Overeaters Anonymous Meeting Reflection

I attended an open Overeaters Anonymous meeting on Wednesday, September 2, 2015. Members gathered in the basement of Overbrook Presbyterian Church on N. High St. in Columbus, Ohio at 7:00 p.m. The meeting lasted a little over an hour. Upon entering the room, everyone sat around a large, rectangular table that was sparsely populated for the size of the group. The number of members fluctuated between twelve and fifteen, as some individuals came in late and others came and left before the conclusion of the meeting. By way of demographics, all group participants were middle-age. The ratio of females to males in attendance was approximately 4:1 and the perceived leader of the group was female.
Similarly to the members of the group, the female

leader was middle aged. It appeared that she was not specifically a counselor appointed to lead the group. Rather, she was the group “president.” Although it was not specifically disclosed during that particular meeting that she was not a licensed professional, it is reasonable to assume because she self-identified as a fellow overeater and shared information that typically, a true group facilitator should not and possessed level of emotional investment inappropriate of anyone but a member. Moreover, the woman did not demonstrate any of the skills expected of a group facilitator. The meeting structured itself as an open forum, and lacked an individual who facilitated the crucial aspects of a group, which is questioning members to identify and describe a situation (Toseland & Rivas, 2012), or reach the true underlying cause of the participant’s struggles with food. The biggest action taken by the group leader was reading the principles followed by the group. She also introduced and selected the "chosen literature” as reading for that specific group meeting.
During this certain Overeaters Anonymous meeting, members read chapters from a book titled, Overeaters Anonymous, 3rd edition. This literature comprised a series of short, personal narratives from a wide selection of individuals currently or formerly struggling with habits of overeating. In some cases, the narratives chronicled the author’s battles with other instances of eating disorders, such as anorexia, or bulimia. Each story described the emotions and reasons attached to their history and instances of overeating. All the writings read during this meeting (and possibly in the literature itself), explored the impact, either good or bad, that attendance to Overeaters Anonymous meetings had on the authors. Some disclosed that they were still active participants. This literature and its writers stressed the addiction aspect of overeating and a poor relationship with food. They emphasized that overeating was not a weakness of character, but instead exposed it as a chronic issue, stemming from the mental and biological aspects associated with all addictions.
The group leader began the reading, and chose a chapter to read at random.

She read a part of the passage, and when she chose to stop reading, had the choice to either “pass” or elaborate on the section she had just finished reading and what may have resonated with her in regards to her personal struggle with overeating. The person sitting next to her then continued reading the passage from where she stopped. The above described process continued for each member until someone completed the chapter. Before reading began, the leader informed the members that “in the interest of time” each member, if he or she chose to comment on the passage after reading, needed to limit him or herself to three minutes. A member set a timer to ensure adherence to this policy. At the conclusion of each chapter, the leader encouraged a general discussion of the piece, as each appeared to have a theme to the writing. Following the dialogue, a new member picked another passage at random, and the reading continued in an identical manner. During the span of the hour long meeting, members read and commented on four passages from the book, leaving ten minutes at the end of the meeting for any member to start a conversation about any topic not addressed in the readings. At the very end of the meeting, all the members stood in a circle, and joining hands, recited the “serenity prayer”

together.
This Overeaters Anonymous group followed the 12-step program model of Alcoholics Anonymous. They adhered to the identical principles and each of the 12-steps, substituting “food” for “alcohol.” The most notable difference to their deviation from the 12-steps of Alcoholics Anonymous was their focus on specifically God, rather than just a “higher power.” Presumably, members acceptance of God rather than a God “as we understood Him” (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1981) for each individual, stemmed from the fact that members held the meeting in a church. This location has a religious connotation with not simply a “higher power” but God, and each member also attended that church.
During observation of the meeting, it appeared the scope of issues and topics focused specifically on the struggle of avoiding the favorite foods of the chronic overeaters in attendance. In fact, before the meeting began, the leader instructed the members to avoid mentioning specific foods, to avoid the danger of triggering cravings for that food in others. Members explained that their addictions with food manifested most prominently when faced with the choice of their favorite foods. Each shared the idea that while they had the ability to control themselves around most foods, if any ate their favorite food, it always served as a trigger to overeating and they generally deprived themselves of it entirely. Because many of the readings spoke briefly of other eating disorders, a number of members discussed their own struggles with bulimia or anorexia. They spoke of how although many had overcome these forms of disease, their addictions to food manifested instead in their current state of chronic food addiction and overeating. The greatest commonality between all members was the emphasis on the constant struggle faced in their quest to “eat normally.” They all noted that often, it took them awhile to realize that their eating habits were maladaptive, and did so when comparing their relationship with food in comparison with their spouses, friends, family, etc.
Many of the members spoke of the positive effect that attending meetings had on their eating habits. They celebrated the effectiveness of the 12-step model in their struggle. Interestingly, they all noted that they found truly needed to follow each step in the exact order written for it truly to make a difference. All of the members supported one another, even though they were at different stages in their journey to recovery. They discussed the importance of sponsorship and passed around a list of members who were already sponsors so newer members could find a mentor. They shared positive examples of their role as a sponsor, and also how their sponsor assists them in times when their addiction is particularly difficult. The member’s willingness to provide others with resources and connections for a relationship with a sponsor demonstrated their supportive nature that was the cornerstone of the overall group functioning.
The level of group function was very high and overall, extremely positive. They were all very supportive of one another. They all listened when other members spoke and provided a lot of non-verbal feedback indicative of attentive listening such as nodding and eye contact (Toseland & Rivas, 2012). One female member shared that the group was in fact so supportive, that simply walking into the room made her feel more at ease. She called the group her “safe place.” Moreover, it was obvious to the observer that the group served a positive function for all members by their attitudes during the session. Each member had positive body language and none appeared as though they were uncomfortable in being in the room. It was an atmosphere in which they were all willing to share their personal feelings and stories of addiction. This environment encouraged the individuals to receive help and avoided them becoming offended if another member’s views did not match their own. However, while the group seemed cohesive, that is friendly with one another and displaying common values and ideals (Toseland & Rivas, 2012), it lacked a sense of a truly emotional bond.
Overall, the general assessment of the group was that it truly helped its members struggling with overeating. It provided a positive and safe forum for them to discuss their issues and struggles. This appeared to help them self-examine their motivations for overeating and objectively view their progress. However, there is one important aspect that makes it difficult to completely assess the effectiveness of the group. This is due to the fact that there is no observation of human behavior outside of the group. If a member chose not to receive a sponsor, there was nothing but self-monitoring to ensure accountability for following the 12-step program. Regardless, the willingness of each member to attend all the meetings, coupled with the safe environment that allows them to share their journey without judgement, serves as a protective factor for effectiveness. Therefore, it stands to reason that attendance to Overeaters Anonymous meetings is an effective intervention.