Integration with the 12-steps

I'm still adding a few ideas now and then in the new workbook (so much for being done!). This was a requested topic. "How do the 12-steps and the workbook overlap."

All of the topics listed here are in the blog...the order is a bit confusing. The page and topic numbers refer to how the new workbook has been reorganized.

One of the more common ways that people address sexual compulsivity is using the 12 steps. I see the workbook and 12-steps as complementary. In fact, I created the first draft of the workbook for a 12-step chemical dependency program where I work as the Director of Program Development. The first task was to develop a Sexual Health Program within a residential and outpatient CD program. The following is how I think the 12 steps overlap with some of the topics in the workbook.

1. We admitted we were powerless over sexuality—that our lives had become unmanageable.
Topic 1: Immediate Short-Term Prevention Plan, page 11.
Topic 3: Sex History, page 15.
Topic 5: The Acting-Out Cycle, page 23.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Topic 37: Spirituality, Values and Sexual Health, page 144.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Topic 39: Creating Your Future, page 160.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Topic 3: Sex History, page 15.
Stage 2: Primary Treatment: Related Topics, page 57.
Topic 24: Abusive Behaviors Toward Others, page 106.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Topic 2: Talking About Sex, page 13.
Topic 40: Toward a Personal Definition of Sexual Health, Component 1. Talking About Sex, page 165.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Introduction to the Workbook, page 1.
Defining Sexual Compulsivity, page 2.
Topic 7: Thinking Errors, page 28.
Topic 8: Primary Thinking Error, page 33.
Topic 9: Feeling Triggers, page 36.
Topic 10: High-Risk Situations, page 38.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Defining Sexual Compulsivity, page 2.
Topic 37: Spirituality, Values and Sexual Health, page 144.
Topic 38: Continuing Care Plan, page 150.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Topic 3: Sex History, page 15.
Topic 24: Abusive Behaviors Toward Others, page 106.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Topic 36: Disclosure to Partners, page 140.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Topic 1: Immediate Short-Term Prevention Plan, page 11.
Topic 13: Logging your Sexual Behaviors and Fantasies, page 48.
Topic 38: Continuing Care Plan, page 150.
Bottom Line Behaviors, page 158.

11. 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.
Topic 6: Power of Thought, page 25.
Review and Repeat, page 174.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Topic 39: Creating Your Future, page 160.
SexualHealthInstitute.blogspot.com, page 174.