AA or Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship created with the goal of helping its members “stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety.”

The Basics of Alcoholics Anonymous

AA or Alcoholics Anonymous is an international fellowship. It holds regular meetings to help individuals and families in their fight against alcoholism. Those who accept they have a drinking problem and show a desire to overcome it are welcomed warmly at AA meetings. 

This is a free service as AA is self-funded. 

Alcoholics Anonymous follows 12 Steps and 12 Traditions that are time-tested and can help people get rid of their addictions permanently. This platform has emerged as a life-changer and a savior for many families across all spectrums of society.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, people join the group to overcome the problem of addiction to alcohol and substances. There are no labels, such as ‘alcoholic’ or ‘non-alcoholic’, assigned to people here. 

As mentioned above, we do not assign labels to people. We go by the formal definition of an alcoholic – A combination of physical compulsion and mental obsession to consume alcohol.

At AA Meetings, the Lord’s Prayer is invoked. That’s because the AA program was based on Christian values during its founding days.

That’s not entirely true. There is this impression among some that AA is religious and tends towards Christianity. This is because AA was founded on Christian values and beliefs. 

The 12-step program of AA is aimed at creating a sense of self-awareness among individuals addicted to alcohol and other substances. All members are required to participate in the 12 steps to achieve the desired goals. As AA was founded as a Christian organization initially, there is a slight religious influence in these 12 steps. However, AA has since evolved as a religion-neutral platform. It welcomes all those who need help regardless of the faith or religion they follow.

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. 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.
12. 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.

For more information: What The 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous Means And Why Participants Must Follow Them

Anonymity is at the core of all actions at Alcoholics Anonymous. It serves the following purposes:

• It protects the identity of all members and helps them to battle their addiction without anyone knowing they are fighting it. It’s a way of ensuring the dignity of the members.
• Another key benefit of maintaining anonymity is that it creates a sense of equality for all members.

The Big Book is the original book or text on which AA was founded.