Powerlessness

The first of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous is:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.

As described in A.A.’s message of hope page, powerlessness is equated with an inability to assert control over drinking:

Before … people came to A.A., most of them had tried to control their drinking on their own and, only after repeated unsuccessful efforts at such control, finally admitted that they were powerless over alcohol.

The Big Book of A.A., while introducing the 12 Steps in Chapter 5: How It Works, notes:

Remember that we deal with alcohol — cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us.

For Bill W. and the early members of A.A., recovery required them to name alcohol as powerful and themselves powerless, needing to give up their power to something outside themselves. Bill didn’t appear to qualify the powerlessness concept, either, following the “cunning, baffling, powerful” message with:

Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.

Over time, though, multiple interpretations of and responses to powerlessness have emerged.

Powerlessness, Broadly Speaking

James J. Messina, Ph.D., & Constance M. Messina, Ph.D. offer a broad (2,000+ word) definition of powerlessness at their Coping.org site, excerpted here:

Powerlessness is:

• Being out of control, unable to regain control.
• Lack of control over how others will treat or act towards you.
• Lack of control over jobs, schools, weather, acts of God.
• Inability to change compulsive behaviors despite repeated attempts.
• Impulsive, addictive, compulsive behaviors beyond control.
• Lack of ability to cure AIDS, bring back a loved one who has died.

They point to consequences of not accepting powerlessness ranging from simple frustrations and self-pride to forgetting that one is a human being. Their suggestions for coping with powerlessness point several times to the corresponding need for a higher power.

Narrowing the Definition

Not all 12-step proponents interpret powerlessness as broadly as the Messinas. Freelance writer Anne Wayman self-published Powerfully Recovered, which affirms the 12 Steps while adapting them somewhat. For her, the first step is a powerful action to take. She describes the admission of powerlessness as:

…the total, unrestricted acceptance that, by ourselves, we cannot behave in a normal manner. It’s “hitting bottom” and it’s the place of humility that allows us to accept the help a 12 Step Program offers.

She continues:

Notice, however, that Step 1 says our powerlessness is only about our addiction. The 1st Step doesn’t say we are powerless over anything else but our addictive drug or behavior. Then the Step makes clear that our lives are a mess because of the addiction.

These distinctions are important because taking the 1st Step is indeed a powerful action. The admission and acceptance of our need for help is, in fact, probably the most powerful positive action we can take on our own behalf.

Admittedly, this is not the usual way Step 1 is talked about in most meetings today. The prevailing view is that as recovering addicts we are powerless forever, over everything. But this is a myth that has grown up in the Fellowship over time, and it’s truly sloppy thinking and far from what the founders intended.

I suspect the reasons behind the myth of Perpetual Powerlessness comes from fear of relapse (a fear we’re promised we don’t need to have IF we follow the Steps) and the recognition that many of us do need a good dose of humility.

Powerless to Drink Moderately

For some folks, the best application of powerlessness is to conclude that it is within their personal power to choose not to have the first drink, but that they are unable to drink moderately after. Somewhere along the line, whether after the first sip, or the first drink, or the third, the ability is lost to exert conscious control over stopping.

Asserting Personal Power and Responsibility

Albert Ellis, Ph.D. developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), defined as:

an action-oriented therapeutic approach that stimulates emotional growth by teaching people to replace their self-defeating thoughts, feelings and actions with new and more effective ones. REBT teaches individuals to be responsible for their own emotions and gives them the power to change and overcome their unhealthy behaviors that interfere with their ability to function and enjoy life.

In 1992 he collaborated with Emmett Velten, Ph.D. in writing When AA Doesn’t Work for You: Rational Steps to Quitting Alcohol. On page 42, they question the disease model of alcoholism:

This attitude — it’s not my fault or my responsibility — often causes more misbehavior. It damages the fabric of our society because it helps people avoid answering for their poor behavior.

If you see yourself as having internal control, you assume responsibility for your behavior — good, bad or indifferent. If you see yourself as being externally controlled, you find — yes, actively find — something outside yourself to account for your behavior.

The cognitive-behavioral approach assembled by Ellis encourages folks to accept responsibility for behavior and for changing it, accept themselves as people who engage in self-defeating behaviors, and not to label themselves as losers or victims. That has been developed further by SMART Recovery®, which teaches self-empowerment and self-reliance.

Powerlessness as a Self-Fullfilling Prophecy

Echoing Ellis’ concerns, Jeffrey Schaler, Ph.D. made a presentation to the 1995 Conference for Treaty 6 First Nations of Alberta titled, Thinking About Drinking: The Power of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies:

Self-efficacy is people’s confidence in their ability to achieve a specific goal in a specific situation. For example, the more people believe in their ability to moderate their use of drugs, the more likely they will be able to moderate. The inverse is true too: The more people believe in their inability to moderate their use of drugs, the more likely they will not be able to moderate it.

Powerlessness in Perspective

So, what can we make of the powerlessness concept? In an essay at the SMART Recovery® site, Joe Milon distinguishes between powerlessness as perceiving an external locus of control — finding strength and guidance outside oneself — and SMART’s perception of an internal locus of control — looking inside oneself for strength and self-control. He notes:

Either method works well depending on the type of person you are. If one thinks most of their problems are a result of other people, places or things, then that type of person is likely to do better with an external locus of control.

If one realizes that he or she would do best to take responsibility for their own feelings, that is, they know that they create their feelings, they are likely to do better with an internal locus of control.

It helps to realize that since people are different, one may do well with an internal locus of control, external locus of control of a a combination of both.

That sounds like reasonable middle ground to me. I prefer to avoid demonizing or empowering alcohol, and yet I don’t dispute that drinking itself can impair my power to make sound decisions. If I choose long-term abstinence at some point in the future because drinking moderately seems to be beyond my reach, I don’t foresee myself calling that powerlessness, but I won’t dismiss folks who frame their challenges differently as unreasonable.

We’ve got to find our own paths with this stuff, and I support anyone who is finding the conceptual framework that leads him or her to better health and balance.