17. The Basis of a 12 Step Program
Various 12-step programs including Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Cocaine Anonymous (CA), Pills Anonymous (PA), and Nicotine Anonymous (NA) are fellowship programs which play an strong role in the recovery process. The first of these was Alcoholics Anonymous, which was developed by a group of alcoholics about 65 years ago.
Thereafter, a number of other programs were formulated to help people that wanted to recover from addiction of alcohol, drugs, smoking and even gambling, by offering the addicted and afflicted simple tools by which to live their lives based on spiritual principles.
Nicotine Anonymous (NA) is a non-profit 12-step fellowship of people helping one another to live their lives without nicotine. It welcomes all people who want freedom from nicotine addiction and would like to quit any form of tobacco or nicotine.
Here is the basis of the 12 step principles that assist people in refraining from nicotine or tobacco products.
Admit powerlessness: Smokers show behaviors like that of other addicts.
They continue to smoke despite being aware of its adverse consequences. They fall short to quit through mere willpower.
Ask for help: Smokers use various strategies to quit smoking. For instance, they restrict themselves to smoking a limited number of cigarettes a day, go for low nicotine brands and cut down progressively to meet a set quitting date.
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