Spiritual Awakening of a Recovering Alcoholic. Translation Spanish to English

Thesis

Sofia Rosendo

Translation

Edwin Duarte

Title: “The Spiritual Awakening of a Recovering Alcoholic”

Summary.

Alcoholism is known as a chronic disease, progressive and deadly (ENA, 2011), even though there is no cure, it can be treated. The Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) program, which is the treatment many of the afflicted opt for, eases the recovery process which begins with abstinence, with which, as a result of a “Spirtual Awakening” a gradual yet meaningful transformation can be achieved both in thought and perception as well as in the behaviour of the patient. This thesis’ objective is to explore and describe, from a field point of view, what the “Spiritual Awakening” consists of for a recovering alcoholic and the way it is experienced and what it means to the patient. A case study will be the method used for the qualitative investigation in which the data will be collected through in-depth interviews with five recovering alcoholics who regularly assist an A.A. group inside the installations of Monte Fénix, a rehabilitation clinic. Finally, the subjects will take part in a group discussion to compare information obtained from the first method. Through these results I expect to reach the conclusion that during a “Spiritual Awakening” the change in perception instills a sense of novelty and leads to the update of the self. 

Keywords: Alcoholism, alcoholics anonymous, recovery, spiritual awakening.

Index.

Introduction (Chapter 1)

1. Introduction
2. Research Problem
1. Research question
2. Objective  
3. Hypothesis
4. Justification
5. Scope and limitations
1. Methodology
1. 2.2.1.Qualitative paradigm
2. 2.2.2.Investigation design and data recollection
3. 2.2.3.Research population.
4. 2.2.4. Access to the field
5. 2.2.5.Researchers role

1. Background information

INTRODUCTION

Research Problem.

General Objective.

To explore and describe the alcoholic’s experience, the ordeal of recovery and the relationship that exists between a “Spiritual Awakening” and the latter. 

Specific Objective.

To explore and describe, from a field point of view, what the “Spiritual Awakening” consists of for a recovering alcoholic, the way it is experienced and what it means to the patient.

Research Question.

What is the “Spiritual Awakening” experience for a recovering alcoholic from a Gestalt Therapy point of view?

Hypothesis.

During a “Spiritual Awakening” the change in perception generates a sense of novelty that leads to an update of the self. This means that due to an increased awareness owing to multiple factors, including abstinence, a contact-boundary experience surges in the field with which the sense of novelty is accessed and results in a creative adjustment of a chronic situation that leads the self to unfold and update its functions.

Justification.

Alcoholism is known as a chronic disease, progressive and deadly (ENA, 2011), even though there is no cure, it can be treated. Notwithstanding, when the recovery process begins the relapse rate is very high due to a multifactorial causality. There are many studies that propose that the A.A. program not only aids this process but a gradual yet meaningful transformation can be achieved both in thought and perception as well as in the behaviour of the patient, this process in known as recovery. Due to its anonymous nature, it is impossible to pinpoint the exact number of members A.A. currently has, though there are estimates that there may be as many as 2,000,000 recovering alcoholics living by the principles of this program world wide. These recovering alcoholics themselves claim to have transformed their lives in a radical way because of a “Spiritual Awakening” they experienced, whose exploration could help understand the magnitude of an experience so vast and decisive that it is capable of altering the course of their very existences.

Spirituality is a cornerstone for A.A.’s recovery process and is actually part of the suggested twelve step program which alcoholics use in order to achieve sobriety. Once abstinence is achieved, as time passes, the recovering alcoholics manifest a change of conducts and attitudes which originate with an experience known to them as a “Spiritual Awakening”. Therein lies the relevance of this thesis, in exploring an experience with such potential for transformation.

The aim of this investigation is to present an aspect of the recovering patient’s path that has yet to be documented. Aside from what the official A.A. literature details, there are no previous investigations which makes information on this topic scarce. In order to  understand and approach this phenomenon reported by recovering alcoholics, it is crucial to fill in the investigative blanks, which are, not only the importance attributed to spirituality in the recovery process of an alcoholic, but also the description, meaning and impact of a “Spiritual Awakening” experience within the path to recovery.

