Reflections on Attending an Open AA Meeting

Alcohol and Addiction: Empirical Observations of a -Step Program in Action

First organized in 1935 by Dr. Bob Smith and Bill Wilson to help others who were suffering from the ravages of alcoholism, Alcoholics Anonymous has become one of the world’s most recognized and attended 12-step programs today (Wagener, 2019). The purpose of the research paper is provide my empirical observations of an Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) meeting. The research question that will guide the project is, “Are 12-step programs an effective intervention for addictions?” This research question was motivated by a study of the effectiveness of 12-step programs for the treatment of alcoholism compared to other types of interventions by Blum and Davis (2014). A description of my experiences at a local open AA meeting is followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning the guiding research question in the paper’s conclusion.

Review and Discussion

Finding an open AA meeting was a straightforward enterprise. A simple search for “open AA meetings” and “non-smoking” in and around my municipality produced several million matches which were quickly nailed down to the top four or five listings which provided precisely what was needed. The listings included one location in a nearby church meeting room that took place each Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and I elected to attend the Thursday meeting since it was the next available date. Having researched how open AA meetings operate as well as the fundamental tenets of this 12-step program, I was confident that I generally knew what to expect but I was still somewhat nervous since this was a novel experience for me.

Following my arrival at the church that I had driven by dozens of times without thinking about it, I saw a sign directing attendees to the AA meeting in a basement meeting room. After reaching the bottom of the stairs on my way to the meeting room, I started to hear some laughter and friendly banter which alleviated my nervousness somewhat. Nevertheless, entering the meeting room was still something of a shock since it was completely filled with other adults who were sitting in folding chairs arranged in a large circle. Many attendees were holding cups of coffee and were talking with each other spiritedly, but there were some attendees who did not even look at other people and focused their attention on reading the AA’s famous “blue book” to avoid interactions until the meeting started.

At the designated time, one of the attendees stood up who was apparently the group leader and announced that she was “Linda and an alcoholic.” All of the attendees responded by saying “Hi, Linda!” The group leader then welcomed everyone to the Thursday night meeting of the “XYZ Club” (not its real name). The leader then listed and explained the twelve steps that AA advocated for recovering from addiction, and she then led the group in the Serenity Prayer which is apparently a standard fixture at any 12-step meeting. Following the Serenity Prayer, Linda asked if anyone felt especially compelled to share and several attendees raised their hands to volunteer.

After selecting one of the volunteers, Linda sat down and the volunteer, “Richard,” stoop up and introduced himself by reiterating the same introduction that was used by Linda (i.e., “Hi -- I’m Richard and I’m an alcoholic”). Following his self-introduction to the group, Richard, seemingly a long-term member of the group, related several of the challenges and horror stories that he had experienced during his road to recovery, including his overwhelming temptation to abuse his drug of choice despite the support he received at these meetings. Many of the attendees offered their encouragement and empathy to Richard at this point, and Richard was encouraged to continue. After describing his successes in resisting the temptation to drink again, Richard concluded his contribution by stating he had been sober for 3 years, and everyone (including me) applauded this achievement vigorously.

The next attendee to contribute was “Jim” who repeated the same introduction as the others and proceeded to describe his recent divorce and how he was struggling to cope with the separation from his two young children. According to Jim’s account, his wife had left him and taken the couple’s two children with her after his drinking became uncontrollable, and he was absolutely devastated as a result. Consequently, Jim stated he considered this grim episode in his life as a wake-up call that he had to change his life if he ever wanted to have a meaningful relationship with his children again. Many of the attendees murmured and nodded in agreement but did not interrupt Jim’s account. By the time Jim was finished with his contribution and sat back down, several of the attendees were in tears.

Following Jim’s participation, “William” stood up, introduced himself in the standard fashion and stated that he had gone through much of the same suffering as Jim following his divorce and he offered Jim some solace when William said he had managed to resume his relationship with his children despite having been to prison for several years as a direct result of his alcoholism and involvement with the criminal justice system. Although William did not specify what crime he committed, he made it clear that is was related to his out-of-control drinking and was something he would never do in a sober state of mind. Finally, William stated unequivocally that he believed he would be dead or otherwise institutionalized had it not been for his participation in AA. None of the attendees pressed William to reveal his crime and he sat down, clearly relieved to have finished his participation.

Following William’s contribution, the final volunteer, “Patsy,” stood up and introduced herself in the conventional way to which everyone responded, “Hi, Patsy!” Unlike the other volunteers who had preceded her, Patsy explained that she was only attending this meeting because the court had ordered her to do so following her arrest for a driving while intoxicated charge the previous month. Moreover, Patsy intimated that she did not believe that she was an alcoholic or even had a serious problem. It is noteworthy that Patsy’s situation is not uncommon, and many people who attend 12-step programs are only there became they have been ordered by the courts to do so (Cashwell & Clarke, 2009).

One of the group members responded by stating he had felt the same way himself many years ago before he had “hit rock bottom,” and encouraged Patsy to reflect on the actions that had resulted in her arrest before deciding whether she needed some help or not. Interestingly, every time anyone spoke in response to something said by a volunteer participant, the comments were prefaced with the same introduction (i.e., “Hi, my name is ____________ and I’m an alcoholic”) even if they had already introduced themselves previously.

The meeting ended with Jennifer standing up and thanking everyone for their honest contributions and how these help others in their efforts to remain sober. The meeting concluded with everyone standing, holding hands and reciting the Lord’s Prayer (one of the attendees prefaced the Lord’s Prayer by asking, “Whose Father?” to which the attendees responded, “Our Father …”). Many of the attendees remained after the meeting had ended to shake hands, hug or exchange other greetings. It was clear that there was a significant amount of camaraderie involved in the XYZ Club meetings, and that the attendees were receiving the support and assistance they needed during this difficult period in their lives.