Running Head: AN ECOLOGICAL VIEW OF AA 1

An Ecological View of AA
JD Dibrell
Oregon Institute of Technology
16 April, 2014







Authors Note:
This paper was prepared for Eric Crews PSY220 Community Psychology class at Oregon
Institute of Technology.
Ecological AA 2

An Ecological View of AA
To begin with, its necessary to look at the system Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics
Anonymous use in order to help ensure sobriety. First off, both are very much therapeutic
communities, meetings are run by addicts for addicts is the jist of it. Its very oriented on
personal liability and accountability for past, present, and future actions. However, the AA
system sees alcoholism as a disease and not a lifestyle choice and treats it as such, using a
medical model. It also requires active participation by members, theres no skating or ghosting
allowed at the meetings.
AA also touts a very sympathetic, non-judgmental community model; everyone in the
meetings has, to some extent, been where the addict either has been or currently is at. This is not
to say that AA allows the members to make excuses, quite the opposite, AA can be very
confrontational and has a no bullshit mentality when it comes to excuses, lies, minimizing,
justifying, and rationalizing. Other members wont be out and out rude, but they will call each
other out on any of these. By that same token, if a member breaks into tears in the group, it wont
be mocked or ridiculed but met with genuine compassion and empathy. An AA meeting is meant
to be seen as a safe place for members and non-members alike to come and feel like they
wont be judged or mocked but rather a sense of belonging and camaraderie.
Since AA adopts a therapeutic community model, it not only encourages, but requires,
some manner of involvement with the greater community. One of the steps in the program is
actually acts of service to others. This usually starts with those who the addict hurt or wronged,
when possible, but also extends to other addicts and the general welfare of AA and of the
locality. This is where the sponsor comes into play. In AA a sponsor is someone who is there at
the addicts beckon call day or night, sort of personal relapse prevention. Sobriety is still up to
Ecological AA 3

the individual, but the sponsor is there to talk the addict off the ledge, so to speak. The sponsor
does not provide the addict handouts but rather a hand up when he/she feels relapse is
pending/imminent.
AA also very strongly focuses on individual growth and change. Success is contingent
upon personal choice. The addict must stay clean and sober at all times, as AA is a cold turkey
system. However, the personal growth and change is both spiritual and cognitive. In order for an
addict to truly change he/she must (according to the program) find a higher power of some
manner, note that AA does not choose one over another but simply uses the words god and
higher power synonymously, and then act accordingly. This is not just for the purpose of
having a god of some kind but to help the addict find a greater sense of meaning in his/her
existence, a reason to live, to be. The cognitive side of it requires the addict to confront his/her
own actions and negative thinking patterns and then openly and honestly share these with the
other group members. This is where the therapeutic community comes into account, AA
members are not expected to call the police on each other (in fact this would be a violation of the
by-laws) but they are expected to hold each other to a high level of accountability. If an AA
member sees another slipping he/she is expected to talk to them about it and, if needed, bring it
up at the next meeting or call that members sponsor.
AA does not work for everyone, but those it does work for it does so because: the
members are (usually) there by choice, the members support each other and come to genuinely
care about each other (almost in a Rogerian sense), the program requires addicts to interact with
each other and take direct involvement in their own sobriety, addicts are required to confront and
change their own thinking and merely paying lip service to this will not be tolerated by the rest
of the community, addicts are required to help each other, addicts are required to make amends
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to the community (both AA and the larger society), addicts are required to help others besides
other AAs. AAs greatest failing is probably three-fold: its a faith and spirituality based program
which can turn many people off of it, often times those entering AA and NA alike are ex-cons
and theres a problem with holding each other accountable within this demographic, and its a
cold turkey program which for some addicts is not always possible. Frequently an addict needs to
be weaned off of a substance, less the DT process do severe damage or even kill the patient.
AA has gone a long way towards attempting to remedy many of these issues with the
program over the years and likely will continue to do so. However, this program will never work
for all addicts because it does require a very high level of personal involvement and
accountability, it has about a 40% dropout rate in the first year. This is not to say that the
program is bad, or failing, quite the opposite, the before/after treatment sobriety numbers are
20% and 80% respectively. This means that those who do choose to work the program can, and a
significant number do, succeed at getting and staying sober.

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References
Alcoholics Anonymous (2001). Alcoholics anonymous: The story of how many thousands of men
and women have from alcoholism (4
th
ed). New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World
Services, Inc.
Alcoholics Anonymous (2008). Twelve steps and twelve traditions (46
th
ed). New York:
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Arkowitz, A., Lillienfield, S.O., (2011). Does alcoholics anonymous work? Scientific American,
March/April 2011. Retrieved from: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-
alcoholics-anonymous-work/