Only sobriety allows individuals with alcohol dependence to restore their lives and take control over them 4. Future research should take into consideration religious facets of functioning, which are important predictors of participants’ meaning in life and hope. For more complexity, other results of involvement in AA, such as social support 34,37 or self-efficacy 36,37 should be incorporated. It is important to check which aspects of AA involvement are the strongest predictors of meaning in life and hope.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions ASL – Tradition Two
The general rate at which alcohol is consumed each year per capita has been increasing since 1999 1, as have the numbers of individuals using alcohol in a risky and problematic way. In Poland, there are about 800,000 alcohol-dependent individuals and about 2–2.5 million citizens who abuse alcohol 2. One method of support for alcohol-dependent individuals in Poland is participation in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). The roots of this self-help movement come from the United States and date back to 1935. AA’s twelve steps are a “suggested”—but not required—continuing self-improvement “program of recovery” in which in divining and following the will of an self-defined “God as we understood Him” is essential. Doing the steps individuals admit to a powerlessness over alcohol and an inability to stop.
Big Book ASL – Appendix VII – Twelve Concepts (Short Form)
On the one hand, this could mean that existential well-being and subjective well-being are the same or overlapping constructs, or these are the elements of the other more wider conception of general well-being. On the other hand, existential well-being observed variables, such as meaning in life and hope, were only moderately correlated with observed variables of subjective well-being, such as life satisfaction as well as positive and negative affect. This was the proof that there are other but overlapping constructs or indicators of other variables. Some authors have confirmed that involvement in self-help fellowships among individuals with alcohol and drug dependence is an effective way to find meaning in life 57,58,59,60,61,62. For example, in a longitudinal study conducted among 364 individuals diagnosed with alcohol dependence, participating in AA resulted in a significant increase in their meaning in life over a 30-month period 41. In a sample of Narcotics Anonymous (NA) members from the US, participation in NA comfort affected with the home group and involvement in NA services predicted their purpose in life 63.
Spirituality
Through meditation, confession, along with attempts to correct character defects and to make amends for transgressions, the 12 steps result in a «spiritual awakening» and a resolve to carry AA’s message to other alcoholics. The latter manifests through peer-to-peer sponsorship of alcoholics, forming groups and holding meetings, as well as through outreaches in hospitals, prisons and other institutions. This aspect of hope has a reflection in Alcoholics Anonymous’ primary purposes, such as staying sober.
- Values of 0.90 or greater, and ideally above 0.95, were used to indicate good model fits for the CFI 98,99.
- The research model assumed that involvement in AA is indirectly related to subjective well-being through existential well-being.
- This pamphlet describes who A.A.s are and what we have learned about alcoholism.
Involvement in AA was the latent variable consisting of aggregate responses with dichotomous items from AAIS 88 and, separately, two items regarding frequency of AA attendance in the last year and frequency of being chairman in the last year. In the literature there is no research regarding the role of involvement in self-help groups in developing or maintaining hope among individuals with alcohol dependence. The results of one available paper indicated that in a sample of people with dual diagnoses of mental and substance use disorders, involvement in self-help groups led to hope, which influenced health-promoting behaviours 81.
And other twelve-step programs are effective for increasing abstinence. The authors also reported that these programs appear to be as effective as other alcohol treatment methods. AA meetings vary in format, with some focusing on personal stories, readings from the Big Book, or open discussion. Meetings may cater to specific demographics, but they generally welcome anyone who desires to stop drinking. AA is self-supporting, with donations from what does aa stand for alcohol members covering expenses, and it operates through an «inverted pyramid» structure, where individual groups function autonomously. The organization does not accept outside contributions and relies heavily on literature sales.
- In most studies the effectiveness of recovery is measured by abstinence or reduction in rate of using alcohol.
- The same function facilitates finding meaning in life, as religion can play with the philosophy of AA and 12-step programmes 3,4.
- Others have conceptualised hope from the perspective of positive psychology as a strength of character 76.
It is due to the fact that abstinence is not the same phenomenon as sobriety. Abstinence exclusively refers to the symptoms of the disease, while sobriety is something deeper, manifesting in emotional and mental dimensions, being an expression of sobriety 16. Existential well-being 17,18 is another construct than subjective well-being 19, but both of them are strictly related. It finds reflections in Seligman’s 20 model of happiness approaches for a meaningful and purposeful life as one of three ways to achieve subjective well-being. Additionally, in Frankl’s conception 21 finding meaning in life facilitates fulfillment and satisfaction.