By Tiffany Mullinix, Bliss House Director

Our method saves lives…residents participate in a program called Recovery Dynamics which is a powerful tool to help educate them on the 12-steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. With written assignments from the Big Book of AA and one-on-one individual sponsorship work, each lesson helps the addicted person to realize their addiction is a physical allergy and a mental obsession. The only treatment that never fails is total abstinence. The goal is to identify the three stages of the program: identify the problem, define the solution, and take action to bring about the solution.

Over the course of the next several articles, I would like to share with our readers a little more detail about the process. We have 12-steps with core principals attached to each step.

Identifying the problem

Step 1 – We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives were unmanageable. The intense, overpowering desire to take the first drink is an act of the mind (mental obsession). But the craving for another and then another, is a physical phenomenon (allergic reaction) related to abnormal brain function. Despite drinking another beer, we continue to crave more. An alcoholic can never satisfy the craving. We may run out of booze, the bar may close, our supply might run out, but we never fully satisfy the craving caused by our abnormal brain response to alcohol.

Honesty is the core principal behind Step 1. You would be surprised how hard it is to admit that once we take a drink, we cannot stop or control our drinking at that point. We make a mess out of our lives by being unwilling to admit this. Once we become willing to identify we have a problem, we can make a beginning towards the solution.

Stay tuned for the next article as I walk you through step 2.