a spiritual awakening” have a direct link back to the language found in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous which identifies those the characteristics of those who don’t succeed in recovery:  “men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves…” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 2001, pg 58).

This must mean that the “spiritual awakening” necessary for long-term sobriety is the result of improvements in self-honesty.

Here is the basis for Step 4 through Step 9.  These steps are the process by which someone learns to identify the patterns of thinking and behavior that contribute to the emotional triggers of addiction.

Resources:

Step 1 – Saturday Morning Live – Sandy B.

Step 2 – Saturday Morning Live – Sandy B.

Step 3 – Saturday Morning Live – Sandy B.

Works cited:

Alcoholics Anonymous. (2001). Alcoholics Anonymous (Fourth ed.). New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

Seligman, M. (1990). Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life. New York: Vintage.