There is help in Step 3: “We…turn our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.” This is the practice of “letting go” and “turning it over.” As faith builds, so does the ability to let go and move toward more functional behavior. The anxiety and resistance may be so great that the addict or abuser may go back to drinking or using. Additionally, resistance is experienced from self, family, and friends for the very same reasons. Group support is important in reinforcing new behavior, because the emotions triggered by these changes are very powerful and can retard and even arrest recovery. Invariably such challenges evoke reactions of defensive anxiety.” (Whitmont, p.
“Every challenge to our personal habit patterns and accustomed values is felt as nothing less than the threat of death and extinction of our selves. From a Jungian perspective, one’s “complexes” are being challenged: New, preferable attitudes and behavior (often called “contrary action”) feel uncomfortable, and arouse other emotions, including fear and guilt. The Program works behaviorally as well as spiritually.Ībstinence and forbearance from old behavior are accompanied by anxiety, anger and a sense of loss of control. Now one begins to exercise some restraint over addictive and undesirable habits, words, and deeds. This crucial development signifies the genesis of an observing ego. What has been happening up until now is an increasing awareness and observation of one’s dysfunctional behavior and addiction(s) – what is referred to as “insanity” in the Second Step. The ego gradually relinquishes control, as one begins to trust that Power, the growth process, and life as well. Reality itself becomes a teacher, as one is asked to continually “turn over” (to that Power) an addiction, people, and frustrating situations. That power can also be a sponsor, therapist, the group, the therapy process or a spiritual power. But there is One who has all power - that One is God.” (p. In the book Alcoholics Anonymous, it states: “Without help it is too much for us. This is Step 2: “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” Now, with a modicum of trust, one acquires a willingness to turn to a power beyond oneself.
It is an awesome realization when you acknowledge that you or your loved one has a life-threatening addiction over which you are powerless, subject only to a daily reprieve. The emptiness that was masked by the addiction is now revealed. Feelings of anger, loss, emptiness, boredom, depression, and fear arise. The acknowledgment of powerlessness leaves a void, which formerly was filled with mental and physical activity trying to control and manipulate the addiction or the addict. Invariably, it takes years to face the problem. This also represents the very beginning of trust in something beyond oneself (such as a therapist, sponsor, or the program), and the opening up of a closed family system. The beginning of recovery is acknowledging that there is a problem involving drugs or alcohol, that there is help outside oneself, and the willingness to utilize it. alcohol, drugs, food) or a compulsion, such as gambling, debting, or caretaking, the focus of this article is on alcohol and drug addiction and the family members in a codependent relationship with the alcoholic or addict. Although the same process is applicable to recovery from addiction to a substance (e.g.
However, the fact that it is described in a linear fashion is misleading, because the Steps are experienced both simultaneously and in a circular manner. The following is a description of that process. They outline a spiritual process of surrender of the ego to the unconscious, or a higher power, and very much resemble the process of transformation in Jungian therapy.