The results of this research would be useful to professionals who specialize in addiction treatment or for those who may find themselves with an addict in therapy as it would allow for a phenomenon that is not only implicated in the recovery process, but also seems to benefit the process itself, to be understood. The gestalt-oriented view of the thesis on this matter presents a vision of the field in which the subject stops having the lead role to finally yield due consideration to the environment and thus fostering a wider perspective on alcoholism. The aforementioned could be of interest and would prove useful for those who have kin who suffer from alcoholism and seek to understand what dependancy consists on, the recovery process and its interrelation with spirituality, which may, in turn, convert them into support. Moreover, for any alcoholic who finds him or herself in the process of recovery, specially those who have recently begun to transit this path, this research could prove helpful to raise awareness about the disease, learning about the field and the way they interact with it and even allowing them to conceive new ways in which they may positively affect  their recovery process.

Scope and limitation.

In this investigation we will make our first approach to the “Spiritual Awakening” through the experiences of our subjects and the meaning that they, themselves, allot to it with the intention of nearing a more complete understanding of this phenomenon. Next we will describe the depth of the concept using approved and suggested literature from A.A. which generally conveys this as a transformational experience.

The limitations of this study are the following:

1.- Offering an exact and objective definition to the term “Spiritual Awakening” as well as knowing its origin and evolution. When speaking of such abstract terms, it is not only difficult to find suitable data or that is non-contradictory about everything this entails but it is also difficult to appreciate the genesis and the development of this phenomenon. The data obtained will be based on the subjective experience of each subject.

2.- The inception of the concept of “Spiritual Awakening” for each subject. In spite that A.A., as well as literature approved by the organization, constantly refer to this term, it is not a unified concept which in turn leaves each recovering alcoholic to use or understand the concept as they see fit, not necessarily referring to the phenomenon we wish to explore.

Methodology

Qualitative Paradigm.

The qualitative investigation is multi method, naturalistic and interpretative. (Denzin and Lincoln Vasilachis, 2006, p.24) and it aims to define the phenomenon through the patients own meanings and establishes an holistic approach to the reality of the situation we wish to address. Qualitative methods constitute a way to see and the means to conceptualize (Morse, Vasilachis 2006 p.27) which is why this will be the focus by which we will board our thesis.

Little is known about the topic of an alcoholic’s recovery, even less is known about the “Spiritual Awakening” he or she may experience during said process. The context for investigation is deficient due to the fact that researchers who have tried to delve in the subject of alcoholism, in the great majority, have never been through concerning processes of addiction, which would not only allow them to question themselves and explore more subtle nuances, it would also make entering the research field much easier as it would always be accesible and through personal experience, would create an opportunity to build authentic bridges of understanding with the recovering alcoholics. In articles such as “Spirituality and its relationship with alcoholism recovery in Alcoholic Anonymous members” (Gutierrez Reynaga R., Andrade Palos, P., Jimenez Tapia, A., & Juarez Garcia, F. 2007) the authors conducted a quantitative investigation in which vast ideas such as “spirituality”, “superior power” “recovery” and “spiritual awakening” (amongst others) were reduced to mere variables when clearly these are phenomena that require a focus that allows us to capture, define or interpret our subject in terms of the meaning being granted by recovering alcoholics. (Denzin & Lincoln, Vasilachis, 2006 p.24). For Silverman (Vasilachi, 2006 p.26) the methods employed in a qualitative study can provide a deeper understanding of social phenomena due to the fact that it allows us to explore territories such as those of personal experience, language, cultural meanings and forms of social interaction.

When speaking of alcoholism the limits of the field of action are usually barely defined, as it tends to separate the subject that manifests the symptom of dependancy  from his spheres of influence hence becoming an obstacle for the discernment of the interrelationship between them, as well as for the interaction of these elements within the subject itself. Also, the nature of the phenomenon is not clear, which leads me to believe the subject must be examined from a perspective that allows us to observe that which is known as alcoholism to reach certain depth in the situation of both dependancy and recovery as it arises in the field. 

