Here follows a list of addictions and 12 step fellowships — including those that support families & friends of addicts — but excluding the big five addictions of people with alcoholism, or addicted to drugs, food, gambling, and sex. These are covered under the article headed Addicted. Meanwhile,

Which Addict Am I ?

Clutterers Anonymous: at clutterersanonymous.org and on page 147.

Codependency: Co-dependents Anonymous at coda.org (CoDA) is for people who are over-caring and over-helpful to the extent that they have no life of their own, and they may be making things worse for the person they care for by enabling an addiction. See pages 296-298.

Drugs, specific: Cocaine at ca.org; Crystal Meth at crystalmeth.org; Marijuana at marijuana-anonymous.org; and Pills Anonymous at pillsanonymous.org. This last named is for people who seek recovery from prescription drug addiction. See page 325.

Games:  the two main 12-step groups for video game addiction are On-Line Gamers Anonymous (OLGA) at olganon.org and Computer Game Addicts Anonymous at cgaa.info.  See pages 299 & 301.

Internet & Technology: could be the next big thing. See page 300.

Mental illness. Emotions: emotionsanonymous.org is for recovery from emotional and mental illness. See page 331. And Schizophrenic Anonymous at schizophrenia.com apparently runs a six-step program.

Minor addictions: See pages 27 & 64.

Money: There isn’t a 12-step group for addiction to money because where’s the harm? Yet miser would seem to be the root of misery. p270.

Over-exercising. If you have an over-exercising problem, you could find help from Exercise Addicts Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Workaholics Anonymous or Recoveries Anonymous. Other 12-step fellowships and, indeed, other rehabs and clinics may offer treatment, too. See pages 86 & 207-8.

Over-work: Workaholics at workaholics-anonymous.org see page 209.

Small time users: See pages 27 & 64.

Smoking: Nicotine Anonymous (NicA) at nicotine-anonymous.org. My own experience is on pages 27 & 178.

Spending: Debtors Anonymous at debtorsanonymous.org is the main 12-step fellowship here. Others are Spenders Anonymous at spenders.org and Underearners at underearnersanonymous.org

See pages 26, 262 & 269.

Thief of time, like Sudoku: No 12-step solution, but see page 301.

Violence: Violence Anonymous at violenceanonymous.org is on p331. Parents Anonymous (PA) parentsanonymous.org is for parents who have abused children, but is not 12-step-based. It has weekly meetings for welfare professionals and parents, when the kids attend youth groups.

Multiple: Some fellowships like All Addictions Anonymous (AAA) at alladdictionsanonymous.org run meetings for people who can’t get to a meeting covering their own addiction, or for a group of different types of addict in a rehab clinic, or for an addict with multiple addictions, or the addict for whom a specific 12-step program has yet to be formed, such as internet & technology. Another group is called All Addicts Anonymous at alladdictsanonymous.org. See pp 3, 20, 25, 63 and 263.

Family & friends

(ACoA) Adult Children of Alcoholics: adultchildren.org; Al-Anon: al-anon.org; for family & friends of alcoholics. Pages 162 & 193.

Co-Anon: co-anon.org for family & friends of cocaine addicts.

(COSA) cosa-recovery.org linked to SAA; COSLAA contactable via SLAA; S-Anon, sanon.org linked to SA; and SRA-ANON via SRA.

Emotions Anonymous (EA): emotionsanonymous.org is for recovery from any kind of emotional difficulty. Neuroticos Anonymous (N/A): neuroticosanonimos.us is for Spanish-speaking family & friends who are angry at alcoholics. See page 331. Survivors of Incest Anonymous (SIA) is at siawso.org. Women of Wisdom: womenofwisdom.org is for victims of domestic violence.

GAM-ANON & GAM-A-TEEN: gam-anon.org for family & friends of gamblers. Nar-Anon: nar-anon.org for family & friends of drug addicts.

Family & friends can attend an open meeting of the addict’s fellowship for an idea of what goes on. There is a generic group called Families Anonymous at familiesanonymous.org or they could attend a different fellowship’s linked group like Co-Anon or Al-Anon. The website for Marijuana Anonymous has a family & friends section that might apply to most addictions. Click on the yellow ‘loved ones’ leaflet.

Still in denial?

For someone pondering which addict am I or — if they are still in denial — whether they are an addict at all, here is another extract:

 

March 3

The Addiction Experiment

Anyone can prove they are not an addict and don’t need a program by controlling themselves. With drink, for example, by taking only a few drinks on each occasion – always stopping at or before a prescribed number, say three. Otherwise, try Step 1 once more.

A word of warning about this business of trying to prove whether you’re an alcoholic by attempting controlled drinking. Don’t use it as an excuse for a relapse. I’ve known newcomers who grab on to this idea and you never see them again. We know, really, that you’re going to fail in this experiment but some prospects have to find out for themselves. Just don’t trigger many more years of using in the process.

  • If you might be addicted to gambling, try to visit a bookies and just have one bet. Or for overeating, try to stay off sugar for a week.
  •  If your problem is bad behavior, see if you can immediately disengage politely and walk away the next time you get wound up.

We can’t do anything about the first thought that comes into our heads, but this program will offer you the chance to construct your own process to go through so that you can deal with cravings and uncontrolled thoughts when they arise.

Multiple addictions

Multiple addictions are another problem. The trick here is to identify the prime addiction and treat the others as ‘defects of character’ to be addressed in the self-improvement part of the program in steps four & five; six & seven; and step 10.

If you are lucky you will intuitively know what your prime addiction is. But go to more than one type of meeting if you have multiple serious addictions like drinking and heroin. You should give up both of them if they are inter-dependent. This will be a full-time job.

However, lesser addictions like smoking nicotine can be left until later, unless it is your prime addiction. Drinking was my prime addiction. I smoked more and ate more biscuits in the early stages of abstention from alcohol. These lesser addictions weren’t landing me in trouble.

What do you think?