My thesis will begin to examine alcoholism and recovery through the lens of moral injury, especially in relationship to the use of spirituality language and the often-invoked correlation between spirituality and sobriety. Through a literature review and interviews with abstaining alcoholics, I will unpack some of the implications of considering alcoholism through the lens of moral injury and begin to frame and examine some of the questions inherent in that consideration. By so doing, I hope to offer a fresh look into those aspects of recovery that fall within the Religious Studies purview.

Older men are an under-researched population in Counselling Psychology. This thesis explores how older men in sobriety experience their emotions in therapy and aims to understand the meaning of these experiences from a psychologically gendered subject perspective. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with six older men (aged 62 and above) and interview transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), a qualitative methodology that focuses on the lived experience and the meaning people give to these experiences. The analysis highlighted significant challenges for older men when attempting to unlock, process or discuss emotions in therapy. The analysis also revealed positive transformational effects by those who were able to transcend the confines of gendered constructs with concerted emotional investments. The two master themes are: (1) CONTROL/REGULATION OF EMOTIONS including subthemes: Challenges to unlocking emotion; Importance of therapeutic emotional containment; Role of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in the emotion sharing experience and (2) TRANSFORMATION/ALLEGIANCE TO SELF, including subthemes: Selfactualisation; Going into the heart of emotions as an emotional-spiritual journey. Participants expressed challenges to unlocking their emotions in therapy,which were mainly experienced as controlled or suppressed. Aging, masculinity and helpseeking theories, as well as addiction and recovery literature, are discussed in light of the findings along with suggestions for future research and implications in Counselling Psychology.

This candidate's essay initially describes addiction problems in Sweden. The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare proposes methods to handle the problem. Standalone self-help groups such as Anonymous Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous (u.å.c; 2018) provide the 12-step program as an alternative to government recommendations. This essay aims to study this alternative method using a qualitative and inductive approach in order to interpret determinants which benefits the program as well as formulate a theory that can understand the process. The authors researched the 12-step program’s history and describes the actual places which were observed as well as their pre-understanding of the program. In accordance with studies on human life situations ethical principles have been reported and used recurrently. To increase understanding of the phenomenon, previous studies on the program has been researched; knowledge bases regarding classifications; psychological; sociological approaches and qualitative methods. Thereafter, an explanation of the usage of relevant concepts in the work. Data collection is done exclusively with micro-ethnographic methods, respondents who volunteered have experienced the 12-step program of one of the two selected self-help groups. Furthermore, Grounded theory and Narrative analysis was used to interpret collected data, a detailed description was constructed in order to enhance the study’s transferability. Generated codes resulted in a conceptualization of a triangular effect between the concepts of motivation; spirituality and the group. Trinity was analyzed and two additional determinants, receptiveness and structure, were formulated. This study concludes that introduction of the 12-step program is defined by an initial personal receptiveness and an adequate structure, these phenomena interact recurrently when the individual meets the other determinants of the program. Which are described as an internal process of reflection (spirituality); external physical action (motivation) and collective social development (the group). Together, the five determinants constitute the success of the 12-step program which the authors try to verify theoretically by problematizing the content.

The introduction of a Thomistic framework to contemporary models of addiction provides new insight that may prove useful in efforts toward therapy and understanding. Aquinas's conception of the human soul and its proper functioning contrasts with the suggested disordered functioning of the addict's soul in such a way that this may prove useful for addicts attempting to interpret their physical, psychological, and moral feelings or intuitions. This framework can then be related to the common contemporary addiction therapy found in Alcoholics Anonymous and other Twelve Step programs in order to provide a greater understanding of what psychological and moral processes may be at work within the addict with the hope that greater understanding will lead to more effective therapy.

