AA VS  SAT

SAT: 1- We admit that we need the aid of a physician to help us overcome our addiction.

 It is time to deepen society’s view of addiction and recovery. We are reeling under the weight of outdated notions, ineffective policies and inadequate recovery programs.  It is time to separate religion and science in the treatment of addiction.

SAT: 2- Come to believe that empowering ourselves by understanding and enhancing our strength could restore our self-esteem and ability to self-respect.

   In terms of chemical dependency and other addiction, it is time to move our treatments forward on the shoulders of medical science for treatment and full recovery...

SAT: 3- Make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of skilled physicians who are created by God. It is time to separate religion and science in the treatment of addiction  and leave it under the care of medical experts.

. Bill Wilson’s words  in 1950 :

“that the discoveries of the psychiatrist and the biochemist have vast implication.”  It is time to set aside 1930s solutions for twenty-first century problems.  With have the tools today to eliminate the scourge of drug addiction as well as other forms of addiction. We can eliminate the suffering of children, spouses, friends, coworkers and neighbors of drug users in ways that could only have been dreamed of 60 years ago.  In terms of chemical dependency and other addiction, it is time to move our treatments forward on the shoulders of medical science for treatment and full recovery...

SAT: 4- Improving our self-esteem and self-worth and learn how to cope with the problems of life.

Those addicted to drugs suffer from some emotional discomfort or pain, resulting compulsive drug craving and usage and cannot quit easily. They need a treatment to help their main psychiatric needs, to remove their emotional discomfort and replace the compulsive attitude for seeking and using drugs to a self- preserving and productive one.

AA-5- Admitted to God, to our selves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

SAT: 5- When we self-medicate ourselves with drugs, we are trying to reduce our emotional pain. Forget about "the nature of our wrong doing, " We need professional help."

From the first Chapter of the book:

Don' t call yourself addict you are self-medicating

Why do people use psychoactive substances? The reason is clear. Whenever there is pain, human nature seeks a way to eliminate or to reduce it. Not everyone with emotional pain or stress seeks professional help. Having been told from early childhood to control their emotions and be self-reliant, many people engage in their own various strategies to self-medicate for physical and emotional discomfort. If they cannot control their pain, or if it is too much to handle and they fail to deal effectively with it through socially acceptable activities, some may turn to more potent and dangerous alternatives.

 AA: 6- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

SAT: 6- We will seek professional medical help to treat our medical issues, instead of choosing to self-medicate.

.Many people view drug misuse and addiction as strictly a social  and character problem. The concept of understanding the drug use and addiction, expressed in both the popular and the scientific literature did not changed significantly for many decades. In past the drug users were expressed by listing terms to describe their character ,usually with the assumptions  that what is being described is an personality disorder and that the named attribute has etiological significance.  

SAT: 7- We will trust medical professionals and their expertise to help us treat our medical conditions.

In terms of chemical dependency and other addiction, it is time to move our treatments forward on the shoulders of medical science for treatment and full recovery...They believe that drug users and addicts should be able to stop taking drugs if they are willing to change their character. These myths have not only stereotyped those with drug-related problems, but also their families, their communities, and the health care professionals who work with them as well as law enforcement.

SAT: 8- Taking care of ourselves will enable us to take care of the ones we love.

With have the tools today to eliminate the scourge of drug addiction as well as other forms of addiction. We can eliminate the suffering of children, spouses, friends, coworkers and neighbors of drug users in ways that could only have been dreamed of 80 years ago when the psychiatric treatment and treatment of alcohol and other psychoactive substances lacked any scientific understanding of it nature

SAT: 9- I will stop my pain, and the pain I have caused others, by recovering from my condition.

Overcoming misconceptions of spiritual or religious ideology for treatment of addiction and replacing it with scientific knowledge is the best way to change the public perception of drug misuse and addiction with the scientific facts.

SAT: 10- Seeking and receiving proper treatment will set life on the right track.

Viewing all alcoholics and addicts as flawed, selfish and incurably ill is a recipe for failure. Still the treatment of alcohol and drug use and addiction has been ignored and indeed, some would say it has come to a standstill relying mainly on spiritual and religious based Interventions.
 Drug abuse and addiction comprise a public health problem that affects many people and has wide-ranging health and social consequences.

A comprehensive medical-psychiatric evaluation and treatment program such as SAT is the only hope for full recovery.

AA:11- Sought though 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.

While at the present time, the fields of biomedicine and neuropsychiatry are opening doors daily to new discovery and treatments for physical and psychiatric disorders, their impact in the field of addiction and recovery has been still minimal and more relying on the out dated, non-scientific AA-12 Step program. In terms of the diagnosis and treatment of addiction, we remain stuck in the 1930s. This is tragic and unnecessary. We have the tools right now to move the field forward into the twentieth-first century. Religion and praying are individual needs depending on their faith. SAT will not prevent any one from his/her faith and provides them with the books they need to use individually and in their free time

SAT: 12- Having common sense, logic, and an open mind is the best awakening. It will improve our understanding of the nature of drug use and addiction, and it will encourage us to seek help from professionals.

Several clinical studies indicate that the preference for a specific drug (drug of choice) is not random, but rather appears to be a process of “preferential drug use or self-selection".  Thus, one’s “drug of choice” has a special appeal because of its personal self-treating effect. Patients respond when therapeutic intervention relieves their psychiatric symptoms and their emotional pain.  Matching the intervention to the specific psycho-biological makeup of a person is the art and science of contemporary treatment as    SAT program.