Acupuncture is a form of therapy based on Oriental Medicine that evolved from principles and philosophies that are unique to the Orient. The acupuncturist inserts thin needles into specific points on the skin to change the flow of qi (energy) in the Channels of the body to bring about rebalance in the body’s Qi and healing and a return to good health.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an organization that developed the set of guiding principals known as the twelve-step program. It was first published in a book, "Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism”, in 1939.

Alcoholics Anonymous (4th edition ed.). Alcoholics Anonymous World Services states the twelve steps as being:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
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.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

What makes it difficult to fight going back into one relapse after another are the cravings for alcohol that are so difficult to ignore. Acupuncture treatments can take the craving for alcohol away when you follow a concentrated therapy session over a one-month time period (approximately 21 sessions) and then follow that up with a maintenance schedule of weekly follow-up sessions. Acupuncture relieves the cravings for alcohol, and also alleviates other symptoms of alcoholism such as fatigue and withdrawal symptoms such as tremors. It can also reduce the depression or anxiety that those going through detox or withdrawal from alcohol often feel. Acupuncture is safe when it is performed by a trained acupuncturist and has very few side effects.

There are several important sections that you will be encountering once you enter the treatment center they include the checking-in process, the psychological assessment, the medical assessment, detoxification, individual therapy sessions, group therapy sessions, family counseling, aftercare and then there is the encouragement to join a local Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) group for continued support.

The checking-in process:

A staff member of the admissions department will meet you in the lobby of the facility and have you fill out paperwork. Your insurance information will be assessed.

You will be shown to your room in the treatment center. Be prepared to have someone go through your personal belonging. This will be done to be sure that you did not bring anything that you shouldn’t have in the treatment center. You should have been given instructions about the things you are allowed to bring and the things you should not bring when you registered for admission to the treatment center or when someone registered you on your behalf. Unless you were told to bring prescription medications it is never appropriate to bring any medications or herbal remedies into the facility. You are obviously never allowed to bring in any products that contain alcohol such as certain mouthwashes.

You will be given a tour of the treatment center so that you can begin to become familiar with the layout and where to locate certain areas that you will be using.

You will start to be introduced to other treatment staff members and others.

The rules of the treatment center will be explained to you and you will be given a copy of these rules.

The psychological assessment involves a counselor whom will take your complete history, and information specific to your alcohol other drug usage. This counselor will assess your mental and emotional states and you may be referred to a staff psychiatrist for additional treatment. It will be determined at this time what if any additional mental health or medical treatment that you require.

A medical assessment is when you are seen by a medical doctor at the treatment center who is responsible for getting a complete medical history from you, completing a physical, prescribing any necessary medications and caring for any physical health needs you may have that are related to your drinking alcohol or any other medical conditions that you have at the time.

Detoxification is when the staff of the treatment center will monitor your withdrawal symptoms you will go through as you go through the period of time when you are not able to consume alcohol in order to recover from your alcoholism symptoms. Your withdrawal symptoms may include anxiety, nausea, shakiness and tremors, sweating and other symptoms.

There are several therapies available while you are in the alcohol treatment center including individual therapy, group therapy, educational sessions to complement the therapy and family therapy. All of these sessions are designed to support you as you learn how to manage alcoholism. You will be learning how to cope with new skills to avoid situations where alcohol is present so that you can manage your disease. The family counseling will be done with you and with the family alone and is geared not to embarrass you but to help your family understand alcoholism and what it will be like for you as you learn how to manage your disease.

What is aftercare?

After you are discharged from the alcohol treatment center you will be enrolled in an aftercare program that will most likely consist of weekly sessions. These sessions are designed to continue to support your efforts to control your disease. The staff of the aftercare program will also monitor your efforts. This program is very important to your ongoing success in being able to manage your disease.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA):

Your local chapter of AA may be offered as a complement to your treatment program you are about to arrive at and is there to also help you to have continued success handling and coping with all the events and situations you will encounter in your life after being diagnosed with alcoholism and life after the alcoholic treatment center.

Although the AA twelve step program is not the only treatment program available it is a program that is often recommended to complement other programs. It is also a well-known program so there is an instant feeling of confidence.

When you first begin the 12 step program at AA, you are required to humble yourself and admit to yourself and others that you have indeed joined countless others as an alcoholic suffering from a chronic disease called alcoholism. Once you admit where you are in life and that you have a need to recover from your addiction to alcohol you can then start the process of learning how to manage your disease.

You will be told that following the twelve steps will not be easy but that all twelve steps are an essential part of your recovery.

One of the steps to recovery is recognizing that there is a power bigger than you in the universe, namely, God and that you are in need of improving your relationship with God, as you understand "God" to be within your culture. This is because the recovery program at AA has a very strong spiritual component. This component though is non-denominational. In other words you will not be pushed to follow any particular denominational thinking or to join any religion. You are simply asked to recognize that part of managing your life understands where your life comes from and that there is a higher power that effects you in a powerful way.

This is a program that you are encouraged to continue with long after you have completed going through all twelve steps of the program. Those who run your local AA program of twelve steps are just like you, dealing with a disease, alcoholism. They understand where you are coming from and where you are headed if you do not learn how to manage your disease. They can support you better than anyone because they understand you. The AA twelve-step program has the belief that when an individual alcoholic accepts that there is a higher power it is the key to overcoming alcoholism and learning how to manage the symptoms of the disease.