To acknowledge National Recovery Month let’s bring recovery and mental health together! Survivors of trauma often develop patterns of behavior to make the experience less difficult. These patterns may not go away on their own. Some survivors use emotional numbing to avoid the feelings associated with the traumatic event. Others may become hypervigilant and have extreme startle responses, flinching, and hyperawareness. Re-experiencing the trauma through flashbacks, nightmares, and obsessive thoughts may also be a behavior survivors develop after a trauma. Every person is different in how they respond to trauma. It is important for anyone who has experienced trauma and is now negatively impacted in daily life to reach out to a therapist. The problems are likely to intensify without help. In addition to seeing a therapist, a modified version of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous can be used to heal trauma (Speigel, 2005). While there is much more to the 12-step program than will be addressed here, it is a good start for anyone who is seeking ways to start the healing process. Here are the adapted 12 Steps:
1. We admitted we were powerless over the effects of trauma on ourselves and our loved ones, and our lives have become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. We decided to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our Higher Power as we understood our Higher Power.
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. We admitted to our Higher Power, ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. We are ready to have our Higher Power remove all character defects
7. We humbly ask our Higher power to remove all short comings
8. We made a list of all persons we have harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when we do so would injure them or others.
10. We continued to take personal inventory and, when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our Higher Power.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all we do.
–Adapted from “The Big Book of AA” pages 59-60.
Initially some of the steps may not make sense. Why would you need to ask a Higher Power for the removal of character defects? You were the one wronged. Why should you have to remove anything? Unfortunately, with trauma, we begin to harbor anger and resentment. We may strike out at people for no reason because we are hurting deep inside. When we move through these 12 Steps, we come to a point where we are ready to release those bitter feelings. No, they never should have been there. No, that is not your fault. But, they are there and they need to be gone. Steps Four and Five help those who have experienced trauma to release distressing feelings of guilt or shame of not being able to stop the event. Also, keep in mind that a Higher Power does not have to relate to a religion. A Higher Power can be adapted to anything that helps you get through the steps of admitting you cannot control everything and that trying to has led to chaos; relinquishing control; searching deep inside for your strengths and weaknesses; admitting to someone else that you need to make changes; take steps to make changes; show humility; let go of resentment with others; let go of self-loathing and self-criticism; apologize to those you hurt when you were hurting; continuously self-reflect; be mindful; practice some type of meditation, prayer, or self-care; and once you experience healing share your progress and the process with others.
Don’t wait another day to start the healing process. When you are hurting, others are hurting with you! Call a therapist and pick up an AA book.
Spiegel, B. R. (2005). The use of the 12 Steps of the Anonymous program to heal trauma. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 5(3), 103-105. doi:10.1300/J160v05n03•09
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