The qualitative investigation allows us to understand, make the individual case meaningful in the context of theory and notice similarities in other cases. (Morse, Vasilichis 2006, p.27) The present thesis is based on this paradigm since it pays special attention to the knowledge, experiences, stories, senses and meanings that recovering alcoholics have and being that only they have gone through a “Spiritual Awakening”, at least in the context of rehabilitation, are the most suitable to describe and explain, from their representations, their transformational experience. Above all, I believe that when engaged in controversial subjects such as spirituality and alcoholism, on which preconceived notions are abundant, applying a method that enables the researcher to maintain an open mind, receptive and flexible in the proximity to the phenomenon and the afflicted in order to reach a genuine understanding of the situation, is necessary.

Investigation design and data recollection

The case study consists on addressing particularities, prioritizing unique cases, where the particular’s effectiveness outweighs the validity of generalizations. (Stake, Vasilachis, 2006, p.219). Blasco (Valisachis, 2006, p.219) mentions that the choice of the case is the result of a thematic clipping and that the case study is defined for the interest in itself. The gist is the depth and global knowledge of the case and not the generalization of results over the latter. This leads me to believe that a case study as the design of this investigation is the adequate path to understanding and describing this phenomenon. 

The design of this investigation has the capacity to capture the complexity of the context and its relationship with the events studied in this phenomenon (Yin, Vasilachis, 2006, p.223) although the limits between these factors may become blurred. When an experience such as a “Spiritual Awakening” arises in a recovering alcoholic, a necessity to imbue oneself in a series of processes and concepts surges in order to be able to observe and analyze the myriad facets that the phenomenon might possess, this with the intention of elucidating the interconnection of the elements that form it.

The case study as the design for this investigation establishes a strategic empirical investigation which boards contemporary phenomenon in meaningful and holistic ways and in their specific context, aimed to answer how and why questions about why these issues take place under examination. (Yin, Vasilachis, 2006, p.223) Currently, addictions are problems that burden society in different areas, which is why the contributions obtained from exploring this subject will present a new way to board the phenomenon which would, in turn, enrich knowledge in this field, promoting, through the autoregulation of substances, the opportunity to begin a process of evolution towards a more supportive and functional field. A group of A.A. members that are in a specialized  addiction clinic, which is the investigative field that we have access to, represents a sufficiently defined context to be able to answer the type of questions that we will pose in this study. This sample group was formed in function of our thematic and conceptual interests, which is why five recovering alcoholics, who met diverse criteria, where asked to participate in this study to analyze each one of their cases as a starting point for the development of this thesis.  (Vasilachis, 2006, p.219)

This design undertakes multiple cases as it enables us, from different instances of comparison, to extend the empiric results toward phenomena of similar conditions and more general levels of theory in addition to elaborating causal (local) explanations referred to the understanding of specific processes in defined contexts. (Miles & Huberman, Vasilachis 2006, p.225) Through case studies, the experience known as “Spiritual Awakening” will be analyzed for each of the five participants, extrapolating aspects of their stories that concur or manifest similarities, this will enable us to, through comparison and contrast, reach a better understanding of the phenomenon. This type of design also offers the opportunity to replicate our findings and results of the investigation permitting us to further construct and develop this theory (Vasilachis 2006, p.225) which is why this thesis could cement the bases for future investigation about both the alcoholic experience as well as the recovery experience. 

The first technique used will be in-depth interviews as these interviews allow us to capture and describe, as richly as possible, the complexity of a phenomenon as vast as the “Spiritual Awakening” of a recovering alcoholic as well as its context, respecting the point of view of the involved social actors. (Vasilachis, 2006, p.220). The in-depth interview will follow a “conversation amongst peers” model, consisting of reunions guided towards the comprehension of the perception that the participants have about their lives, experiences and situations through their own words. (Taylor & Bogdan, Robles, 2011, p.40) The spontaneity of this technique facilitates the attainment of data in a very natural and flexible manner that enables us to inquire into more interesting aspects, according to the goal our investigation, that surface in our studies, respecting and taking as a reference the sense granted to the phenomenon by the participants. During an in-depth interview there is no formal exchange of questions and answers, instead a script with general topics is tailored, topics which we slowly address. Its casual demeanor creates a less threatening atmosphere which empowers interviewees to express themselves in a freer fashion which will eventually build a close connection with the researcher. (Cicourel, Robles, 2011, p.40)

