Integrating the 12 Steps into Your Recovery

CBT and DBT therapies, along with proper medical care, work to improve a person’s experience with the 12 steps. This may seem controversial to some. However, the Model of Addiction that is driven from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous shows that an alcoholic or addict’s main problem centers in their mind. “I can’t stay stopped!”

Many people suffering from addiction are masters at getting sober, but struggle to maintain long-term sobriety no matter how bad they want to achieve it. Helping a suffering individual to cope with the restless, irritable, and discontented feelings that they experience in sobriety is key to helping them heal.

The 12 steps help to address the internal struggle that an addict goes through both in early, as well as long-term, recovery. The 12 steps do this in a manner that complements the traditional therapeutic models of CBT and DBT. The entire aim of the 12 steps is to allow an individual to have an experience strong enough to overcome their addiction. This is often done in self-help or mutual-help groups such as AA and NA.

In a supportive care or outpatient treatment environment, the 12 steps can be delivered in an educational manner which allows an individual client to determine if they are willing to do the work that is necessary to recover. Oftentimes individuals may go to AA or NA meetings for years and not have a true understanding of the 12 step process. Individuals hear things such as higher power of God and instantly get turned off.

However, in a treatment center, people can be shown that ideas such as God and higher power don’t need to be limiting. These ideas are easily able to be discussed, explained, and humanized by properly-trained clinicians and peer-recovery advocates.

At Meta, our entire executive team and ownership are in long-term recovery through the use of the 12 steps. Please contact us at (855) 629-3757 for more information.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/img-ed-480x572.jpg[/author_image]  [author_info]Reviewed by Ed Lepage, Executive Director

Ed Lepage completed the drug and alcohol certificate program at the University of Massachusetts Boston and has been working in the substance abuse dependency field for the past seven years. He has also worked extensively in peer recovery-based programs offering “real-world experience” to those that suffer from substance use dependency. Full Bio [/author_info] [/author]