“That’s the Spiritual Side of Me”

Men’s Autobiographical Accounts of Recovery in Twelve Step Fellowships

Authors

  • Lymarie Rodriguez-Morales University of Wales Trinity Saint David

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/imre.38499

Keywords:

Twelve Step fellowships, addiction recovery, spirituality, young adult men

Abstract

This study explores young adult men's lived experience of addiction recovery through their involvement in Twelve Step fellowships' spirituality. Although there is a large body of research on Twelve Step's recovery model, few studies have examined young adult men's psychological and identity transformation in light of its spiritual principles. Ten men participating in Twelve Step fellowships in the UK were recruited and invited to write a topical autobiography of their recovery. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Participants in early recovery (six months to two years in recovery) provided accounts mostly concerned with maintaining abstinence and incorporating the Twelve Step spiritual principles and practices into their lives. Participants in long-term recovery (five to ten years) portrayed "personal growth" narratives, reflecting on their involvement with the fellowships through their life-course. Values of belonging, authenticity, care and love were identified as significant themes in their narratives and continue to infuse their identities long after initial sobriety establishment. The findings suggest that participants' spirituality evolves into a loving and caring masculine identity, which is key to their psychological development into mature adulthood. It is suggested that amidst the variety of spiritual recovery experiences (religious, atheist or secular) within the Twelve Step programmes, members share life-enhancing values that support the transcendence of their addiction.

Author Biography

  • Lymarie Rodriguez-Morales, University of Wales Trinity Saint David

    Lymarie Rodriguez-Morales is a researcher and Lecturer in Psychology based at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Her research examines the role of spirituality in mental health care and recovery. 

References

Allport, G. 1942. “The use of personal documents in psychological science.” Social Science Research Council Bulletin 49: xix–210.

AAWS Alcoholics Anonymous World Services. 2001 [1939]. Alcoholics Anonymous. The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women have Recovered from Alcoholism. Fourth edition. New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services.

Bateson, G. 1971. “The cybernetics of “self”: A Theory of Alcoholism.” Psychiatry 34: 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1971.11023653

Best, D., K. Albertson, J. Irving, C. Lightowlers, A. Mama-Rudd, and A. Chaggar. 2015. “The UK Life in Recovery Survey 2015: The First National UK Survey of Addiction Recovery Experiences.” https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/12200

Best, D., J. Irving, B. Collinson, C. Andersson, and Edwards, M. 2017. “Recovery networks and Community Connections: Identifying Connection Needs and Community Linkage Opportunities in Early Recovery Populations.” Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 35(1): 2–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/07347324.2016.1256718

Buckingham, S. A., D. Frings and I. P. Albery. 2013. “Group Membership and Social Identity in Addiction Recovery.” Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 27: 1132–1140. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0032480

Chambers, S. E., K. Canvin, D. S. Baldwin, and J. Sinclair. 2017. “Identity in Recovery from Problematic Alcohol Use: A qualitative study of online mutual aid.” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 174: 17–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.01.009

Day, E., R. Wall, G., Chohan, and J. Seddon. 2014. “Perceptions of professional drug treatment staff in England about Client Barriers to Narcotics Anonymous Attendance.” Addiction Research & Theory 23(3): 223–230. https://doi.org/10.3109/16066359.2014.976205

Day, E., S. Kirberg, and N. Metrebian. 2019. “Affiliation to Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous among patients attending an English specialist addiction service.” Drugs and Alcohol Today 19(4): 257–269. https://doi.org/10.1108/DAT-05-2019-0017

DeLucia, C., B. G. Bergman, D. Formoso, and L. B. Weinberg. 2015. “Recovery in Narcotics Anonymous from the perspectives of long-term members: A qualitative study.” Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery 10: 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/1556035X.2014.969064

Denzin, Norman. 1989. Interpretative Biography. London: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412984584

Elkins, D. N., L. J. Hedstrom, L. L. Hughes, J. A. Leaf, and C. Saunders. 1988. “Toward a humanistic phenomenological spirituality: definition, description and measurement.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 28: 5–17. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002216788828002

Flaherty, M.T., E. Kurtz, W. L. White, and A. Larson. 2014. “An interpretive phenomenological analysis of secular, spiritual, and religious pathways of long-term addiction recovery.” Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 32: 337–356. https://doi.org/10.1080/07347324.2014.949098

Gossop, M., D. Stewart, and J. Marsden. 2008. “Attendance at Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, frequency of attendance and substance use outcomes after residential treatment for drug dependence: a 5?year follow?up study.” Addiction 103: 119–125. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2007.02050.x

Gossop, M., J. Harris, D. Best, L. Man, V. Manning, J. Marshall, and J. Strang. 2003. “Is attendance at Alcoholic Anonymous meetings after inpatient treatment related to improved outcomes? A 6-month follow-up study.” Alcohol and Alcoholism 38(5): 421–426. https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agg104

Hänninen, V. and A. Koski-Jännes. 1999. “Narratives of Recovery from Addictive Behaviours.” Addiction 94: 1837–1848. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1360-0443.1999.941218379.x

Harris, J., D. Best, M. Gossop, J. Marshall, L. H. Man, V. Manning, and J. Strang. 2003. “Prior Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) affiliation and the acceptability of the Twelve Steps to patients entering UK statutory addiction treatment.” Journal of Studies on Alcohol 64(2): 257–261. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsa.2003.64.257

