The AA saying "we are not bad people trying to get good, we are sick people trying to get well" represents one of recovery's most crucial paradigm shifts—understanding addiction as a legitimate medical condition requiring treatment rather than a moral failing requiring punishment or character reformation. This principle challenges deeply ingrained societal stigma and personal shame that often prevent people from seeking help and accessing effective treatment.

This self-assessment is designed to help you examine your relationship with this fundamental recovery principle. It explores whether you understand addiction as medical condition or moral failing, identifies areas where shame and stigma might be affecting your recovery, and helps you develop healthier perspective on addiction and recovery that supports rather than undermines treatment effectiveness.

The assessment examines not just your intellectual understanding of addiction as illness but your emotional and practical integration of this medical model in your daily recovery approach and self-perception.