Originally Posted by
sortofhomecomin 
For me, I was sex abused by both parents so it's difficult to see why it is that I am the one that should be making amends. I suspect that the abuse is the deeper level cause of me being psychologically abused in the workplace, and also my alcoholism, but Steps 4 to 7 are really not something that I can go along with.
Do any AA members have input on this?
It's hard to say how much abuse by parents affected you and whether it's added to your alcoholism. This is complex stuff and some deep searching or therapy may or may not serve up the answers.
In my opinion, Step 4 doesn't go deep enough, and has the wrong focus. I would change it to, "Do a serious inventory." In the area of personal growth, most issues that can be identified and changed fall outside the purview of morality. Case in point would be abuse from parents, which may have seriously affected your emotional well being, but is not a moral issue at all. Well, maybe for your parents, but not necessarily you. You may have some moral issues that concern you. You can work on those if you need to.
To me the point of Step 4 is practicing being honest with yourself. Morality for me implies personal judgement (judging good vs evil), and an inventory should be free of judgement. Self discovery is just being honest with yourself and identifying things you aren't clearly aware of. Good therapists are trained not to pass judgement. You can pass judgement later if necessary, but better still would be to take appropriate action.
In Steps 4 to 7, it may be helpful to talk to another person that you can trust, a therapist perhaps. If you are religious, you may want to talk to god. I have known many together people that do a lot of inventory work, and they do it alone. Some people have that skill. I find talking helpful, but most of my inventory work is on my own. I talk to others when I get stuck.
If you find what you consider defects, it's up to you to remove them. Turn them over to God if you want, but don't expect him to do all the work. I hate this focus on defects only. Be aware of your strong areas, your goodness, and the things you like about yourself. Search for them, hone them, and take pride in them. Self knowledge leads to many good things, and much of what you fear, can be things you turn out to like. These sort of perception shifts often happen in self discovery and are not moral issues.
This is all my own. I had to change the steps into things that made sense to me. And some of the best things I've picked up in meetings I don't consider step related. My version of the steps may not make sense to others. Ultimately, we all must find our own way.