Key Differences Between AA and ATS Addiction 12 Steps

In some of the previous posts we’ve been looking at the differences in a twelve-step approach to addiction intervention as well as a cognitive behavior therapy approach. We were comparing and contrasting the two approaches. There’s three more to do and we’ll pick up with the AA approach in terms of step ten.

Step Ten AA vs. ATS

AA step ten says basically, “I contend you to take a personal inventory and when we were wronged promptly admitted it.” That’s a very sophisticated process in terms of patients with an addiction have very limited insight or introspection of why they’re doing what they’re doing and that almost takes a professional person to point out some of the ways in which they can look at whats happening.

At ATS we start with, “I will endeavor to consistently inquire as to my behavior and demonstrate an addictive behavior being that I have a tendency to be deceitful, dishonest, and manipulative”. What we’re doing there is including some of the operational definitions that are associated with addictive behavior but even with that component of step ten, by the time our patients get to step ten they’ve already engaged in a consistent amount of behavioral change. Before we get the cognitive components back online you have to have behavior online. Our behavioral intervention has a lot with whether people have a capacity to look at what it is they’re doing and that’s the upper part of the prefrontal cortex. Even though both of them are somewhat similar to the moralistic approach, it is very complicated because it requires the person to look at themselves subjectively and that’s too complicated to do on your own. You almost need a guided intervention with that one.

Step Eleven AA vs. ATS

Step eleven for AA is, “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”. That once again has a moralistic tendency to that where the individual is pretty much on their own with regards of their thoughts and their ability to pray and receive some type of intervention from their perception of whatever their idea of God means.

ATS step eleven says, “I recognize I will be improved through structure organization and discipline. I will seek to achieve a balance in my life through awareness of sleep patterns, exercise, and diet”. What we’ve done is taketh moralistic approach out of it and looked at behavioral structuring of an individual. When we say structure organization and discipline, what we’re trying to do is put a position for a person to respond consistently to an organized approach with their life. Structure organization and discipline means basically have a daily plan, get that daily plan rank ordered in regards of what you need to get accomplished, and then implement it. That is the essence of the scientific approach to any problem is to have some type of dependent variable where were manipulating another variable to see how effective am I doing this? Step eleven is the scientific approach where were interested in looking at the impact that sleep patterns have on someone’s behavior, what exercise has on someone, both mental and physical exercise, and the other patterns we’re looking at is diet. The foods that influence how well people are doing and certainly if you have an addiction we have a diet program that assists people in there are twelve or thirteen different foods we recommend they eat that promotes brain growth. That’s step eleven.

Step Twelve AA vs. ATS

Step Twelve for AA is, “ 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”. That’s for sure an important part of any religious experience. Taking the word out to the masses to get them in a position where they can also respond.

ATS step twelve is, “ I will share my knowledge of my addictive behavior with others in an appropriate format that leads to understanding a behavior change”. The operative word for us would be behavior change. You need to be able to change behavior regardless of how it is you feel or how it is you that you think. Behavior change is what makes people stable so that they can react in a predictable fashion and be considerably less compulsive.

So as a result of all of these twelve steps, what we’ve done is balanced a moralistic approach to a behavioral neurological or scientific approach. It has far better outcomes and that’s basically in a summary the differences between AA and the ATS approach of the twelve steps.

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How Long Will It Take To Recover From My Addiction?

First and foremost I would someone 30 days of a rehab program is not going to fix anything. Perhaps what it might be able to do is isolate you for a short period of time to decrease the probability that you might use a substance for 30 days. Given the definition of addiction is a chronic relapse disease in which the structure and function of the brain have changed, it also depends on the age of onset, when you used, what you were using, and how long you used it.

Neurological changes aren’t going to occur in thirty days. The part people need to understand is the model currently used does not have effective outcomes. It is an initiation of a 30-day program followed up by a short period of time of sobriety back in the real world and then going back to rehab again. Our number of rehabs for patients at ATS for people who are here is already 4. Most of our patients have been to 4 rehabs before they get here. They then find out as a result of teaching them to think differently, teaching them to have some sort of impulsive control, often times the average length of time that people spend at ATS in our programs is about 24 months.

