Pills Anonymous
Encyclopedia
Pills Anonymous is a twelve-step program
for people who seek recovery from prescription drug addiction. PA is patterned very closely after Alcoholics Anonymous
, although the two groups are not affiliated.
PA uses the book Alcoholics Anonymous as its basic text. Complementing this will be the PA Workbook, and the AA book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
As of 2009, there are several thousand PA members in the United States, Canada and other countries. On-line meetings exist as well.
," where "clean" is defined as complete abstinence from all mood- and mind-altering substances (including alcohol
). Membership in P.A. is free, and there are no dues or fees. The foundation of the Pills Anonymous program is the twelve steps and twelve traditions
.
Pills Anonymous "has no opinion on outside issues," including those of politics
, science
, or medicine
, and does not endorse any outside organization or institution. The fellowship does not promote itself, but rather attracts new members through public information and outreach. P.A. groups and P.A. World Service supply outside organizations with factual information regarding the P.A. program, and individual members may carry the P.A. message to hospital
s and institutions, such as treatment centers.
The nature of addiction
P.A. describes addiction
as a progressive disease with no known cure, which affects every area of a pill addict's life: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. P.A. suggests that the disease of addiction can be arrested, and recovery is possible through the P.A. twelve-step program. The steps never mention drugs
or drug use; rather, they refer only to addiction to pills, to indicate that pill addicts have a disease of which pill use is one symptom. Other symptoms include obsession
, compulsion
, denial
, and self-centered fear
.
Pill addicts often first enter P.A. after reaching a "bottom" in their life, a point at which life feels completely unmanageable, sometimes characterized by "unemployability, dereliction and destruction" and centered around the getting and using and finding ways and means to get more pills. Every P.A. member reaches a different bottom, which can be wherever the pill addict chooses to stop using. In practice, it is pill use and the extreme consequences associated with its abuse that bring most pill addicts to their bottom many of them sliding along 'this bottom' for many years often never finding a way out.
Members who attend the same meeting on a regular basis to establish a recovery network and reliable routine understand this to be their "Home Group". Group members are able to participate in the group's business, and play an important role in deciding how the group's meetings should be conducted.
Formats
There are two basic types of meetings, "open" and "closed". Anyone is welcome to attend an open meeting, while closed meetings are limited to pill addicts and to people who think they may have a problem with drugs.
Meeting formats vary, but often include time devoted to the reading aloud of P.A. literature regarding the issues involved in living life clean and sober which is written by and for members of P.A. Many meetings also include an "open sharing" component, where anyone attending has the opportunity to share. There is usually no direct feedback during the 'share', thus only one person ever speaks at any given time during this portion of the meeting. Some groups choose to host a single speaker (such meetings are usually denoted "speaker meetings") to share for the majority of the meeting time.
Other meeting formats include round-robin (in which sharing goes around in a circle or each speaker picks the next person to share). Some meetings focus on reading, writing, and/or sharing about one of the Twelve Steps or some other portion of P.A. literature. Some meetings are "common needs" (a.k.a. special interest) meetings, supporting a particular group of people based on gender
, sexual identity
, age
, language
or other characteristic. These meetings are not exclusionary, as any pill addict is welcome at any P.A. meeting. PA Communities will often make an effort to have an open meeting run at the same time for members who don't identify with the common needs meeting.
During the meeting, some groups allot time for P.A.-related announcements, and many meetings set aside time to recognize "anniversaries" or "birthdays" of clean and sober time. Individuals are sometimes given an opportunity to announce their clean and sober time to the group. In some meetings, and for certain anniversaries, medallions, which denote various amounts of clean and sober time, are distributed to those who have achieved those milestones. In some areas, the pill addict who is celebrating an "anniversary" will be able to conduct the readings for the meeting, and s/he will be the speaker to carry the P.A. message. Then s/he will have his or her sponsor, a friend, or a family member present a medallion, at which time the presenter will share some of the celebrating pill addict's achievements from the last year, or from during the entire course of his or her recovery. Then the pill addict celebrating his or her anniversary can share his or her experience, strength, and hope with the group on how they achieved their recovery.
"Each group has but one primary purpose--to carry the message to the addict who still suffers" (Pills Anonymous' Fifth Tradition). Therefore, the newcomer is considered to be the most important person in any meeting. The message of Pills Anonymous is hope: that there is another way to live.
, secretary
, and World Service Delegate (who represents the group in the larger service structure).
program of recovery from the disease of pill addiction. The P.A. program places importance on developing a working relationship with a "higher power". The literature suggests that members formulate their own personal understanding of a higher power
. The only suggested guidelines are that this power be "loving, caring, and greater than one's self." Members are given freedom in coming to an understanding of a higher power that works for them. Individuals from various spiritual and religious backgrounds, as well as many atheists and agnostics, have developed a relationship with their own higher power. P.A. also makes frequent use of the word "God
"; some members who have difficulty with this term substitute "higher power" or read it as an acronym for "Good Orderly Direction."