Subsequently there will be a group discussion due to the fact that this technique produces data that is hard to come by via any other means, natural situations are built where spontaneity is possible and in which, because of the permissive environment, opinions, feelings and personal desires emerge that would not in more rigid experimental environments. (Gil s.f. p.12) This method consists on an investigation technique that allows us to recollect information through the interactions that a group develops around a subject determined by the investigator. (Morgan, Arboleda, 2008, p.70) The interaction between participants generates a debate surrounding the topics we wish to explore, which allows us to recollect new information that we may compare to previously obtained data form the in-depth interviews. The group discussion causes each participants representations, opinions, attitudes, behaviours, and symbolic systems regarding the “Spiritual Awakening” experience to be brought into play, which will result in certain postures and conceptions reaching either a consensus or  a polarization of the participants involved.  (Cervantes, Arboleda, 2008, p.71)

Research Population.

The research population we will be studying consists of five recovering alcoholics, three men and two women, this is due to stigmatization and the sexual harassment imposed by a sexist society, in this case mexican machismo, on women that are afflicted by any kind of addiction. Men form the vast majority in A.A.

Inclusion criteria: 

• Participants must have had a “Spiritual Awakening” experience that is consistent with the concept found in approved or suggested A.A. literature, this is the concept we will be using as reference for this investigation.

• Participants can be at any stage of their lives as there is no minimum or maximum age to begin the recovery process in spite of the fact that the longevity of the patient  may affect the experience and conscience he or she has of the phenomenon.

• Participants may be male of female for the reason that gender is not a determining factor in the experience we wish to investigate. 

• Participants must belong to the group ‘San Bernabé II’ which is the field we will have access to in order to carry out this investigation, this is where we will recollect the data.

• Participants must have been sober for at least a year, since the first year is the most dangerous stage for relapse in a process of abstinence.

• During their active stage, participants could have consumed not only alcohol, but any addictive substance because, after all, both alcohol and substance addiction consist on a situation of dependancy  to the same category of objects. 

Exclusion criteria.

• Recovering alcoholics that do not respect the principles and traditions of A.A. as they do not manifest the guidelines suggested by A.A. in order to become part of the group and follow the twelve step program. 

• Recovering alcoholics who are not part of the twelve step program. Even though I cannot ensure that the “Spiritual Awakening” experience for a recovering alcoholic is strictly tied to  the A.A. program, I do believe that its study and application ease the genesis and development of this phenomenon. 

• Recovering alcoholics that once belonged to the San Bernabe II group but that actually work with different groups, this is in order to define our investigative field as well as to reduce the possible sample size. 

Access to the field.

Access to the field will consist of assisting the daily reunions for the San Bernabé II group which will take place from 19:45h to 21:15h Monday through Friday, and 12:00h to 13:30h on Saturdays and Sundays to take notes on anything which might be useful for this investigation. I will meet with the participants, before or after the reunions (depending on a schedule that the participants may find practical) to carry out the case studies. In one occasion I would need all the participants to come in at the same time so that I may conduct the group discussion, this would have to be scheduled beforehand in order to find a suitable time for all five participants.

The A.A. San Bernabé II  group consists of men and women (it is impossible to pinpoint the exact number of recovering alcoholics that comprise A.A. as there is no registration of members in an attempt to protect the anonymity of the members, nevertheless, the reunions in this particular group are usually comprised of about 20 recovering alcoholics, some recurring members, others sporadic) practicing different religions, who cover a wide range of ages (ages range from 16 to 80 in this particular group) as well as different social standings in which we find predominantly (according to observation and testimonies) middle and upper middle class.

San Bernabé II is located inside the compound of the addiction treatment clinic known as Monte Fénix in Las Flores St. #439, Álvaro Obregón, San Angel Inn, 01060 Mexico City.  I, as an ex-patient, have direct and unlimited access to this institution  (for the exception of areas where the inpatients can be found). I requested a permit to use the multipurpose rooms to carry out, during times when the room will be available, the case studies as well as the group discussion.

These rooms are adjacent to the group I intend to study, they are equipped with illumination, air conditioning, chairs, tables and even potable water which make these rooms quite convenient and practical for me as well as for the participants.

