Philosophy Essay

1. SettingsI scheduled my AA get loss together for Tuesday September the 18th at 10 p.m. at the Sobe Room in Miami Beach (1718 Bay Rd. Miami Beach, Fl. 33139). When I arrived I noticed that the car parking was far away from the actual skirmish purport. The meeting read was a church type structure with no sing or any other identification. The door was open so I just went in I waited ab step to the fore 5 legal proceeding for the meeting to start. The meeting took place in a large room, and the chairs were unionized in a semicircle and at the front there was a kind of podium. In the Sobe Room all meetings are open, so I didnt have to set an appointment.In the meeting were about 50 masses, I guess because it was in south beach the majority were boy akin people under 40. There were mostly clean-living males, followed by white females round Latin and some African Americans. There were about 15 people who were there for the first time. I didnt have to posit why I was there t hat I did have to check out my name when e preciseone else did.2. PhilosophyAlcoholics Anonymous (AA) was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. bobsleigh Smith. The primary purpose of AA is to stay sober and help other strongs grasp sobriety. Although AA was founded on Christian principles and by white men, the organization has evolved to be multicultural. AA doesnt keep a list of members names, but estimates that it has 2 million members who rise from all backgrounds. The philosophy behind Alcoholics Anonymous is that alcoholic drinkism is a disease. charge if someone stops drinking, they are not cured. The individual is a convalescent alcoholic.The organization follows a 12-step structure designed to help the recovering alcoholic have a healthy mind and spirit. By following the 12 steps in sequence, the recovering alcoholic can improve their think backing processes and work on healing their emotions.3. Therapeutic contentEven though AA is an independent organization and is not based on psychological or therapeutic research or interventions, they have adopted some techniques of diametrical a priori models to help the aggroup members deal with their disorder.AA uses techniques from diverse psychological theoretical models such as existentialism, gestalt, and narrative therapy.The existentialism theory invites nodes to explore their being and ask themselves philosophical questions such as what is the meaning of live, how do actions make up ones mind individuals and to continually revise their set of values. AA uses this approach in its course of instruction when they let the cat out of the bag about the greater power, the purpose of their lives, etc.Gestalt theory sees each client as a unique individual and states that any change make by the client has to be his or her own decision, gestalt therapy is also actually confrontational, and in both characteristics are included in the AA program. AA states that the client go out get better if and only they really want it and commit to it. as well as AA uses an approach similar to the narrative therapy by treating the addiction as an illness and as a problem independent of the client, it externalizes it to try to confront it.4. Impressions and conditional relationWhen I arrived to the meeting the first intimacy that called my attention was the fact that we had to park really far away from the actual site (about two blocks) I later found out that it was purposely made this way so the members wouldnt feel self conscious about having their cars outside of something that could be affiliated with alcoholism.I entered the location, it wasnt an actual church, but it had a church like structure. The doors were opened and most people seemed to know each other, before the meeting started some people state hi to me but no one asked any questions.The meeting began with a shot request called the rest prayer, which had me thinking about some contradictions found in the AA philosophy since they strike not to have any religious affiliation but it sure enough felt a little inclined towards the Christian side. After the prayer e reallyone introduced themselves (most people utter their names and Im an alcoholic, but some didnt) I said my name but gave no further information. thus someone proceed to talk a little about the AA program and the 12-step structure.After the greeting process a qat (27) stood up and went to the podium. He started by repeating his name and saying he was an alcoholic. He said that since this time he saw a lot of new faces he wanted to share his story again.The man shared a very powerful story about his involvement with alcohol, he stated he started drinking around the age of 14, he said that at the s he thought he was just having fun and doing the same that everyone else did, but that now that he thinks about it he realizes he was using alcohol as a coping mechanism to deal with the confusion he was facing about his sexuality.He stated that he came out of the press at the age of 16, that it was a very difficult time and that he was dating older men who encouraged him to drink. He continued lecture about what coming out had done to the relationship with his family members he depict the time as very painful and he cried while telling the story (some of the people in the meeting cried as well).He said that his mother was very supportive since the beginning, that his younger brother had a problematic time understanding he said that he was a prune in school, so no one expected him to come out since he wasnt the gay type. But that the real turn off was with his father, as soon as he gave him the news the father became very angry and he kicked him out of the house. He said that he look of expected the reaction but thought that he would eventually get over it, but that that hadnt happened yet, and that its been 10 years and 7 months since the last time he spoke with his father.He said that he joined AA when he was 23, he decide to attend a meeting because he and his partner were having terrible fights while he was under the exploit of alcohol and he even tried to hit him once. At that point the partner threatened with leaving him if he didnt get treatment. He stated that it was the best decision he made in his live. He has now been sober for 3 years and 4 months.Before going to the meeting I had numerous an(prenominal) opinions about what I would find there, I was sure that most people would be people of low socioeconomic status probably many homeless and very angry people. I was afraid of being forced to speak and that they wouldnt understand the background that I was participating in the meeting. I expected to see a lot of people praying, singing, and hugging at the end. But the truth is that the world was very different to what I had in my imagination, I think my comprehension was heavily influenced by movies Ive see about it. One thing that caught my attention was the first to real ize that most people in the group were people with jobs and life situations fairly normal. But mostly I was affect that people were a bit cold and distant. I was hoping that dodos were united and comradely to each other but not the case.For me the story of gay guy was very powerful and I felt good to see people around me responding positively and nodding. One thing I did not like was the strong Christian influence of the program I feel that excludes many people who do not feel identified with this dogma.I think AA is a very powerful tool and can help many clients, but I also think is not for everyone. I would recommend it to clients with maladaptive behaviors that do not have the skills to deal with day-to-day problems. I think that a person has to be religious to some point to really identify with the program. I would not recommend this program to teenagers because I think that there are other programs more suitable for this population.