At that time they are able to have a lot more positive control, they’re understanding the coping mechanism, they understand what stressors are for them, they are able to make healthier decisions, and they are least likely to go back to a pattern of using something that’s going to hurt them. Even after 24 months, it takes some extended period of time where people practice behaviors so it’s really important to change your behavior change your understanding and understand for the most part addiction is an impulse control disorder that reciprocated by stress. So if we teach people to think differently, how to handle stress and teach them coping strategies it decreases the probability they will rely on a substance to handle a new stressor in their life.

Have Addiction Questions or concerned and seeking help for a loved one?

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Advice for Parents of Addicts Who Have Children

This is a very complicated question. What we have is a large number of individuals that are in the retirement phase of their lives are now finding out that their children have an addiction to a substance and their child cannot handle the responsibility of child-rearing. Grandma and grandpa take on the role of not only parenting their child but also parenting their grandchildren. If the child’s mom and dad have an addiction to an opiate and they’re not able to function to parent adequately to a 3, 4, 5-year-old child, then grandma and grandpa take on the role of both taking care of their child as well as their grandchildren.

The most effective thing you can do is get professional help as quickly as you can so you can learn some coping strategies so that we can develop some behavioral changes so that the parent can get healthy. At the same time mom and dad, or in this case grandma and grandpa, need to be in a position where they can make decisions for the grandchild. Often times this will be a conflict between what mom or dad think they should be doing. However, the responsible party is not in a position where they can make responsible decisions as a result of their substance abuse.

Consequently, all three generations need to work collaboratively to bring about the most effective way to rear a young child in an environment that is going to be brought with difficulties of substance abuse that occurred prior to the time that the child was even born. So grandma and grandpa need to get a lot of support and get some professional intervention to show them how best to navigate these difficult times for them.

How Can Grandparents Help Play A Role In Addiction Treatment?

If an individual comes here requesting treatment, we try to involve as many people as we can. Often times that grandma and grandpa or mom and dad. Everyone has to be involved because the process of an addiction is an extremely deceitful process. The drug lies to the person who has the addiction, so we need a lot of monitoring, a lot of accountability and behavioral changes.

Collaboratively we will work with the grandparents or whoever the person is that’s supervising the person with the addiction. We will make sure we are all on the same page because it is common for the person who has the addiction to fragment the intervention strategy by telling grandparents one thing and telling us something different.

Once we have eliminated that ability to distract or separate the intervention strategies, the patient usually seems to respond a lot better to a consistent intervention position where knows what’s expected and we have outcomes we want the patience to achieve based on our mutual intervention strategy.

Have Addiction Questions or concerned and seeking help for a loved one?

Contact us at (618) 692-6880

Understanding the Vocabulary of Addiction

Vocabulary is important because if you look at the concept of an engram, it’s just a memory loop. If someone keeps telling you over and over “don’t think of a pink elephant” and then asks what colors the elephant you’re not supposed to think of, the answer’s easy; the elephant’s pink. engram works exactly the same. Knowing all your triggers as they relate to your addiction reinforces that engram and makes you sicker. It’s going to make the neurological loop fire quicker, possibly on its own. It’s doesn’t need a trigger because it’s active. What you need to look at carefully is what words you use to describe what you have.

No Such Thing as an Addict

First of all, there is no such thing as an addict. When someone says addict, you think of the worst; down and out, drunken, abusive, abused the system, etc. These terms link an engram to what you believe you are, which then you perceive yourself as a loser. Everybody that failed at treatment because they’re an addict, so what we do is change that addict to addiction.

We Don’t Treat Addicts, We Treat Humans

Here at ATS we don’t treat addicts, we treat humans, people who have a medical condition because of an addiction. It’s neurological and medical. If you help someone understand their addiction and treat them, it’s medical. Perception has quite a bit to do with the outcome. If you think you’re a loser, if you think there’s hope and potential for you because you have a medical condition, we can treat that that addiction and you can get better.

There is no reason your chronic condition has to interfere with your way of life. Vocabulary is extremely important and so is changing the mindset of people who have medical conditions of addiction versus a moral condition of being an addict. That what we do here at Addiction Treatment Strategies. We treat those who have a medical condition of an addiction.

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