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Narcotics Anonymous (NA) was created as spin off from Alcoholics Anonymous Programme of the 1940s. The NA programme began in the United States of America. The NA then was a small organisation which has progressively grown since. The contemporary NA organisation is now recognised as a worldwide one.
NA provides support groups and comprehensive information for people who have do, or who have had a history of misusing substances and addiction. NA views addiction as a disease and identifies this as the problem; therefore, NA encourages drug and alcohol abstinence.
Narcotics Anonymous is described as:
"NA is a not for profit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We ... meet regularly to help each other stay clean. ... We are not interested in what or how much you used ... but only in what you want to do about your problem and how we can help (www.na.org)."
NA offers its membership to anyone that has a drug addiction. This membership is offered regardless of the drug or combination of drugs that are used. Narcotics Anonymous does not restrict its membership, because of social stratification (class), religion, ethnicity, race, gender, or sexuality. NA does not charge for its membership and there is no obligation to make donations, but you can if you want.
Narcotics Anonymous provides an integrated support and recovery process. NA has found that one of its strengths is the therapeutic process of having members with an addiction supporting other members - similar to Talking Minds member ethos. This support has enabled members to share in their individual successes and support one another through the challenges of living life drug free - detailed within the twelve steps principles. The twelve steps are central to the NA recovery program. Principles included are:
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The member admitting that a problem exists
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The member seeking help
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The member engaging in an in-depth self-analysis
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The member disclosing information confidentially
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Working towards making amends for any damage that has resulted from the addiction
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Supporting other members who wish to live life addiction free
Although Narcotics Anonymous is a non-religious organisation, a central feature to the programme is a focus on spiritual principles. NA encourages its members to develop an individual "spiritual" understanding of the progression through their programme.
Narcotics Anonymous encourages its members to comply with complete abstinence from drugs and alcohol. NA believes that complete and continuous abstinence from drugs and alcohol provides its members with a solid foundation to build a new life away from their addiction. In addition, NA does not view the taking of prescribed medication (psychiatric or not) as compromising the members recovery. That is, if your doctor prescribes you with medication to treat a condition such as a mental illness, NA will not prevent you from continuing your recovery with their programme.
The Twelve Steps of Narcotics Anonymous
NA believes that if a person is ready to make an effort to give up on their addiction and would like to use the service that is offered, then they are ready to take certain steps to achieve recovery.
The following steps are the basic principles that underpin the recovery programme that NA offers its members:
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We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.
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We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
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We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
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We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
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We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
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We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
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We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
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We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
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We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
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We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
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We 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.
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Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Narcotics Anonymous believes that the sooner a person is willing to accept that they have a problem, the sooner that person will be able to make positive steps to challenging their addiction and begin working towards recovery.
Narcotics Anonymous provides many support groups and telephone support lines on a global scale. In the United Kingdom, information can be obtained from your local library or online. If you have internet access you can go to www.ukna.org where you will find further information and a list of meetings. NA also provides a helpline (0845 373 3366) if you cannot find what you are looking for online.
If you are not from the United Kingdom and want to find out more, you can go to the international website for Narcotics Anonymous http://www.na.org/, or you can also put the term "narcotics anonymous" into any search engine along with your particular country to find a national NA website.
Talking Minds would like to state that the information provided throughout this article was obtained from Narcotics Anonymous. This article is provided as one source of many that may be able to support Talking Minds website users. This article does not necessarily represent the exact same values and beliefs as those of Talking Minds.
If you would like any further information with regards to anything that is provided in this article, then please do not hesitate to contact Talking Minds.
Written on Wednesday, 24 September 2008 00:00 by Companion
