HEALTH – To overcome an addiction, there are several possibilities, cures, or consultations with psychologists and addictologists among others. For Julien Gangnet, what particularly helped him to cure his heroin addiction was a support group that uses the twelve-step method. A program that he presents and explains in detail in his book The 12 stepswhich is released this Thursday, November 24 at Goutte d’or editions.
As you can see in the video at the top of the article, he describes this method as “a suite of spiritual and practical principles. » It was invented by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in the 1930s, an association which claims more than two million members. These twelve stages are also available for different addictions – drugsvideo games, sex or gambling.
Addicted to drugs since the age of 17, Julien Gangnet joined a support group at the age of 25 and began his therapy. During the first stage, we must recognize our helplessness in the face of addiction. This is “the entry point that allows us to be likely to receive help”, according to the author. Then follows the fourth step where you have to do a kind of introspection, “his moral inventory”. Then the eighth step where you have to repair your mistakes with the people you have wronged… And so on.
Recognize the existence of a higher power
Throughout the program, the twelve steps require recognition of a higher power. Everyone is free to determine their own and to develop their own spirituality, without necessarily believing in a God. “My first notion of a higher power was the group. These twenty people with their collective intelligence knew better than me,” testifies the author, who considers himself an atheist.
The method has also been studied by the Cochrane Institute for Medical Research, a non-profit organization with a branch in France, which works with the Ministry of Health. By cross-referencing 27 studies that included 10,565 participants, the scientists ensured that the twelve-step programs for people with alcoholism “generally produced higher rates of continued abstinence than other established treatments studied.”
Although the program does not work for everyone, the book The 12 steps wants to be a guide for anyone who needs it. The author applies in a way the principle of the twelfth and last step which exhorts to transmit the message. He himself admits that his book intended to “address people who seem to be suffering and offer them a solution so that they stop doing things alone”.
See also on The HuffPost:
This author tells how he got out of heroin addiction thanks to the 12 step program