Health and Social Care Information Centre. 2018. “Statistics on Drug Misuse, England.” https://files.digital.nhs.uk/14/527824/drug-misu-eng-2018nov-rep.pdf

Hibbert, L.J. and D. W. Best. 2011. “Assessing recovery and functioning in former problem drinkers at different stages of their recovery journeys.” Drug and Alcohol Review 30: 12-20. https://doi.org/10.1111/

j.1465-3362.2010.00190.x

Kaskutas, L.A., J. Bond, and L. A. Avalos. 2009. “7-year trajectories of Alcoholics Anonymous attendance and associations with treatment.” Addictive Behaviors 34: 1029–1035. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2009.06.015

Kelly, J. F., B. Bergman, and N. Fallah-Sohy. 2018. “Mechanisms of Behavior Change in 12-Step Approaches to Recovery in Young Adults.” Current Addiction Reports 5: 134–145. httpsss://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-018-0203-1

Kelly, J. F. 2017. “Is Alcoholics Anonymous religious, spiritual, neither? Findings from 25 years of mechanisms of behavior change research.” Addiction 112: 929–936. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13590

Kelly, J. F. and M. C. Greene. 2014. “Toward an enhanced understanding of the psychological mechanisms by which spirituality aids recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.” Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 32: 299–318. https://doi.org/10.1080/07347324.2014.907015

Kelly, J. F, M. Magill and R. Stout. 2009. “How do people recover from alcohol dependence? A systematic review of the research on mechanisms of behavior change in Alcoholics Anonymous.” Addiction Research & Theory 17: 236–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066350902770458

Koski-Jännes, A. 2002. “Social and personal identity projects in the recovery from addictive behaviours.” Addiction Research & Theory 10: 183–202. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066350290017266

Krentzman, A.R., J. A., Cranford, and E. A., Robinson. 2013. “Multiple Dimensions of Spirituality in Recovery: A Lagged Mediational Analysis of Alcoholics Anonymous’ Principal Theoretical Mechanism of Behavior Change.” Substance Abuse 34: 20–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/08897077.2012.691449

Kurtz, E. and W. L. White. 2015. “Recovery Spirituality.” Religions 6: 58–81. https: //doi.org/10.3390/re16010058

Laudet, A.B., R., Savage and D. Mahmood. 2002. “Pathways to long-term recovery: A preliminary investigation.” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 34: 305–311. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2002.10399968

Manning, V., D. Best, N. Faulkner, E. Titherington, A. Morinan, F. Keaney, M. Gossop, and J. Strang. 2012. “Does active referral by a doctor or 12-Step peer improve 12-Step meeting attendance? Results from a pilot randomised control trial.” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 126: 131–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2012.05.004

Maslow, Abraham. 1943. “A Theory of Human Motivation.” Psychological Review 50: 370-394. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346

———. 1968. Toward a Psychology of Being. London: Wiley.

National Institute of Clinical Excellence. 2012. “Drug use Disorders in Adults.”

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs23/chapter/Quality-statement-7-Recovery-and-reintegration

Pagano, M.E., W. L., White, J. F., Kelly, R. L. Stout, and J. S., Tonigan. 2013. “The 10-year course of Alcoholics Anonymous participation and long-term outcomes: a follow-up study of outpatient subjects in Project MATCH.” Substance Abuse 34: 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/08897077.2012.691450

Rodriguez, L. and J. A. Smith. 2014. “‘Finding Your Own Place’: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Young Men’s Experience of Early Recovery from Addiction.” International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction 12(4): 477–490. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-014-9479-0

Rogers, Carl. 1961. On Becoming a Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy. London: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Schnell, T. 2011. “Experiential validity: Psychological approaches to the sacred.” Implicit Religion 387–404. https://doi.org//10.1558/imre.v14i4.387

———. 2009. “The sources of meaning and meaning if life questionnaire (SOME): relations to demographics and well-being.” Journal of Positive Psychology 4(3): 483–499. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760903271074

Smith, Jonathan, P. Flowers, and M. Larkin. 2009. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: Theory, Method and Research. London: Sage.

Solomon, Robert C. 2002. Spirituality for the Skeptic: The Thoughtful Love of Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Swora, M. G. 2004. “The rhetoric of transformation in the healing of alcoholism: The twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.” Mental Health, Religion & Culture 7: 187–209. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674670310001602445

Vederhus, J. 2017. “Commentaries on Kelly (2017): Mind the gap – a European viewpoint on Alcoholics Anonymous.” Addiction 112: 937–945. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13609

Weegmann, M. and E. Piwowoz-Hjort. 2009. “‘Naught but a Story’: Narratives of Successful AA Recovery.” Health Sociology Review 18: 273–283. https://doi.org/10.5172/hesr.2009.18.3.273

Wells, Brian. 2005. “Narcotics Anonymous (NA) in Britain. The Stepping up of the Phenomenon.” In Heroin Addiction and the British System: Treatment and Policy Responses, edited by John Strang and Michael Gossop. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wilcox, C.E., M. R. Pearson, and J. S. Tonigan. 2015. “Effects of Long-term AA Attendance and Spirituality on the Course of Depressive Symptoms in Individuals with Alcohol use Disorder.” Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 29 (2): 382–391. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/adb0000053

Published

2020-04-24

How to Cite

Rodriguez-Morales, L. (2020). “That’s the Spiritual Side of Me”: Men’s Autobiographical Accounts of Recovery in Twelve Step Fellowships. Implicit Religion, 22(2), 161-183. https://doi.org/10.1558/imre.38499