A treatable illness
“Addiction is a disease that involves more than the use of drugs.”
Basic Text, p. 3
At our first meeting, we may have been taken aback at the ways members shared
about how the disease of addiction had affected their lives. We thought to ourselves,
“Disease? I’ve just got a drug problem! What in the world are they talking about?”
After some time in the program, we began to see that our addiction ran deeper than
our obsessive, compulsive drug use. We saw that we suffered from a chronic illness
that affected many areas of our lives. We didn’t know where we’d “caught” this
disease, but in examining ourselves we realized that it had been present in us for
many years.
Just as the disease of addiction affects every area of our lives, so does the NA
program. We attend our first meeting with all the symptoms present: the spiritual
void, the emotional agony, the powerlessness, the unmanageability.
Treating our illness involves much more than mere abstinence. We use the Twelve
Steps, and though they don’t “cure” our illness, they do begin to heal us. And as we
recover, we experience the gift of life.
Just for today: I will treat my illness with the Twelve Steps.