Nada Barakat walks with those who took the road to recovery A programme of 12 steps can change lives and perspectives, saving millions of addicts around the globe by accompanying them on their journey from the agony, pain and darkness of drugs to a life of experience, power and hope. Narcotics Anonymous sprang from Alcoholics Anonymous of the late 1940s, with NA meetings first held in the US in the early 1950s. Now it covers 131 countries. The secret of its success is the 12-step programme, 12 layers of knowledge that one by one takes you closer to yourself and your problems. Egypt's NA (started in the early 1980s) shares and its success and recovery, passing the message and belief of how addicts are overcoming their urge to use drugs with the assistance of the Blue Book that holds the secret and know-how, simply by believing and commitment. M A, a 34-year-old recovering addict who has been clean for nine years, today has a managerial position in a bank and is head of a happy family. He talks about his experience and recovery. "I can't just compare my life before 2004 to 2012, but I can compare my losses. I was convicted in two cases and my relationships were a wreck. I was involved in a relationship with no real feelings and my family wished I would disappear from their lives to end the constant scandals and damage I was causing, but now I am like any citizen with the normal day-to-day problems who is appreciated and loved. "Back then I realised all the damage around me and felt the rejection from all those around, but my denial overcame all. I was imprisoned in a syringe, which I considered my destiny." In M A's journey with addiction, his family tried everything. From specialised rehabilitation centres to religion, all in vain. From his perspective his own life never really changed. NA was a new concept offering the family new hope. M A resisted at first, however he began admitting its functionality right after his release from the "half-way house", when he felt that he was suddenly back to a life that he missed out on during eight years of heroin addiction. "I was shocked when I realised all the changes in my surroundings. My parents grew old and my younger brother changed. I missed them so much as if I was abroad without being in contact with any of them," he says. The programme helped M A to overcome his shock and cope with the new changes. The 12 steps were the tools in analysing his world. "I always looked at everything around me as a material that I could use to get money to buy drugs, but now the programme changed my view of life giving me spirituality and serenity which had never existed with my addictive personality, to believe in things that I cannot touch like trust and faith." For the recovering addict, his/her demons keep haunting them but the tools NA provide guides them through the journey. Another view on the success of the programme was highlighted by F H, a one-time addict of three years who is impressed by how the programme helped him control his thoughts through a simple belief of "fake it till you make it". "I always followed any idea in my mind as an order, which kept my drug problem persistent for years, but today I learnt to manage my thoughts and understand that they are just thoughts that I should manage and negotiate with myself. "My negative thoughts always prevented me from waking up early and going to the gym, then to work, but now I manipulate my evil side and say I will do it just for today and let's see what we can do later. The same applies to drugs. When I have a thought telling me 'why not one time for old time's sake', I share the idea with a friend and convince myself to postpone it till another milestone or phase in my life and eventually, when I reach this milestone I postpone it to another, or forget all about it." One of the most essential dimensions for the success of the programme is sponsorship, where the recovering addict picks a sponsor to give him support, experience and strength through trust and confidentiality. M A sees his sponsor as his reference and guide. "I share with my sponsor many thoughts and problems that when I let out I see their real size and face them better." M A adds it is very important for all recovering addicts who are adopting the NA programme to seriously follow the complete programme and trust all its stages, since with each stage they will develop more resistance "because simply if you leave out something you can have a relapse." About those falling back, M A refers to those who think that since they are socially accepted they are cured for life. "There is no lifetime cure but there could be a lifetime recovery for addicts always admitting and reminding themselves of having a lifetime disease that they should treat. For recovering addicts, they feel bad when one of their colleagues regresses. "I feel sad, scared but also I appreciate what I have achieved and I work on reminding myself and those around me not to miss any of the steps or traditions," M A says. NA -- 12 steps - We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable. - We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. - We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. - We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. - We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. - We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. - We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. - We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. - We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. - We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong we promptly admitted it. - 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. - Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practise these principles in all our affairs. source: NA official website
