We know that, for many people, the first and only option they know of to quit drinking is to join Alcoholics Anonymous and follow the 12 steps.
We do not draw from the 12 steps for any of our exercises or app features, but it’s not because the program is ineffective. In fact, 12-step facilitation was shown to be about equally effective to both CBT and MET, the two treatments we do draw from in Drinker’s Helper.
It is partly because they are religious in nature, and we want to offer help to people who both do and do not have religious faith.
It is also because the first step requires people to say they are powerless over alcohol, and we believe that people do have the power to quit or cut back. However, for some people, this can be a very effective form of treatment.
For the record, here are the 12 steps, and here is where you can find more information about the program:
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.
