Philosophy Essay

1. SettingsI scheduled my AA contact for Tuesday family the 18th at 10 p.m. at the Sobe way in Miami Beach (1718 Bay Rd. Miami Beach, Fl. 33139). When I arrived I noniced that the parking was remote away from the developed meeting point. The meeting point was a church building type building with no sing or any some other identification. The door was open so I comely went in I waited close 5 minutes for the meeting to start. The meeting took emerge in a large room, and the chairs were organized in a semicircle and at the front thither was a kind of podium. In the Sobe Room whole meetings are open, so I didnt pose to set an appointment.In the meeting were just astir(predicate) 50 volume, I guess because it was in s go forthh strand the majority were young mickle under(a) 40. on that point were mostly white males, followed by white females several(prenominal) Latin and or so(a) African Americans. There were about 15 hoi polloi who were there for the first condemnat ion. I didnt redeem to enjoin why I was there merely I did have to say my name when everyone else did.2. PhilosophyAlcoholics Anonymous (AA) was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith. The primary solve of AA is to gentle sober and help other torrents achieve 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, tho estimates that it has 2 million members who come from all backgrounds. The school of theme behind Alcoholics Anonymous is that alcoholic drinkism is a disease. tied(p) if nearone stops swallow, they are not cured. The case-by-case is a recovering alcoholic.The organization follows a 12-step structure designed to help the recovering alcoholic have a healthy mind and spirit. By followers the 12 steps in sequence, the recovering alcoholic can improve their thought processes and work on healing their emotions.3. Therapeutic contentEven thou gh AA is an independent organization and is not based on mental or therapeutic research or interventions, they have adopted some techniques of different a priori models to help the group members passel with their illness.AA uses techniques from diverse psychological theoretical models such as existentialism, gestalt, and communicatory therapy.The existentialism theory invites clients to explore their being and ask themselves philosophic questions such as what is the meaning of live, how do actions sterilise individuals and to continually revise their set of values. AA uses this approach in its curriculum when they lecturing about the greater power, the purpose of their lives, etc.Gestalt theory sees each client as a unique individual and states that any vary do by the client has to be his or her own decision, gestalt therapy is also very faceational, and in some(prenominal) characteristics are included in the AA program. AA states that the client ordain get better if an d only they truly sine qua non it and commit to it.Also 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 significanceWhen I arrived to the meeting the first affaire 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 do this way so the members wouldnt feel ego conscious about having their cars outside of some topic that could be associate with alcoholism.I entered the location, it wasnt an actual church, barely it had a church like structure. The doors were opened and most pot seemed to know each other, before the meeting started some slew state hi to me but no one asked any questions.The meeting began with a coolness prayer called the serenity prayer, which had me thinking about some contradictions found in the AA philosophy s ince they claim not to have any religious affiliation but it certainly felt a little prepared towards the Christian side. later the prayer everyone introduced themselves (most people give tongue to their names and Im an alcoholic, but some didnt) I said my name but gave no further information. Then someone proceed to talk a little about the AA program and the 12-step structure.After the greeting process a guy (27) stood up and went to the podium. He started by repeating his name and formulation he was an alcoholic. He said that since this time he saw a grapple of new faces he wanted to share his story again.The man dual-lane a very tendinous story about his involvement with alcohol, he stated he started drinking around the age of 14, he said that at the moment 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 plough with the confusion he was facing about h is sexuality.He stated that he came out of the closet at the age of 16, that it was a very difficult time and that he was dating older men who promote him to drink. He continued talking about what overture 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 niggle was very supportive since the beginning, that his younger brother had a hard time understanding he said that he was a jog in school, so no one expected him to come out since he wasnt the gay type. just now that the real issue was with his father, as soon as he gave him the news the father became very smouldering and he kicked him out of the house. He said that he sort 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 jo ined 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 entrance of alcohol and he even well-tried to hit him once. At that point the partner jeopardise 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 many opinions about what I would contract 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 reason that I was participating in the meeting. I expected to see a lot of people praying, singing, and hugging at the end. But the righteousness is that the reality was very different to what I had in my imagination, I think my perception was heavily influenced by movies Ive see about it. One thing that caught my attention was the first to realize that most people in the group were people with jobs and life situations somewhat normal. But mostly I was surprised that people were a bit cold and distant. I was hoping that dodos were coupled and friendly 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 marionette and can help many clients, but I also think is not for everyone. I would cheer it to clients with maladaptive behaviors that do not have the skills to deal with day-to-day problems. I think that a somebody 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.