Alcoholics: Observation Report

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

The Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting that I attended was held at the Alcoholics Alana Club in Anaheim, California on Thursday. The meeting started at 7:30 in the evening, though many members gathered earlier to smoke and mingle outside. The members were a mix of Caucasian and Hispanic individuals that ranged from early 20s to late 60s. They seemed to be over lower socioeconomic status (SES), and the majority of them had tattoos and piercings. This particular meeting was a speaker meeting, so the meeting began with the leader welcoming everyone and announcing the people visiting from other states, as well as people who shared that this was their first meeting. He then called up a couple people to read certain chapters of the AA book. Another individual then volunteered to be the ‘10 minute speaker’, and briefly shared his story and how the 12 steps helped guide his recovery. The treasurer then passed around a donation basket and handed out sobriety chips, and a 10 minute break followed. After the break the guest speaker shared his story for the next half an

On June 26, 2015, we visited an Alcoholic Anonymous Hispanic group called “Poco a Poco”. The group was composed of eleven males and two females. Their ages were thirty years old to fifty five years old, which puts them in the middle adulthood stage. The group that was participating in the AA meeting was composed of different levels of education and socioeconomic status. One participant that was from a high income background and the rest were from a low and middle income background. Next to the group’s room, was another group waiting. We did not know its name, but the members' ethnicity was non-Hispanic. We reached the location fifteen minutes early which gave us the opportunity to observe the two different

I must admit, I had some anxiety about this assignment. I don’t know if it was the negative preconceived ideas I had or the thought of being a passenger on the ride of people’s intimate thoughts and feelings surrounding addiction. One thing is for sure, it was quite different than I had imagined it would be. I grew up in a religious family, and I consider myself a Christian. Based on my life long experiences AA had an air of religiosity and maybe a cult feel to it. Alcoholics Anonymous program structure had its own set of beliefs, purpose and ritualistic procedures that governed this community of people that made it a religion. Additionally, repetition, in “working the steps”, serves as a tool to

Terra, M. B., Tannhauser Barros, H. M., Stein, A. T., Figueira, I., Palermo, L. H., Athayde,

Alcoholism, the 3rd health related drug problem in the United States. A research on alcohol concluded that “Seven in ten adults or one hundred million Americans, ages eighteen and up are estimated to be drinkers” (Raby). In addition, approximately “10 million of the one hundred million Americans” have developed alcoholism (Raby). Around the late 18th century temperance movements to abolish alcohol were created, eventually abolishing alcohol through the 18th amendment, also known as the Volstead Act which stated “… beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.” (Raby). Unfortunately, it did not last very long, instead of solving problems, it created more. Crime organization, increase growth in bootlegging and consumptions erupted due to the inability

While the alcoholic must detox and work through their problems, family counseling is a necessity during treatment. Over time, alcoholism has a strong impact on the family and friends of the alcoholics. From the genetic component of addiction to relationship quality, family members are intensely involved in the addiction.

Drink, after drink, after drink. “Surely this much drinking isn’t good for anyone’s health,” I advised. That didn’t stop him from drinking. He drank one bottle after another. Going down his throat was cup, after cup, after cup. No one should drink that much! It causes kidneys to fail and possibly death.

In order to recover from the craving, the victim has to overcome not only various social stigmas of an addiction, but also their own psychological barriers. The very famous twelve steps which are part of rehabilitation program of Anonymous Alcoholics group begin with the statement that

There are many early stage alcoholics who are not ready to stop drinking altogether, but

23.1% of all Americans have some alcohol use disorder, also known as AUDs, and 5% of those are children. Alcohol abuse is defined by the repeated drinking of alcohol to the point that it interferes with day to day activities, such as work. Also if you drink more than 7 drinks per week, for women, or 14 per week, for men, then you are considered to have a drinking problem. Alcoholism has dastardly effects on the people themselves and around them. We need to put an end to the emotional, physical, and economic problems caused by the abuse of alcohol.

From the time I entered freshman year in high school I knew my mother had a problem. Picking your drunken mother up off the floor on a Wednesday night is not normal; other teenagers don't do that. How do you tell your mother you need her to stop drinking? I wanted to tell the woman who gave me life that I did not feel comfortable in her home.

Clayton's mom, Patricia's and her boyfriend Sonny is an alcoholic. Patricia and Sonny drink beer and whiskey with Clayton in the home. Patricia provided Clayton with the beer and whiskey. Clayton fights Patricia. Clayton fights Sonny, then called the police on Sonny. When Patricia is drunk, she tell Clayton to gets out of her way or goes played with his friend. The home has no light, gas, food, and water. The lights have been off about a month. The home has never had gas. The water has been off for four months. Clayton's sister, Darlene brings left foods and jugs over the water every other day. Clayton eats at school or when Darlene brings left over. Clayton has lost weight for not eating. Clayton does not take a bath. Clayton is always dirty

Per reporter, Casey has custody of Sydni and Caiden. He doesn't want the children so they live with the mother. Casey is a severe drug addict and alcoholic. He has been and so are his parents. Blaynehas a different father. Autumn has a diagnosis of being bipolar and she will not take her medicine. She has no insurance to afford the medicine but when she had insurance she still didn't take it. The children have been harmed and hurt. Caiden has told another child there are hard drugs such as meth in the home. Caiden says he keeps walking in on his mother and Kevin with glass pipes. Reporter does believe drugs are being used around the children. It is unknown if drugs are being sold or manufactured out of the home or if they are accessible to

Abnormal behavior is defined as a psychological dysfunction within an individual associated with distress or impairment in functioning and response that is not typical or culturally expected (Durand, 2005). There are