It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the First Step. Our chances of changing our relationships with abusive persons and of being content with ourselves and our lives were very slim until we accepted the seriousness of the negative effect’s childhood sexual abuse has had on our lives. To do this we made a written inventory of our powerlessness over the childhood sexual abuse experience and those who abused us. We described the unmanageability of our lives. In taking the First Step we used the following guidelines.