The twelve steps of the P.A. program are based upon spiritual principles, three of which are honesty
, open-mindedness, and willingness, embodied in the first three steps. According to PA members, these principles, when followed to the best of one's ability, allow for a new way of life.
P.A. meetings often close with the Third Step Prayer ("Take my will and my life. Guide me in my recovery. Show me how to live.") or the Serenity Prayer
.
is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."
Many P.A. members identify themselves in meetings by their first name only. The spirit of anonymity is about placing "principles before personalities"; affirming that no individual pill addict is superior to another; and recognizing that individual pill addicts do not recover without the fellowship or its spiritual principles.
The Eleventh Tradition states that P.A. members "need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press
, radio
, and films."
, dates back to 1972. Dr. Paul O., a well known AA speaker, has also talked about starting a meeting in the 1970s. There are several references to Pills Anonymous in books such as The Recovery Book and Young, sober & free: experience, strength, and hope for young adults.
On October 1, 2008, Pills Anonymous World Service was incorporated as a 501(c)3 charitable organization
in the state of Arizona
, as a result of two conferences held earlier that year. One of the conferences was held in Las Vegas, Nevada
in March, the other in Tempe, Arizona
in September. During the Tempe Conference, the Delegates voted to Incorporate Pills Anonymous World Service. They also voted to accept, as the organization's guide moving forward, the Pills Anonymous World Service Manual, which contains the Twelve Steps of Pills Anonymous; the Twelve Traditions of Pills Anonymous; and many suggestions as how the group should be run.
In June 2009, in Ontario, California
, the Pills Anonymous Local Service Manual was introduced and voted to be conference-approved. The Manual is intended as a guide to help individual Groups form meetings, an important part of the PA program.
In October 2010, in Mesa, Arizona, the Pills Anonymous World Service Public Information Guide was introduced. The 2010 Conference quickly approved this guide, which provides guidance to P.A. groups and the World Service in attracting newcomers to the program. The 2010 conference also approved the use of "press releases" to send the message of recovery to the media.
Twelve-step program
A Twelve-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems...
for people who seek recovery from prescription drug addiction. PA is patterned very closely after Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
, although the two groups are not affiliated.
PA uses the book Alcoholics Anonymous as its basic text. Complementing this will be the PA Workbook, and the AA book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
As of 2009, there are several thousand PA members in the United States, Canada and other countries. On-line meetings exist as well.
The Pills Anonymous program
The only requirement for membership is "a desire to stop using pills," and members "meet regularly to help each other stay clean and soberSober
Sober usually refers to sobriety, the state of not being under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. It may also refer to:-Computers:* Sober , variety of computer virus* SOBER , family of synchronous stream ciphers...
," where "clean" is defined as complete abstinence from all mood- and mind-altering substances (including alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
). Membership in P.A. is free, and there are no dues or fees. The foundation of the Pills Anonymous program is the twelve steps and twelve traditions
Twelve Traditions
The Twelve Traditions of twelve-step programs provide guidelines for relationships between the twelve-step groups, members, other groups, the global fellowship, and society at large. Questions of finance, public relations, donations, and purpose are addressed in the Traditions...
.
Pills Anonymous "has no opinion on outside issues," including those of politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, or medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, and does not endorse any outside organization or institution. The fellowship does not promote itself, but rather attracts new members through public information and outreach. P.A. groups and P.A. World Service supply outside organizations with factual information regarding the P.A. program, and individual members may carry the P.A. message to hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
s and institutions, such as treatment centers.
The nature of addiction
P.A. describes addiction
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
as a progressive disease with no known cure, which affects every area of a pill addict's life: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. P.A. suggests that the disease of addiction can be arrested, and recovery is possible through the P.A. twelve-step program. The steps never mention drugs
DRUGS
Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows are an American post-hardcore band formed in 2010. They released their debut self-titled album on February 22, 2011.- Formation :...
or drug use; rather, they refer only to addiction to pills, to indicate that pill addicts have a disease of which pill use is one symptom. Other symptoms include obsession
Obsession
-Literature:* Obsession , a 1998 nonfiction book by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker* Obsessed , a 2005 thriller by Ted Dekker* Obsession , a novel by Jonathan Kellerman* Obsession, a 2009 novel by Gloria Vanderbilt...
, compulsion
Compulsive behavior
Compulsive behavior is behavior which a person does compulsively—in other words, not because they want to behave that way, but because they feel they have to do so....
, denial
Denial
Denial is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence.The subject may use:* simple denial: deny the reality of the...
