Alcoholics Anonymous Essay

As you read the chapter, you easily feel a sense of acceptance, support and hope through the Alcoholics Anonymous community. It would seem as if this chapter was designed to target the hopeless and the downtrodden in an attempt to say, we are here for you and we recognize this is hard, but there is help out there. Chapter two also talks about how religion has a strong foundation in Alcoholics Anonymous and in the road to recovery. Yet the writers tell the reader even though there is a strong religious background, you do not need to follow one specific background to receive support or assistance. What in found fascinating from the reading, was a comment about how members of Alcoholics Anonymous are comparable to passengers who have been shipwrecked and are now coming to be rescued. This reference truly made me feel how massive and formidable an individual’s feeling of loss and

Group therapy has evolved so much that the participant are learning how to help themselves and others. Self-help groups are one of the most popular forms of group therapy. One of the most known self-help groups is Alcoholics Anonymous also known as A.A. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international organization produced to assist alcoholics to recover and live alcohol free lives. It was founded by Bill Wilson and Robert Holbrook Smith in 1935. It is a program, complete with twelve steps and twelve traditions, that was put together to help addicts

5. Corrective recapitulation of primary family group - experiencing transference relationships growing out of primary family experiences providing the opportunity to relearn and clarify distortions. Members learned that they could resolve issues from the past

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Al-Anon groups have helped a lot of people become sober, and to deal with an alcoholic family member. It takes a lot for a person to first admit to having a drinking problem, and then share their experiences with a room full of people. If they want help, that is what they have to do. Research on two AA meetings provided a lot of knowledge and understanding.

The focus of the meeting was Step #2 –humility. There were a few AA birthdays and in general the meeting consisted out of birthday-people reliving their stories and some talking about humility.

In 1935, a fellowship by the name of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) originated as an effort to develop a method for understanding the complexities of and recovering from alcohol abuse and addiction (Clinton & Scalise, 2013; Hester &Miller, 2003). AA is a non-professional spiritual organization of men and women who gather to share their experiences with alcohol abuse/addiction, to convey hope and strength to overcome alcohol dependence, and help others in the recovery process (Clinton & Scalise, 2013).

I have never experienced what it would be like to be a part of an AA meeting. The only time I have had seen or heard someone mention meetings for alcoholics has been TV shows and movies, which would portray these meeting as a circle of strangers just deliberating stories of their life and how this disease has changed them forever. Therefore, I had no idea what to expect. I felt intimidated and had a sense of nervousness, so I decided I would not go alone and brought a friend. My expectation upon entering this meeting was to see beat up people with bad hygiene and a homeless appearance. As a matter of fact, the expectations I had upon walking towards this place was that I was going to get hit on and even get kidnapped. As crazy as it

For this assignment, I observed an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting held at The Meeting Place on Wednesday, September 28, 2016. There were 15 members in attendance, 12 men and 3 women not counting myself. The group leaders were both women and sat at the front of the room. For confidentiality of the group member names will not be included. The meeting began with the group leaders reminding the attendees of the rules of AA and the process of the meeting. Several of the attendees read the declaration of AA and the documents associated with the meeting structure. After the introduction, several of the members gave their testimony regarding their own experience with drinking. Following the short declarations, a passage of the big book was

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is the largest and most commonly known self-help group in the world. Since the creation of AA in 1935, there have been many programs modeled after it, which are also based on the 12-Step Program. Some of these include Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Chemically Dependent Anonymous, as well as programs for specific drugs, such as Cocaine Anonymous (CA) and Crystal Meth Anonymous (NIDA, 2012). Attendance and participation for self-help groups are open for anyone to attend and free of cost for all members, with meetings typically held in locations such as churches and public buildings. “Metropolitan areas usually have specialized groups, based on such member characteristics as gender, length of time in recovery,

I attended the Alcohol Anonymous (AA) meeting on Friday right after internship, which is located on 205 SW 23rd St, Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I was a little bit shock after arriving to the location because the building was surrounded around residential homes, for a moment I thought I was lost. The meeting started promptly at 5:30pm for an hour and meets four days a week. The topic of the meeting was HALT which stand for hungry, along, and tired. Ordinarily, the guest speaker of the meeting is also a recovering alcoholic. He greeted everyone and passed out literature that was going to be discussed in the group.

