The concept of Step Minus One comes directly from Alcoholics Anonymous and Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA) literature and early AA history. This is about the need for recovery to include the physical or medical as well as the emotional and spiritual.
The image of the cart before the horse represents the approach to threefold recovery, that has occurred in many 12-step programs including SLAA. Unawareness of the significant part medical treatment played in early AA, and in the absence of sufficient medical science, physical healing has largely been limited to sobriety. Incorporating the physical aspect helps creates the horsepower to support sustainable and rewarding sobriety and recovery for more members.
The SLAA Anorexia literature covers some of the key aspects of Step Minus One: the need to have a healthy relationship with ourselves and our own body. Read our stories to see how the principle of Step Minus One is applied.