Why AA Works. The 12 Steps Translated.

Lately I've been obsessed by the difference between short and long term thinking. Heavy drinkers need to get control of their short term behavior. It is very very simple.  The admission--the 12 step program--is a program to gain long term values and goals and make short term thinking and acting concur while pushing away tempting flairs of pleasure.  It is at base a psychological self-control system.  That much is clear.  Why does it work?  The architecture behind the system is impulse control, and the re-training of psychological orientation (away from acting on impulse).

Look, here are the 12 steps translated:

• Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable 

Step 1 Translated: We cannot control our short term pleasure seeking mind, even to the point of  consequent self-destruction later.

• Step 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Step 2 Translated: Come to believe in long term goals of self-preservation through the realization of abstract goodness and long term sustainability.

• Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God

Step 3 Translated:  Make a decision to concentrate only on long term goals.

• Step 4 - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves

Step 4 Translated: Understand that we are weak and fallible short term pleasure seekers with little control over our actions when not given firm consequences.

• Step 5 - Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs

Step 5 Translated: Admit that we have previously not held ourselves to longer term values, like family, respect, consistency, clear communication, and survival based priorities, like responsible financial practices.

• Step 6 - Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character

Step 6 Translated: That we can forget about the short term pleasure and, in place of it, dynamically concentrate on our long term goals to remember their importance over and above other pleasure.

• Step 7 - Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings

Step 7 Translated: Try harder to get rid of motivations for short term pleasure gain than we originally told ourselves to try, because short term pleasures can be really really exciting and make you feel alive -- i.e. they can masquerade as longer term priorities.

• Step 8 - Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all

Step 8 Translated: Figure out who we harmed and take responsibility for our previous selfishness.

• Step 9 - Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others

Step 9 Translated:  Go tell those people how our short term interests became paramount to our survival, and that we screwed up and feel bad about it, and want to apologize to take responsibility, further solidifying long term goals.

• Step 10 - Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it

Step 10 Translated: Make sure that short term responses don't come back to dominate our communication and interaction with others--be open to their perspectives.  Be able to learn by admitting imperfection.

• Step 11 - Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out

Step 11 Translated: Keep on thinking about long term sustainability and goals.  Live a value-laden life, not a pleasure-seeking one.

• Step 12 - Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs

Step 12 Translated: Try to help others see how their short term pleasure fucks up their long term happiness.