Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)

Based on long-term observation of Alcoholics Anonymous, the author focuses on cultural rather than personal causes of drug dependence. The author also discusses how the symbolic action of AA language and culture is the key to recovery. This study yields critical information about the development and practice of alcoholism and other drug dependence. Through the shared linguistic and cultural interaction of AA, the U.S. cultural ideology that emphasizes individualism, personal achievement, self-control, and self-reliance is shown to result in conflict; thus the gap between the perceived ideal and reality intensifies feelings of separation, alienation, and isolation leading to dependency.

Based on an ethnographic study spanning four years, George H. Jensen's Storytelling in Alcoholics Anonymous: A Rhetorical Analysis calls upon Bakhtinian theory to analyze storytelling in AA.

Jensen introduces his study with an analysis of "Bill W.'s Story" as it appears in the first chapter of AA's central text, Alcoholics Anonymous. Drawing on Walter Ong's work on orality and literacy, he argues that "Bill W.'s Story" as it appears in print cannot fully capture the oral tradition of storytelling as it occurs in AA meetings.

Jensen discusses storytelling as practiced by the Washingtonians, a temperance organization much like AA. He also discusses the influence of the spiritual program of the Oxford Group (an international and interdenominational religious movement seeking to recapture the enthusiasm and dedication of first-century Christianity) on the development of AA's Twelve Steps.

Jensen introduces Bakhtin's theory of the relationship between the author and the hero of a text, using Lillian Roth's,autobiographies as counterexamples of AA talks. He explains how AA meetings provide an example of what Bakhtin meant by carnival, a process through which humor, irony, and parody supply a mechanism for questioning commonly held beliefs. AA talks, Jensen argues, are fragmented, yet achieve coherence through the interweaving of two important chronotopes. Finally, using Bakhtin's discussion of heroes in autobiography, Jensen discusses the kinds of heroes one typically finds in AA talks.

From the mass weddings of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church to the mass suicides at Jonestown, charismatic cults and their devotees have become facts of American life. Once exotic offshoots of the Sixties counterculture exciting suspicion, scorn, terror, and counter-terror (as in the brief vogue of "deprogrammers"), cults have grown so common and entered so many areas of public life--managing everything from roadside flower-sellers to major metropolitan newspapers and nation-wide political campaigns--that only spectacular disasters like the immolation of the Philadelphia cult MOVE seem to remind us how extraordinary their burgeoning really is. Using material gleaned from fifteen years of direct encounters with cults and their detractors, as well as a wide range of his quantitative research, Marc Galanter shows not only how cult members feel and think at all stages of their involvement but also how larger social and psychological forces interact within the cults to command and reinforce individual commitment. After examining the powerful combination of social cohesiveness, shared beliefs, and altered consciousness that cults offer potential recruits, Galanter shows how these forces are orchestrated into self-contained social systems that relieve anxiety within while warding off threats--real or imagined--from without. Finally, he demonstrates this basic system in action, both in apparently successful movements like the Unification Church and in catastrophic failures such as MOVE and Jim Jones's People's Temple, and reflects on how and why some groups turn to violence. The book is full of compelling stories--first-person accounts of conversions, daily life under the rule of charismatic leaders, disillusionments, and departures both voluntary and forced--and fascinating overviews of many of the most influential cults, including the most comprehensive psychological analysis ever published of the evolution of the "Moonies." Many of Galanter's findings, especially his account of the similarities between cults and "zealous" self-help movements, are highly controversial, and his discussion of the powerful influence that Alcoholics Anonymous exerts over its members will spark much debate. Moving beyond the exposes and confessions that have characterized so much of the literature on this subject, Galanter offers the most extensive psychological analysis of cults available. Although based on extensive on-site research, it is immediately accessible to both the general reader and to anyone personally or professionally concerned with cults.

A comprehensive overview of major 12-step programs, this practical manual also describes the nuances of the various programs that address the same addictive behavior to assist the clinician in assessing and referring clients to any 12-step program. One of the unique features of this book is a description of how 12-step program philosophy aligns with eight major psychotherapy orientations. Another feature is the emphasis on integration of the client's individual needs and ego structure with the appropriateness and timing of a referral to a 12-step program within the overall therapeutic process.

Substance abuse is one of higher education's worst problems not only in terms of financial but also human cost. Drawing upon current theory and research, this handbook arrives at practical solutions to these problems. While there are divergent models of research and practice in substance abuse which have led to competing models of intervention, treatment, and prevention, this book seeks to reconcile those differences. It allows the reader to understand substance abuse from theoretical/research perspectives and guides the reader from conceptualization to programming to intervention with the substance abusing student.