A useful Step One definition which works for any substance or process addiction alike: I am powerless = I persistently return to a destructive pattern I cannot change. The pattern cannot be fixed. The only solution is to avoid the pattern in the first place.
Power is the power to manage the course of my life. If I have no power, I cannot manage the course of my life.
Consider a shop. The manager exercises power over all of the employees except one. But that one runs amok, breaking goods, being rude to customers, and upsetting the other employees. If the boss is powerless over that employer, he cannot manage the shop. There may be much that is in order. However: whatever management plan the manager has in place for the shop is persistently scuppered by the one unruly employee.