Affective Disorders Anonymous (ADA)

What is ADA?

Affective Disorders Anonymous (ADA) is a twelve-step program for persons suffering from affective disorders. Also called mood disorders, this category of mental illnesses include clinical depression, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, seasonal affective disorder, and cyclothymia.

 Twelve-step programs have proven highly effective in helping persons suffering from chronic illnesses such as alcoholism, drug addictions, and eating disorders. With the publication of Affective Disorders Anonymous... the text, which discusses the use of the twelve steps in living with affective disorders, this program now is available to over forty million people suffering from these disorders in the United States and Canada.

Many of us have found that a doctor and medication alone are not sufficient to for us to manage our affective disorder.  Relief was not to be forthcoming without improvements in a couple of other areas.  The illness was to have a profound effect on our life and lifestyles.  With its onset, we needed to develop specific skills and strategies for living with it.  Further, we discovered that the illness would take advantage of any weakness in our general life skills.  Hence, these skills had to be polished too.

 In ADA, we’ve found that, amongst its many benefits, two critical aspects of our recovery are addressed.  First, the need to validate our experience with the illness is fulfilled through interaction with others in the fellowship.  Second, we learn the skills with need to live with the disorder through the twelve steps.

Please bear in mind that ADA supplements the treatment we receive through the medical community.  It does not replace it.

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