The Distinct Languages of AA, DBT & CPT

I had an Ah-Ha moment last night.

I realized that there are the distinct languages of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT).

August 1st, 2023 – After decades of struggle, I reentered the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous, accepted I am an alcoholic and embraced Step 1. Next, I dove into what was suggested to remain sober, one day at a time.

Summer of 2024, I participated in a 13-week DBT group with Community Mental Health and Addictions (CMHA) via Zoom to help manage my Borderline Personality Disorder (BPT).

Because it was summer break I had the time to steep myself in both DBT therapy and AA Zoom meetings for my alcoholism while involved in service, worked the steps and had a sponsor.

The language of DBT sounds like Wise Mind, Middle Path, Emotional Regulation, Check the Facts, Opposite Action, Distress Tolerance, to name a few.

The language of AA sounds like Go to Meetings, Get a Sponsor, Call Your Sponsor, Work the 12-Steps, Find a Higher Power, Practice the 12-Steps, A Guide for Living, Connect to My Higher Power, to name a few.

Therefore, at that time, I was sorting out the languages of DBT and AA. How they were distinct, yet there was crossover in some areas such as opposite action, meditation and the pause.

This year, now, I am currently three months into weekly CPT Zoom sessions with my CMHA therapist. This is intense trauma therapy, with homework.

I continue to attend AA meetings via Zoom on a regular, almost daily basis. At this time, I do not have a sponsor and with over two years of continuous sobriety, I still am not yet ready to be a sponsor. I will do so when I feel I am solid with my mental health challenges. I am not as active in service as I once was, as weekly CPT therapy and homework takes a lot of my time. I don’t think about all the 12-Steps. I mainly focus on Steps 10 – 12. I take daily inventory and apologize when needed. I connect with my Higher Power on a daily basis, to do the next right thing. My Spiritual Awakening as a result of the steps – hasn’t been a big “Ah-Ha” moment for me, but I do carry the message when I share in meetings.

The language of CPT sounds like Stuck Points, Levels of Responsibility, Thinking Patterns, Alternative Thinking Patterns, Trust Star, to name a few.

The language of AA continues to sound like Go to Meetings, Get a Sponsor, Call Your Sponsor, Work the 12-Steps, Find a Higher Power, Practice the 12-Steps, A Guide for Living, Connect to My Higher Power, to name a few.

The language of CPT and AA don’t seem to have a lot of similarities except for changing thinking patterns.

While this is significant, the how and why it is done are very different.

CPT uses specific steps for processing thinking around trauma.

AA uses the 12-Steps and its Spiritual Principles to change thinking patterns around alcohol and self (ego, fear, anger, shame). This is done by working the Steps, connecting to a Higher Power (something outside of self) with thinking patterns that evolve out of Spiritual Principles (honesty, acceptance, humility, forgiveness) as well as attending meetings that reinforce repetition of the program, how it works along with connection to fellow alcoholics.

I realized yesterday how, when I share at AA meetings now my language is CPT, because this is what I am steeped in on a weekly basis.

I also notice how the language of CPT doesn’t really cross over as much as DBT did when I share at a meeting.

How the trauma fog that was lifted when I processed CPT’s index trauma has returned as I process CPT’s Theme of Trust.

Therefore, it is okay that I mostly listen at AA meetings now. This is to remind myself on a daily basis I am an alcoholic, with its repetition of the program, how it works along with connection to fellow alcoholics.

I think about getting a new sponsor and returning to AA service such as chairing meetings.

But, I will wait for my CPT therapy to come to its conclusion. This work takes up a lot space in my brain and time with the homework.

I feel good about this inner clarity for me.

A deeper understanding of myself.

About the importance of words, language, the how and when we use them, and that each modality is a part of me that ebbs and flows with where I am and what I need in any given moment in time.

S, 🌻