Get Help Managing A Difficult Aspect of the 4th Step Inventory
The Fourth Step of Alcoholics Anonymous requires participants to take a “searching and fearless moral inventory.” This working step in the AA Big Book challenges you to explore the character defects that led you to alcohol addiction (or drug addiction in Narcotics Anonymous).
The 4th Step inventory process requires you to be completely honest with yourself. The idea is that once you identify all these defects, you can confront and change them in the remainder of the Twelve Steps.
At Purpose Healing Center, we recognize the importance of Alcoholics Anonymous as a vital resource. We recommend peer support in the form of SMART Recovery, NA, and AA to our clients after leaving our alcohol addiction treatment centers in Scottsdale and Phoenix.
Why? NA and AA meetings support personal responsibility and motivate sobriety, as well as provide a peer support network that understands the challenges and victories to be found in living sober.
We encourage you to take our Fourth Step inventory and read on to learn tips to help complete the 4th Step.
AA Fourth Step Inventory: Reflection and Greater Self-Knowledge
Our Fourth Step worksheet and these 4th Step inventory prompts are open-ended journal prompts that will ask you to start searching. The questions ask you to pay attention to your inner voice and find the truth hidden deep inside your person.
1) Reflect on a time you felt ashamed about your actions.
Reflecting on an incident that made you feel ashamed helps you find ways to discover behaviors that don’t align with your values. Being honest about yourself helps you make changes as you progress in AA.
Example: In recovery, ‘Lily’ realized that her past sexual conduct was the direct result of recklessness while drinking. Her counselor helped her understand ways to bridge the disconnect between the behavior and the person she wanted to become.
2) List an incident when you reacted with anger or by expressing resentments.
Analyzing resentments or anger helps you discover your triggers for drinking. You empower yourself to explore these feelings and learn to release them instead of having an emotional explosion in the future.
Example: ‘Steven’ became angered at random times; his family would often express fear or concern. By working with his AA sponsor and listing his resentments during the moral inventory process, he learned the root cause of his anger was the trauma he had carried since childhood.
3) How has your past behavior led to relationship challenges?
Writing about how past behaviors connect to relationship problems can show harmful tendencies, like pettiness, hidden resentments, or belittling partners due to alcohol or drug use. Admitting how these behaviors have affected loves ones set you on the best course toward a life of happier relationships.
Example: ‘Liz’ fell in love often and was left quickly. Soon after connecting, she became controlling and asked constant questions about each partner’s whereabouts. Her therapist discovered a fear of abandonment, causing deep resentments and insecurities.
4) Explain about a time when you felt disconnected from your emotions.
Acknowledging times when you’ve felt emotionally disconnected can reveal the underlying factors of addiction. Finding ways to reconnect with yourself is essential as you begin the recovery process.
Example: ‘Pedro’ had grown up in a household with a physically and sexually abusive stepfather. He learned to check out to control his pain. While taking his moral inventory, he decided to come to Purpose for trauma recovery. His AA sponsor was great, but he needed professional care to reconnect with his best self.
5) Write about a time when you avoided accountability and how it affected your self-esteem.
Avoiding accountability comes from a place of complete fear of consequences. When you begin to accept accountability, you increase self-esteem. It also builds integrity and allows you to take responsibility in all facets of life.
Example: ‘Chantal’ always blamed others for her poor life choices, including drinking. By doing the 4th step, she saw how her fear of judgment by others added to her addiction. Her sponsor helped her grow her self-esteem. She now has no fear of telling the story and even shares it with the rest of the world.
6) Describe a time you were envious of someone you liked or admired. How did envy shape your behavior?
Being envious of a person, even someone you like, leads to deteriorating relationships. Recognizing this cultivates a more positive mindset as you mend broken fences.
Example: ‘Tiffany’ felt jealous of her best friend, who had tremendous financial advantages. To mask her envy, Tiffany would drink, calling attention away from her better-dressed friend. She admitted to this behavior in the 4th step inventory.
7) List memories about a time when you were dishonest.
Addiction struggles often mean covering up the struggles by any means necessary. People have probably become suspicious or untrustful of you. Committing to honesty is a key stepping stone toward rebuilding trust.