, and self-centered fear
Fear
Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger...
.
Pill addicts often first enter P.A. after reaching a "bottom" in their life, a point at which life feels completely unmanageable, sometimes characterized by "unemployability, dereliction and destruction" and centered around the getting and using and finding ways and means to get more pills. Every P.A. member reaches a different bottom, which can be wherever the pill addict chooses to stop using. In practice, it is pill use and the extreme consequences associated with its abuse that bring most pill addicts to their bottom many of them sliding along 'this bottom' for many years often never finding a way out.
Meetings
Regular meetings, hosted by P.A. groups, are the basic unit of the P.A. Fellowship. Meetings are held in a variety of places such as church meeting rooms, libraries, hospitals, community centers, parks, or any other place that can accommodate a meeting.Members who attend the same meeting on a regular basis to establish a recovery network and reliable routine understand this to be their "Home Group". Group members are able to participate in the group's business, and play an important role in deciding how the group's meetings should be conducted.
Formats
There are two basic types of meetings, "open" and "closed". Anyone is welcome to attend an open meeting, while closed meetings are limited to pill addicts and to people who think they may have a problem with drugs.
Meeting formats vary, but often include time devoted to the reading aloud of P.A. literature regarding the issues involved in living life clean and sober which is written by and for members of P.A. Many meetings also include an "open sharing" component, where anyone attending has the opportunity to share. There is usually no direct feedback during the 'share', thus only one person ever speaks at any given time during this portion of the meeting. Some groups choose to host a single speaker (such meetings are usually denoted "speaker meetings") to share for the majority of the meeting time.
Other meeting formats include round-robin (in which sharing goes around in a circle or each speaker picks the next person to share). Some meetings focus on reading, writing, and/or sharing about one of the Twelve Steps or some other portion of P.A. literature. Some meetings are "common needs" (a.k.a. special interest) meetings, supporting a particular group of people based on gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
, sexual identity
Sexual identity
Sexual identity is a term that, like sex, has two distinctively different meanings. One describes an identity roughly based on sexual orientation, the other an identity based on sexual characteristics, which is not socially based but based on biology, a concept related to, but different from,...
, age
Age
Age may refer to:* Age , an aspect of mathematical model theory* Age , an international peer-reviewed journal operated by Springer.* The Age, a daily newspaper published in Melbourne, Australia* Agé, a god* Åge, a given name...
, language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
or other characteristic. These meetings are not exclusionary, as any pill addict is welcome at any P.A. meeting. PA Communities will often make an effort to have an open meeting run at the same time for members who don't identify with the common needs meeting.
During the meeting, some groups allot time for P.A.-related announcements, and many meetings set aside time to recognize "anniversaries" or "birthdays" of clean and sober time. Individuals are sometimes given an opportunity to announce their clean and sober time to the group. In some meetings, and for certain anniversaries, medallions, which denote various amounts of clean and sober time, are distributed to those who have achieved those milestones. In some areas, the pill addict who is celebrating an "anniversary" will be able to conduct the readings for the meeting, and s/he will be the speaker to carry the P.A. message. Then s/he will have his or her sponsor, a friend, or a family member present a medallion, at which time the presenter will share some of the celebrating pill addict's achievements from the last year, or from during the entire course of his or her recovery. Then the pill addict celebrating his or her anniversary can share his or her experience, strength, and hope with the group on how they achieved their recovery.
"Each group has but one primary purpose--to carry the message to the addict who still suffers" (Pills Anonymous' Fifth Tradition). Therefore, the newcomer is considered to be the most important person in any meeting. The message of Pills Anonymous is hope: that there is another way to live.
Service
P.A. literature suggests that service work is an essential part of a program of recovery. Service is "doing the next right thing" and is the best example of "good will", which is the basis for the freedom promised by the P.A. program. Service work usually consists of chairing a meeting, but may be as simple as cleaning up after the meeting, putting away chairs, or answering a phone. Additionally, there are basic, formalized service positions at the group level to help the group perform its function - for example, treasurerTreasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The adjective for a treasurer is normally "tresorial". The adjective "treasurial" normally means pertaining to a treasury, rather than the treasurer.-Government:...
, secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
, and World Service Delegate (who represents the group in the larger service structure).
Spirituality
Pills Anonymous calls itself a spiritualSpirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
program of recovery from the disease of pill addiction. The P.A. program places importance on developing a working relationship with a "higher power". The literature suggests that members formulate their own personal understanding of a higher power
Higher Power
Higher Power is a term coined in the 1930s in Alcoholics Anonymous and is used in other twelve-step programs. It is also sometimes referred to as a power greater than ourselves and is frequently abbreviated to HP.-History:...
