The rhetoric of transformation in the healing of alcoholism: The twelve steps of alcoholics anonymous

Close attention to spirituality and change are necessary for a fuller understanding of how Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) works. This paper draws upon the conceptual tools of the anthropology of religious healing to interpret AA's program for recovery, the Twelve Steps. The Twelve Steps are describe...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Swora, Maria Gabrielle (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Taylor & Francis 2004
Dans: Mental health, religion & culture
Année: 2004, Volume: 7, Numéro: 3, Pages: 187-209
Accès en ligne: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Résumé:Close attention to spirituality and change are necessary for a fuller understanding of how Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) works. This paper draws upon the conceptual tools of the anthropology of religious healing to interpret AA's program for recovery, the Twelve Steps. The Twelve Steps are described as a fundamental component of AA discourse, and as a rhetoric of transformation. The Twelve Steps outline a rhetorical process which moves the alcoholic from drinking to sobriety by means of a rhetoric of predisposition, of empowerment, and of transformation. AA discourse is spiritual, in that members are persuaded to interpret the world, their lives, and their affliction in sacred terms. Healing is not cure, but a new way of attending to the world and engaging with others, including God, or a ‘Power greater than ourselves’. There is a God, and it's not me. Let go and Let God. I had to change. The same person would drink again. - Three Alcoholics Anonymous slogans
ISSN:1469-9737
Contient:Enthalten in: Mental health, religion & culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13674670310001602445