Lisa.fm Thrive!

Anyone who has attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting has likely heard of the '12 Steps." The spiritual program based on 12 steps, worked through step by step in consecutive order, was created by Bill Wilson in the 1930s. Since then, it's helped a lot of people overcome their addictions to alcohol and drugs. Today, the 12 Steps have been modified and are used in many lesser-known self help programs such as Al-anon-Alateen, Adult Children of Alcoholics as well as Gamblers Anonymous,  Overeaters Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Narconon and many more. "(Before the 12 steps came along), alcoholism was regarded as a moral weakness," said Dr. Ken Pfeiffer, a Carpinteria-based psychologist and pain expert. "The traditional way of dealing with alcoholics was with scorn, and condemnation and punishment... We know now that this only makes the situation worse." "What Alcoholics Anonymous does now, is it brings together people with a similar mind, added Dr. Pfeiffer. ".. if you go to AA, you're meeting with other alcoh