Remarkably, there is no standard treatment program for alcohol addiction in the US or other Western countries.
In fact, the various recovery options available today are confusing and limited.
In the US, the majority of residential and outpatient programs are based on the 12 steps to sobriety.
This philosophy is the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which officially started in Akron, Ohio in 1935.
The philosophy calls for total abstinence and includes emotional support similar to that in cancer treatment.
The goal is to stay away from one drink, one day at a time, following the 12 steps.
Sobriety is maintained through the sharing of experience, strength, and hope at group meetings.
AA meetings are conducted in churches, hospitals, private homes, and public facilities.
Some people are put off by the religious tone of AA's 12 steps, which look to God as the main source of healing and strength.
As a result, many organizers have started their own independent meetings and various interpretations of the 12 steps have been created over the years.
It must be noted that 12 steps meetings do not provide alcohol detoxification, which is a vital component to overcoming addiction.
Nor do they address the physical brain conditioning that occurs in alcohol dependence -- and the subsequent retraining of the brain that is necessary in order to reverse the neural pathways of cravings.
Still, the 12 steps do offer vital emotional support, and direction to those who may be lost in the sorrow and desperation of alcohol addiction.
Hence, 12 steps serve as a practical foundation for a more comprehensive alcohol recovery plan.
The original 12 steps from AA: 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.
In fact, the various recovery options available today are confusing and limited.
In the US, the majority of residential and outpatient programs are based on the 12 steps to sobriety.
This philosophy is the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which officially started in Akron, Ohio in 1935.
The philosophy calls for total abstinence and includes emotional support similar to that in cancer treatment.
The goal is to stay away from one drink, one day at a time, following the 12 steps.
Sobriety is maintained through the sharing of experience, strength, and hope at group meetings.
AA meetings are conducted in churches, hospitals, private homes, and public facilities.
Some people are put off by the religious tone of AA's 12 steps, which look to God as the main source of healing and strength.
As a result, many organizers have started their own independent meetings and various interpretations of the 12 steps have been created over the years.
It must be noted that 12 steps meetings do not provide alcohol detoxification, which is a vital component to overcoming addiction.
Nor do they address the physical brain conditioning that occurs in alcohol dependence -- and the subsequent retraining of the brain that is necessary in order to reverse the neural pathways of cravings.
Still, the 12 steps do offer vital emotional support, and direction to those who may be lost in the sorrow and desperation of alcohol addiction.
Hence, 12 steps serve as a practical foundation for a more comprehensive alcohol recovery plan.
The original 12 steps from AA: 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.