AA Meeting Observation Alcoholism Is

AA Meeting Observation Alcoholism is one of those tragic diseases that seldom affects only the person who suffers from it. It is often a problem that affects and destroys families, friendships, and professional relationships. Indeed, the alcoholic is often forced to hit "rock bottom" before realizing the destructive road he or she is on and seeking help for the problem. Alcoholics Anonymous is a well-known association that provides peer and professional support for addiction problems.

The meetings encourage adherence to a 12-step program, as well as a "higher power" in order to help the individual not only overcome their problems, but also face them in the process. This is a description of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that I attended, and the learning experience it was to me. The most important lesson was that parental alcohol use, even if not perceived as alcoholism, can serve as a driver for future alcoholism in the children of such a family.

Furthermore, I have learned how careful parents should be in allowing their children the opportunity to become familiar with alcohol use, even if this is only done moderately. If children begin to drink at a young age, the likelihood of future alcoholism increases. On the other hand, I have also learned that recovered alcoholics can draw encouragement from potential harm that they cause not only to themselves, but also to others in their lives.

This is what the 12-step program is designed to achieve: an acknowledgement that no individual functions only by him- or herself, but that all individual actions affect other people as well. Alcoholics Anonymous was started as an organization to help provide support for people addicted to alcohol, and who wanted to stop their self-destructive practices. The association is based upon the right of the individual to receive help within a non-judgmental setting.

Alcoholics Anonymous currently consists of a 12-step program to help people face their problems, deal with them, and eliminate them. I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting during the evening. There were about 12 people in attendance. The group was seated in a circle, with each member able to face each other member. The meeting began with a preliminary discussion of issues discussed during the previous meeting. The group leader followed up some of the matters, such as one individual who had trouble overcoming the denial phase of his problem.

During this discussion, frequent references were made to "the 12 steps" or "your 12 steps." The group consisted of a fairly diverse selection, although the age group was fairly young, with few persons being above 35 years old. This correlates with a finding by Sartre et al. (2004, p. 1294), that peer pressure plays a significant role in the age of.