3 x 24 The News Magazine, Kircheim, Bayern, Germany
Alcoholics Anonymous
by hispanic
“Hi, I’m Jane, and I am an alcoholic.” You usually hear
those words coming out from the mouth of recovering alcoholics supported by
Alcoholics Anonymous. What is Alcoholics Anonymous? Alcoholics Anonymous is a
group that attends to the needs of recovering alcoholics. It has an official
website and is a centralized organization with over one hundred thousand
sub-groups in over 150 countries. Each sub-group is fundamentally autonomous.
Groups are made from a few to several hundreds of patients and meetings are held
in different venues.
Alcoholics Anonymous became famous for its 12-step program, which has become a
model for many other treatment and recovery programs. The 12 steps include
variations of the following: 1) Admitting that you are powerless over alcohol.
2) Coming to believe that a power greater than yourself alone can help. 3)
Deciding to turn your life over to the care of your God. 4) Searching your own
moral inventory. 5) Admitting the nature of your wrongs. 6) Allowing the defects
of character to be removed. 7) Asking to remove your shortcomings. Listing all
those you’ve harmed and becoming willing to make amends. 9) Making direct amends
to people. 10) Continued personal inventories. 11) Prayer/meditation and pursuit
of knowledge. 12) Experiencing a spiritual awakening and carrying this message
to others.
Alcoholics Anonymous holds its name as the first organization to strictly help
alcoholics in North America. Among all the other organizations in America,
Alcoholics Anonymous is one of the firsts to incorporate a religious approach in
treatment. In public forums, religious ideas and concepts are also discussed.
Patients are taught to support each other while they are handled by the
organization.
Being anonymous is important in the organization because a lot of people are not
ready to expose their real identities to other people. After all, individual
personalities do not govern the patients while they are staying with the
organization. What they need to focus on are principles like honesty,
determination, willingness to move on and truthfulness. Because of anonymity,
Alcoholics Anonymous does not keep case files or records because the people here
are brought together and are treated as a group, not as individuals. You may not
be an alcoholic, but your brother or your father can be. Now that you know where
to ask help from, the organization is just a phone call away.
Alcoholics Anonymous is an organization that supports recovering alcoholics.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 7:00 pm and is filed
under Education.
© 3 x 24 The News Magazine, Kircheim, Bayern, Germany
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