AA Step 8: Make a List of Those You’ve Harmed & Become Willing to Make Amends

Participating in support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) can be an important component of your recovery from alcohol misuse and addiction. Step 8 of AA involves personal relationships, and working through this step can be a challenging yet helpful part of your journey.

What Is Step 8 of AA?

Under AA Step 8, program participants list the people they have harmed and become “willing to make amends to them all.” Step 8 asks participants to fully and honestly examine their past to develop an awareness of the ways their alcohol use and other harmful behaviors have harmed others and themselves.¹ Step 8 does not yet ask people to actively work on making amends, but rather to become open to the idea that repairing previous damage will be necessary at some point.¹

What Is the Purpose of Step 8 of AA?

The purpose of Step 8 is to make restitution to others who have been harmed by your actions.¹ Step 8 and Step 9 work together to help people deal with the effects their alcohol use and associated harmful behaviors have had on their relationships.¹ During Step 8, a person makes a physical list of the people from their past who have been harmed as a consequence of their drinking and prepares them for the process of making amends.¹

Examining the ways that you have harmed others can help you develop increased behavioral and emotional awareness and insight.¹ It can also help you understand the ways you have contributed to unhealthy relationships, which can sometimes be an underlying cause of alcohol misuse and addiction according to AA.¹ In doing so, Step 8 of AA may help you uncover additional destructive behavioral and interpersonal patterns so that you can make necessary changes.¹

How to Complete Step 8 of AA

The underlying concepts and process of completing the Steps are comprehensively explained in AA’s book, 12 Steps and 12 Traditions.² Some AA groups also offer worksheets to group members as a way to guide them through each step.

While you’ll likely be working through the Steps with the support of a sponsor, what follows are some helpful tips about how to complete Step 8 of AA. Give yourself sufficient time for contemplation and have a notebook or computer handy where you can create a list and store your reflections.

1. Think about your relationships throughout your life. Consider those who may have been harmed by your actions.¹
2. Examine what you mean by “harm.”¹ How did your actions result in an emotional, physical, psychological, or financial consequence for the other person?¹
3. Sometimes you might find that the harm to the other person is less than you previously thought, but the actual harm to yourself was much worse.¹
4. Think about your personality traits that have contributed to your actions.¹ For example, were you critical, impatient, or neglectful of the other person? Did you engage in endless self-pity or attention-seeking behaviors that caused harm to others?¹

Now make a written list of those people in your life who you have harmed.¹ Be honest with yourself; you may need to go far back in time to account for those who have been affected.¹ This process may bring up a host of emotions and feel confrontational, embarrassing, or overwhelming, so be patient and kind to yourself.

How Step 8 of AA Fits Into Your Recovery Journey

Step 8 works in conjunction with Step 9 of AA, which states that we make “direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.”^{1, 3} These Steps focus on the process of making amends in personal relationships.¹ To make amends (Step 9), you first need to examine who you need to make amends with (Step 8).

Similarly, Step 7 of AA, which states that participants “humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings,” precedes Step 8 because it is necessary to first examine and accept your own flaws so you can recognize how they have impacted others, as required in Step 8.³

How to Find a 12-Step AA Program

If you’re interested in finding an AA group, you can review the AA resource page to find meetings nearby. If you’re in a rehab program or are considering rehab, you may participate in 12-Step facilitation therapy, which is a type og behavioral therapy designed to help people become familiar with and engage in 12-Step groups like AA.⁴

Groups like AA can also be a part of rehab aftercare, which is designed to provide recovery support after a person completes formal treatment.⁵ Other forms of aftercare can include sober living, participating in individual or group counseling, or attending regular check-ins with your doctor.⁵

Start Your Recovery

People who are interested in 12-Step programs like AA or those who are already involved in one may also benefit from rehab. Rehab can include different levels of care such as:

• Medical detox, which can help you withdraw from alcohol (and other substances) as comfortably and safely as possible with the support and supervision of doctors and other medical professionals.⁶
• Inpatient drug and alcohol rehab, where you live at a treatment facility 24/7 and receive structured care that allows you to fully focus on your recovery.⁶
• Outpatient addiction treatment programs, where you live at home but travel to rehab, usually a few times per week, to receive treatment.⁶
• Intensive outpatient drug and alcohol rehab programs, which are more supportive outpatient programs offering 9 to 20 hours of treatment per week.⁶
• Partial hospitalization rehab programs, also known as high-intensity outpatient programs, which provide 4 to 8 hours of daily treatment.⁶
• Addiction treatment aftercare, which is designed to support your ongoing, post-rehab recovery.⁵

Learn More About AA

• Step 1
• Step 2
• Step 3
• Step 4
• Step 5
• Step 6
• Step 7
• Step 9
• Step 10
• Step 11
• Step 12
• AA Big Book
• AA Promises