Psych: Drug Addiction
The meeting I attended was held in Millersville University at Lehr Hall at 9:30 Am. I attended the meeting alone and was initially very hesitant and uncomfortable with the idea. At the beginning not unexpected occurred really happened. It appeared to be a very informal meeting that everyone seemed to already be acquainted. All the members directed each other by name and I was welcomed by, what seemed to be, a regular attendee as well as a new member. I sat down and initiated conversation with the member next to me. She informed me that she goes to multiple meetings and this was her first time at the specific location. She asked me of my major and other information. A member of the group, who seemed to be the “leader”, then initiated the meeting by stating his name and that “I’m an alcoholic.” The meeting was initiated and the first order of business was relevant to greetings. The “leader” appeared, as though he ran the meeting, but I later found out this was not the case. After his introduction he asked if there were any order of businesses related to AA then asked for ones not relevant to AA. People spoke on both topics. They spoke on things that showed the human aspects of AA. It showed that they were not only people seeking a common purpose but they were still people who continued to live life. A member spoke about a dinner and openly invited the members. Another member spoke about his child’s fundraiser. He then asked if there were any new members and asked the “visitors” to refrain from raising their hands. The lady next to me raised her hand and she was the only new member. He then asked if there were any visitors but did not ask us anything beyond our names. We all said our names and the group all ...
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...al of approximately 40 people. There did seem to be more men than women but the difference didn’t seem that far apart (Alcoholics Anonymous World Service)
There was not much empirical data that could be found on the topic of AA. This lack of information is probably due to the fact that it is anonymous and information would be very difficult to collect. The group members greatly control the direction of AA and this greatly deals with how successful and productive each individual group will be. If any data were even to be found it will be very difficult to discern if it were actually correct information.
References:
1. Alcoholics Anonymous World Service, I. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/p-48_membershipsurvey.pdf
2. A.A. Fact Sheet. (n.d.). WWW.AA.Org. Retrieved March 30, 2014, from http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/m-24_aafactfile.pdf
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