. The only suggested guidelines are that this power be "loving, caring, and greater than one's self." Members are given freedom in coming to an understanding of a higher power that works for them. Individuals from various spiritual and religious backgrounds, as well as many atheists and agnostics, have developed a relationship with their own higher power. P.A. also makes frequent use of the word "God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
"; some members who have difficulty with this term substitute "higher power" or read it as an acronym for "Good Orderly Direction."
The twelve steps of the P.A. program are based upon spiritual principles, three of which are honesty
Honesty
Honesty refers to a facet of moral character and denotes positive, virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness along with the absence of lying, cheating, or theft....
, open-mindedness, and willingness, embodied in the first three steps. According to PA members, these principles, when followed to the best of one's ability, allow for a new way of life.
P.A. meetings often close with the Third Step Prayer ("Take my will and my life. Guide me in my recovery. Show me how to live.") or the Serenity Prayer
Serenity Prayer
The Serenity Prayer is the common name for an originally untitled prayer by the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. The prayer has been adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step programs.The best-known form is:...
.
Sponsorship
One pill addict helping another is an essential part of the P.A. program. It is therefore highly recommended that members of Pills Anonymous find a sponsor. A sponsor is a P.A. member who helps another member by sharing his or her experience, strength, and hope in recovery, and who serves as guide through the Twelve Steps. P.A. members often choose a sponsor with experience in applying the Twelve Steps of Pills Anonymous. For stronger identification, many P.A. members have sponsors of the same sex, although members are free to choose any other member as a sponsor. It is also suggested that one should find a sponsor who has not only worked the 12 steps of Pills Anonymous, but who also has an understanding of the 12 traditions of Pills Anonymous. Sponsors also maintain the continuity of the fundamental message that Pills Anonymous works, has worked for others for many years, and continues to work.Anonymity
The Twelfth Tradition of Pills Anonymous states that "anonymityAnonymity
Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymity typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.There are many reasons why a...
is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."
Many P.A. members identify themselves in meetings by their first name only. The spirit of anonymity is about placing "principles before personalities"; affirming that no individual pill addict is superior to another; and recognizing that individual pill addicts do not recover without the fellowship or its spiritual principles.
The Eleventh Tradition states that P.A. members "need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, and films."
History
PA’s beginnings are not fully known. The longest-running known group, which is located in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, dates back to 1972. Dr. Paul O., a well known AA speaker, has also talked about starting a meeting in the 1970s. There are several references to Pills Anonymous in books such as The Recovery Book and Young, sober & free: experience, strength, and hope for young adults.
On October 1, 2008, Pills Anonymous World Service was incorporated as a 501(c)3 charitable organization
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
in the state of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, as a result of two conferences held earlier that year. One of the conferences was held in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
in March, the other in Tempe, Arizona
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale...
in September. During the Tempe Conference, the Delegates voted to Incorporate Pills Anonymous World Service. They also voted to accept, as the organization's guide moving forward, the Pills Anonymous World Service Manual, which contains the Twelve Steps of Pills Anonymous; the Twelve Traditions of Pills Anonymous; and many suggestions as how the group should be run.
In June 2009, in Ontario, California
Ontario, California
Ontario is a city located in San Bernardino County, California, United States, 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire region, it lies just east of the Los Angeles county line and is part of the Greater Los Angeles Area...
, the Pills Anonymous Local Service Manual was introduced and voted to be conference-approved. The Manual is intended as a guide to help individual Groups form meetings, an important part of the PA program.
In October 2010, in Mesa, Arizona, the Pills Anonymous World Service Public Information Guide was introduced. The 2010 Conference quickly approved this guide, which provides guidance to P.A. groups and the World Service in attracting newcomers to the program. The 2010 conference also approved the use of "press releases" to send the message of recovery to the media.
See also
- Addiction recovery groupsAddiction recovery groupsAddiction recovery groups are voluntary associations of people who share a common desire to overcome drug addiction. Different groups use different methods, ranging from completely secular to explicitly spiritual. One survey of members found active involvement in any addiction recovery group...
- Drug addiction
- List of drug-related deaths
- List of twelve-step groups
- Twelve-step programTwelve-step programA Twelve-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems...
Further reading
- Crits-Christoph, P., Gibbons, M. B. C., Barber, J. P., Gallop, R., Beck, A. T., Mercer, D., et al. (October 2003). "Mediators of outcome of psychosocial treatments for cocaine dependence". Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 71 (5): 918–925. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.71.5.918.
- Weiss, R. D., Griffin, M. L., Gallop, R. J., Najavits, L. M., Frank, A., Crits-Christoph, P., et al. (Feb 2005). "The effect of 12-step self-help group attendance and participation on drug use outcomes among cocaine-dependent patients". Drug and Alcohol Dependence 77 (2): 177–184. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2004.08.012.