Sobriety - Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous

Sobriety in this context may refer to being clear of immediate or residual effects of mind-altering substances. Sometimes it refers to a specific substance that is the concern of a particular 12 step program (alcohol, opiates, marijuana, tobacco). "Clean and sober" is a commonly used phrase, which refers to someone having an extended period of abstinence and subsequent sobriety. This is often thought to take a minimum of six months.

The 12 step program that Alcoholics Anonymous follow is shown below:

• We admitted that 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.