To thine own self be true: Alcoholics Anonymous, recovery and care of the self

Rodriguez-Morales, Lymarie (2019) To thine own self be true: Alcoholics Anonymous, recovery and care of the self. In: Spirituality and Wellbeing Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Religious Experience and Health. Equinox Publishing Ltd, UK. ISBN 9781781797648 (In Press)

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Abstract

In this paper, a discussion is built upon findings from a qualitative study that investigated how young men worked through the process of recovery from substance use disorder whilst participating in 12-step fellowships in the UK (e.g. Alcoholics Anonymous). Alcoholic Anonymous’ spiritual discourse on recovery gives prominence to the development of a set of spiritual practices that trains participants in their capacities of self-care and self-regulation (i.e. writing, praying). Drawing on Foucault (2005), spiritual exercises were in antiquity a form of pedagogy, designed to teach people of a philosophical life that had both a moral and existential value. Spiritual practices were ways in which to enact self-transformation - an exercise of self upon the self by which one attempts to develop and transform, in order to attain a certain mode of being. The participants’ narratives presented authenticity and care of the self as a salient aspect of their recovery. Care and authenticity had become, in Antonovsky's (1987) words, ‘a generalized way of seeing the world’.

Item Type: Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords: Substance use disorder, recovery
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion
Divisions: Institutes and Academies > Institute of Education and Humanities > Academic Discipline: Psychology and Counselling
Depositing User: Lymarie Rodriguez
Date Deposited: 05 Nov 2019 16:57
Last Modified: 12 Apr 2023 08:07
URI: https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/1113

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