Step 5 A.A. - The Power of Admitting Your Wrongs in Recovery

Step 5 A.A. - How Admitting Your Wrongs is a Key Step in Recovery

Step 5 AA instructs individuals to admit their wrongs to themselves, a higher power and another person. Take a look at these Step 5 examples for guidance.

In the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-Step recovery program, the first step is admitting you have a problem. The further steps help you understand the consequences of that problem and find a way to overcome it. Excessive alcohol use leads to more than 140,000 deaths every year in the United States, so it’s important to stick with the program and recover fully.

Often called the “confession” step, Step 5 AA instructs individuals to “admit to a higher power (according to beliefs), to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrong.” Step 5 AA is where the program turns from taking stock of the past to starting to build a new, healthier future, free from addiction.

Step 4 and Step 5 AA are connected in a deep way. In the 4th Step, you undergo the often painful process of confronting and documenting your wrongs internally. This is a crucial step in a process that will eventually allow you to put right the wrongs you’ve committed. In the 5th Step of AA, you sit down with one or more other people and confess everything you’ve documented to get all of it out in the open, allowing you to start afresh.

Here’s a breakdown to answer your questions about Step 5 AA.

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What Does “Admitting Your Wrongs” Mean?

In order to understand the value of Step 5 AA, you first have to understand Step 4. While it’s explained in more depth here, Step 4 revolves around the concept of Taking Moral Inventory. This means exploring your past, especially as it relates to your addiction, and uncovering the actions, inactions and mistakes that sustained your addiction.

Addiction is often rooted in a person’s negative thinking. Mistakes and failures in their lives can contribute to a negative view of themselves. The theory behind Steps 4 and 5 of the 12-Step Process of Recovery is that a person can’t truly find lasting recovery without bringing all their mistakes, missteps and moral failures to the forefront of their own mind in Step 4 before sharing them in Step 5. AA’s goal here is to spark a sort of emotional catharsis, from which a person can start a new journey with a clean slate and nothing to hide.

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How Do I Complete Step 5 Of AA?

There are three parts to Step 5 in AA:

Admitting your wrongs to yourself
Admitting your wrongs to God or a higher power (if you believe)
Admitting your wrongs to another person

It can be argued that the first part of the “confession” step has already happened before the 5th Step of AA begins. In Step 4, you’re expected to document your mistakes in every area of your life and give deep consideration to the role of each in your alcoholism or addiction. The result is a physical list.

By the start of Step 5, you’ve already admitted your wrongs to yourself by completing your moral inventory.

The next step is to admit your wrongs to a higher power if you choose to believe. This is done through considered prayer, not unlike a Catholic’s confession to a priest minus the presence of another person. Speak to God, out loud, if it helps:

Almighty God, my inventory has shown me who I am, I admit to my wrongs, yet I ask for Your help in admitting my wrongs to another person and to You. Assure me, and be with me, in this step, for without this step I cannot progress in my recovery. With Your help, I can do this. Amen.

This is the typical prayer said during Step Five of AA and other 12-Step support groups, and it effectively turns your learnings during Step Four into a dialogue with the higher power of your choice.

Why Confess to Another Person?

The third part of Step 5 is often the most difficult for addicts. After you’ve completed the emotional labor of confronting your mistakes, admitting those wrongs to yourself is easy. Admitting them in prayer can be more difficult, but with the reminder that a higher power (if you choose to believe) will forgive your sins, it can be a relief to get things off your chest.

When the target of the confession is someone in your peer group, however, you may be reluctant. What if they think less of you when they hear the mistakes you’ve made?

However, confessing to another person is just as important as confessing to yourself or to a higher power. Only by confessing to another person can you begin to right your wrongs, which is an essential part of recovery.

Who Should You Confess To?

The value of confession as a concept shouldn’t overshadow the deeply personal nature of the information you’re entrusting to another person, so you can’t just confess to anyone as part of your completion of AA Step 5.

Alcoholics Anonymous recommends that confession be treated with delicate hands and, ideally, should be trusted to a member of your recovery group. If possible, this other person should be your sponsor or someone else you’ve known long enough to develop a deep interpersonal connection with during your recovery.

That said, everyone who works all 12 steps of AA and similar groups understands what it means to confess in Step 5 AA and won’t underestimate the value and the reward in what you’re doing in your recovery.

Questions to Ask Yourself in Step 5

Here are some Step 5 examples of questions you can ask yourself to help you make a plan for confession:

What specific resentments, fears and harms have I identified in my personal inventory during Step 4?
Am I genuinely ready and willing to share the entirety of my inventory, including my most embarrassing or shameful actions and character defects, with another person?
Have I selected a trusted and supportive individual to be my confidant in Step 5, someone who’s genuinely willing to listen without judgment?
Am I prepared to share my inventory honestly, openly and without reservation, holding nothing back?
What emotions am I experiencing as I approach Step 5, and am I willing to face them head-on during this process?
Do I understand that Step 5 is not about seeking forgiveness from others but rather about gaining a deeper understanding of myself and my patterns of behavior?
Can I accept that this step is an opportunity to let go of the burdens of guilt, shame and secrets that have been holding me back in my addiction?
Am I open to receiving feedback and insights from the person I’m sharing my inventory with, even if it’s uncomfortable or challenging to hear?
Do I trust in the spiritual principles of honesty, humility and courage to guide me through this process?
After completing Step 5, am I willing to let go of the past and focus on making amends and personal growth in the subsequent steps of AA?

Why Is the Admission of Wrongs Key in Recovery?

If we think of the 12 Steps as a mountain, the first four steps are spent climbing up. You’re taking the difficult steps to confront a problem and then open up about the causes and how addiction has affected your life. When you reach Step 5 AA, it’s sort of like you’ve reached the top of that mountain, and on the way down you can pick up the pieces, making amends and repairing relationships and other aspects of your life. Step 5 represents the transition from an internal process to an external one, so you can go on to right your wrongs in a practical sense. When you’re ready to admit your wrongs to yourself, in prayer (if you choose) and to someone close to you, you’re ready to make a commitment to recovery in full.

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If you’re reading this, you’ve already made an important step toward recovery, as the first step is admitting you have a problem. If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction to alcohol or drugs, FHE Health is here to help you. We offer 100% confidential and individualized treatment, so please contact us today to get started.

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Step 5 of AA: How Admitting Your Wrongs Can Propel Your Recovery

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