Example: ‘Samantha’ told her girlfriend she’d paid their electricity bill but bought liquor instead. The power company cut off the lights and her girlfriend can’t trust her with money. Sam is in recovery and hopes to restore trust.
8) Have you ever been overwhelmed by fear or anxiety?
Having fear and anxiety can expose a lack of appropriate coping skills when emotions become imbalanced. It’s typical for everyone to experience these emotions but problematic when someone uses substances to overcome them.
Example: ‘Dani’ often felt anxiety but never saw a therapist due to a fear of the stigma. She started to drink to prevent anxiety attacks. With the help of her new counselor, she’s sharpening her new coping tools.
9) Write about a time when you struggled to forgive someone.
Holding grudges usually reveals a lack of appropriate coping strategies. It destroys your emotional resilience and shreds your efforts at personal growth. Forgiving promotes healing.
Example: ‘Jeffrey’ never forgave his father for leaving them when he was a child. His AA sponsor helped him see how it damaged his mental health. He wrote him a letter to process his emotions but never sent it.
10) Explain a time when you felt selfish and how it impacted your interactions.
Selfishness distances you from others, which is damaging when you need extra support. Working on the Twelve Steps provides a map of how to repair relationships with family when you must avoid relapse.
Example: ‘Julia’ always put herself first. Her husband felt deprioritized and insisted that she seek treatment. In recovery, Julia realized that selfishness had almost cost her a marriage. She’s in couples’ counseling with her husband and attends AA meetings in Scottsdale.
The Most Difficult Aspect of the AA Fourth Step Moral Inventory
To begin is one of the most challenging things about taking a searching and fearless moral inventory. It’s hard to ignore the program language, which are largely considered outdated. Words like “moral defects” and “alcoholics” can trigger some.
However, the program can facilitate spiritual growth and support better relationships. However, the program founders didn’t have modern science in 1935. Since then, medical and mental health professionals have acknowledged that Alcohol Use Disorder is a disease, not a moral failing.
So, regardless of your negative thoughts about the verbiage of Alcoholics Anonymous, don’t skip any AA Step. Each step contributes to a sobriety-supporting spiritual awakening.
Reviewing the First Three Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
Have you sincerely completed the first three Steps of AA? Sometimes, the first attempt at any Step may bear repeating.
AA Step One Required Rigorous Honesty
In the First Step of the AA Big Book, you acknowledged your powerlessness over alcohol and admitted that your life had become unmanageable. You humbled yourself and told the truth – that you need guidance to heal.
Step Two Asked God for Help
Step Two of AA awakened you to the idea of a Higher Power greater than you. You came to understand that you must free yourself from desire-based, poor decisions and accept assistance from God, your sponsor, and the AA community.
Step Three: Conscious Contact With a Higher Power and Surrender to Him
After checking off the work in the first two columns, Step Three of the AA Big Book asked you to turn your life over to the Higher Power. This Step was about surrender and trust, allowing you to accept guidance instead of chasing ambitions. It showed your commitment to recovery and lets God remove your self-imposed roadblocks.
What Is the Alcoholics Anonymous Fearless Moral Inventory Step?
The Fourth Step, taking a moral inventory, leads you to self-discovery by examining your past conduct before you decide to stop drinking. It includes such negative emotions as resentments and fears. You start understanding how your alcohol abuse has impacted personal relationships and your self-esteem.
Seeking to identify the exact nature of your negative feelings, you also start understanding how alcohol has been the cause of certain behaviors. Examples of this can include inappropriate sexual conduct or keeping secrets from loved ones. This information will aid later in the recovery process when you start making direct amends to such people as those you’ve hurt.
Getting Evidence-based Support at Purpose Healing Center
Some people find AA is enough for their recovery needs. Others find that completing the 4th step inventory, or the general AA process itself, lacks the structure and support needed for long-lasting recovery. If you fall into this second category, you have no reason for fear or shame.
We assist clients in achieving recovery success through the 12 Steps, as well as help find other alternatives for those who struggle with the Anonymous model.
Purpose Healing Center is Joint Commission certified and can offer you all the tools you need to hit the reset button on your life. Call us today with any questions or concerns.
480-579-3319