My first experience at an alcoholics anonymous meeting was very interesting and in a way uplifting. At All Saints Lutheran Church the home group called “The Young People’s Group” there were people who had come from all walks of life. The group meeting that I thought would have been rather small slowly became larger and larger over the course of the night. I was unaware that the AA meetings had been setup with a set of codes or rules for those who struggle every day to fight this addiction. They allowed people who were new or if it was their first meeting to introduce themselves and tell their story to the fight of addiction related to alcohol. I was really impressed with the fact that the AA groups have an awards system for reaching

Attending a local Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was a humbling and informative experience. To be completely honest, I had no idea what to expect going into the meeting. Right before I walked in, I felt somewhat uncomfortable and embarrassed. I felt as if I was intruding on someone’s personal life with my presence, even though I knew I was welcomed since the meeting was listed as “open”. Alcohol abuse is a very sensitive topic to me, as someone quite close to me is an alcoholic: my Uncle. I know that he is a recovering alcoholic, but I never quite know what is going on with him because I don’t ask questions and he never shares what he is feeling with me. When I was younger, I remember that he was always the life of my family parties, but I know now it was because he was drunk. When I see him now, he isn’t as energetic as he used to be and often avoids situations where alcohol is involved. Although my Uncle did not personally tell me, my father has shared with me that he attends AA meetings at a church in my hometown. I never understood what AA meetings really entail and didn’t grasp how they helped alcoholics recover. Attending this local AA meeting helped shed light on what my Uncle feels, and I am more understanding to his addiction. I am thankful for this assignment because I know that my Uncle is not alone; the AA community is so supportive and the members all have the best intentions of getting

The first speaker at the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was a woman who had been sober for more than 15 years. She related that when she was younger, and as the daughter of a preacher, there was a lot of pressure in her hometown to prove she was not a 'goody-two shoes'. She relates that her social drinking became pronounced following her divorce at which time she also began taking nerve pills and specifically Xanax that were not prescribed to her. All of this worsened until she had a car wreck one night causing great amount of disfigurement to her face. This woman suffered greatly for many years going through plastic surgeries in an attempt to correct her facial features. This woman discussed the subject of Attitude Modification during the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Everyday, more and more people are being claimed by alcoholism. The most important message AA makes is that there is help available, and there are people who want to help you, just as other helped them. Louis, a 79 year old AA member reciprocates his AA experience by “try[ing] to help the younger people find sobriety and happiness the way I have. I tell them, “If I can do it, so can you” (AA pamphlet). This is just one of many stories AA members have to offer an observer.

The meeting began with a prayer and a reading of the twelve steps, which I did, and preceded into a 25-minute meditation session. Following the meditation session, the floor was opened up for persons to reflect on their meditation. It was quiet for sometime, but eventually persons began to talk. Each person that spoke introduced himself or herself as, “Hi I am XXXX and I am an alcoholic” in which the rest of us responded with a hello. The discussion each person brought to the circle often revolved around what they had been experiencing in the last week, and ended with a positive-spin that reflected back on their journey with sobriety. One gentleman talked about his spring break on Orca Island with his kids, another discussed a speaker he was arranging to have visit Spokane, and another woman talked about an “essay reading party” she went to in which wine was being drank by the majority of participants. The meeting ended with the serenity prayer, something the girls at Daybreak say before lunch, and simple discussion between some of the participants. During this time I talked with the woman who had told me where to find the AA meeting. She talked with me about the need to find the proper AA meeting for myself, encouraging me to explore multiple