When I began the Compulsion and Recovery Research Project in 1992, I did so in response to the schism between professionals who were leaders in the addiction recovery field. Known as the D and A Debate, this schism resulted in changes in government policy, funding and service provision, causing great confusion to people suffering with addictions. It was described by the media as 'addiction treatment now a battleground'.As a family therapist specialising in addictions recovery, I became concerned about this battle between leaders in the recovery field and its impact on the community. I had experience in running halfway houses for people recovering from addictions and knew that abstinence with AA worked. I embarked on a research project which used a dialectic/narrative method inquiry method, interviewing leaders in the conflict and others who contributed progressive ideas to recovery. This process aimed at ensuring there was validity, rigour and ethics in the research process. Importantly as a result of this inquiry, I came to believe that the Drug and Alcohol Debate (D and A Debate) protagonists need not dogmatically defend their own model to the point of being in conflict, as all their treatments work, and it was valid to concede that different models work for different people in different stages of their recovery - 'whatever works works, and not to be judged by others'. (Nicotine Anonymous The Book, 1992:113) / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis studies the relationship between subjective experience and social environment during recovery from alcoholism in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). As a result of participation in AA meetings, many alcoholics undergo healing transformations involving a sense of acceptance of themselves, others and the world. In early sobriety these experiences often remove an alcoholic’s desire to drink. Outside AA, however, alcoholics frequently experience subjective unravelling – a sense of conflict with themselves, others and the world. For many, this subjective state is associated with actual or potential craving for a drink. Regular participation in AA meetings alleviates these states. This thesis construes the relationship between subjective experience and immediate social environment in terms of ‘experiential stakes of relevance’. This conceptual category can be used to characterise both the structural properties of the social environment and the key attributes of the subjective experience of agents within this environment. Listening to stories at AA meetings results for many alcoholics in a radical change in ‘experiential stakes of relevance’. It is argued that the process of spontaneous re-connection with one’s past experiences during AA meetings is akin to the process of mobilisation of embodied dispositions as theorised by Bourdieu. Transformation in AA takes place in the space of a mere one and a half hours and involves processes of intensification of experience. These are analysed in terms of Bourdieu’s notion of ‘illusio’ and Chion’s notion of ‘rendu’. The healing experiences of acceptance presuppose a social environment free of interpersonal conflict. This thesis argues that the need to structurally eliminate conflict between alcoholics has turned AA into a social field which is sustained by the very healing subjective experiences that it facilitates. In the process, AA has developed structural elements which can best be understood as mechanisms inverting the social logic of competitive fields. The fieldwork entailed a detailed ethnographic study of one particular group of Alcoholics Anonymous in Sydney’s Lower North Shore as well as familiarisation with the more general culture of AA in Sydney. Methods of investigation included participant observations at AA meetings and interviews with a number of sober alcoholics in AA.

Project (D. Min.)--Iliff School of Theology, 2006. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-109).

Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis studies the relationship between subjective experience and social environment during recovery from alcoholism in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). As a result of participation in AA meetings, many alcoholics undergo healing transformations involving a sense of acceptance of themselves, others and the world. In early sobriety these experiences often remove an alcoholic’s desire to drink. Outside AA, however, alcoholics frequently experience subjective unravelling – a sense of conflict with themselves, others and the world. For many, this subjective state is associated with actual or potential craving for a drink. Regular participation in AA meetings alleviates these states. This thesis construes the relationship between subjective experience and immediate social environment in terms of ‘experiential stakes of relevance’. This conceptual category can be used to characterise both the structural properties of the social environment and the key attributes of the subjective experience of agents within this environment. Listening to stories at AA meetings results for many alcoholics in a radical change in ‘experiential stakes of relevance’. It is argued that the process of spontaneous re-connection with one’s past experiences during AA meetings is akin to the process of mobilisation of embodied dispositions as theorised by Bourdieu. Transformation in AA takes place in the space of a mere one and a half hours and involves processes of intensification of experience. These are analysed in terms of Bourdieu’s notion of ‘illusio’ and Chion’s notion of ‘rendu’. The healing experiences of acceptance presuppose a social environment free of interpersonal conflict. This thesis argues that the need to structurally eliminate conflict between alcoholics has turned AA into a social field which is sustained by the very healing subjective experiences that it facilitates. In the process, AA has developed structural elements which can best be understood as mechanisms inverting the social logic of competitive fields. The fieldwork entailed a detailed ethnographic study of one particular group of Alcoholics Anonymous in Sydney’s Lower North Shore as well as familiarisation with the more general culture of AA in Sydney. Methods of investigation included participant observations at AA meetings and interviews with a number of sober alcoholics in AA.

Thesis (S.T.M.)--Yale Divinity School, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-92).

Thesis (S.T.M.)--Yale Divinity School, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-92).