Twelve-Step Programs

Overview

The concept of 12-step recovery is that the individual must first admit that he or she cannot control addictive compulsions and obsessions. This is followed by finding something greater than the individual as a source of strength and surrendering to that power or entity. The individual is then required to repair, through a series of steps, relationships with other people and institutions. Finally, the individual is supposed to share his recovery with others seeking help. One of the key characteristics of 12-step programs is one individual helping another so that both can maintain abstinence from the compulsive behavior. This is most often carried out through a process referred to as sponsorship, wherein a more experienced member guides the newer member through the 12 steps. Today, there are dozens of different 12-step programs created to help individuals deal with a range of addictive and compulsive behaviors.

Early Influences on 12-Step Programs

The roots of 12-step programs are found in the Oxford Group, an evangelical Christian movement that began in Pennsylvania in the early 20th century. However, prior to the Oxford Group, two other movements emerged in the United States to deal with the problem of alcoholism; both contributed to the development of the original 12-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous. The Washington Temperance Society was a mid-19th-century group founded on the principle that individuals with drinking problems could help each other stay abstinent from alcohol. Distinct from the temperance movement of that era, this society focused on assisting the individual problem drinker. At its zenith, there [Page 758]were probably more than half a million members. However, the society was short lived because it shifted its focus to tackle other social ills, including slavery. Later 12-step programs learned the importance of maintaining a single focus from this mistake and have generally focused on one specific problem.

The second important movement was much smaller. Richard Peabody, a member of what was at one time among the wealthiest families in America, sought help for alcoholism in 1921 and began offering therapy to others suffering from alcoholism in New York City. However, he charged relatively high fees for his services, thus limiting them to the wealthy. He is credited with creating the concept that an alcoholic must abstain from alcohol the rest of his life, one of the key ideas later adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous and mirrored in other 12-step programs.

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