The length of my stay in the field will be approximately six weeks  during which I will execute the data recollection techniques in the following manner:

• Week 1 (24th -30th of April) Interview with participant number 1 (Enrique)
• Week 2: Interview with participant number 2
• Week 3: Interview with participant number 3
• Week 4: Interview with participant number 4
• Week 5: Interview with participant number 5
• Week 6: Group discussion.

Researchers role.

Vasilachis (2006) mentions that whoever is handling the investigation must have social  and theoretical sensitivities, must maintain an appropriate analytical distance and, at the same time, appeal to his theoretical knowledge and experience. The researcher must also have a keen sense of observation. As my interest for the subject stems from my first hand experience with alcoholism I consider myself to be tactful and delicate enough to explore sensible aspects of a subject that involves a situation of dependancy. This implies that forming a connection with the participants on an emotional and cognitive level will result naturally and will automatically foment the formation of a link since I have had a chance to experience the world in a similar fashion as they have. (Rager, Vasilachis, 2006, p.34) Consequently, it is inevitable for me to be stirred by their testimonies, I must be very cautious to manage aspects that may pose a threat to them. The aforementioned means that although I may be tapping into the essence of the suffering elicited by the patients I will have to remain stoic to make these experiences available to   others.

As a qualitative investigator, my role involves observation through a phenomenological attitude in order to collect information and produce data that will help me describe the phenomenon in question. For this, I will have to analyze both the manifest, explicit, and conscious aspects as well as the implicit subjacent ones. Even though I’m responsible  for getting involved with the participants and their personal experiences along with generating rapport, I must not interfere with, alter their processes or impose an external point of view. It is also necessary to be sensible to the effect I cause in the field and will  try to interact with the participants in a natural and nonintrusive manner, following an holistic perspective. Equivalently I must be prepared to handle paradoxes, uncertainty, ethical dilemmas and ambiguity if the need arises. 

I chose this subject for my thesis because four years ago I became an inpatient in Monte Fénix due to the problems I had owing to my consumption of alcohol. I recognized myself as an alcoholic and since then I began a recovery process in which I maintain myself. Considering the institution in which I was a patient in worked with the Minnesota Model, I was in contact with the A.A. program from the very beginning and have continued working with it ever since. I consider this program to be the main reason I achieved sobriety. Because of this, I am very familiarized with the progression of the disease, as well as the series of events that take place in a recovery process in which I believe the “Spiritual Awakening” is of great relevance due to its transformational nature. Personally, said experience altered the course of my life and through the shared experiences of my fellow recovering alcoholics and by the observable changes in their attitudes and behaviour, I have come to believe that it establishes the origin of the process that allows us to reach sobriety. For this reason, I believe it is a phenomenon well worth exploring, more so through the eyes of those who have experienced this and have also had the chance of meeting others before and after experiencing this, which allows them to describe the contrasting changes.

Background information (sinthesis).

Alcoholism is a controversial  subject as it involves economic, cultural, social, psychological and biological elements which is why many investigations vary, more or less, depending on the focus used to describe and explore the phenomenon. This thesis  will not only address the problem from a Gestalt point of view, but will also view it form the field paradigm proposed by Goodman, which privileges contact and relations.

The A.A. twelve step program, as well as its literature, are based, on the most part, on Dr. William Duncan Silkworth’s work, in which he proposed that alcoholism was found in the body as an imperious desire for a drink but also in the mind as a mental obsession to drink. 

The imperious physical desire to drink is the reaction that emerges when an alcoholic has alcohol in his system. It’s important to emphasize that the desire begins after drinking, not before, this is the reason why in this program, as well as in the models used by it, alcoholism is treated as an allergy because of the simple fact that it manifests itself as an abnormal reaction to something. A clear example of this is when a person who does not suffer from alcoholism starts feeling dizzy or nauseous after a few drinks and decides to stop, an alcoholic, on the other hand, incapable of satisfying definitively his o her desire for the substance, carries on drinking no matter the consequences. The first drink consumed by the alcoholic that caused the allergy was in fact due to the mental obsession, that consists of a fixed idea that superimposes itself above all others. 

Silkworth (1939) also recognizes that alcoholics drink, initially, in order to elude  the uneasiness, irritation and/or discontent experienced while being sober, striding to feel calmer and happier. They evoke the pleasant sensation that they had the last time they drank and those memories are powerful enough to make the alcoholic succumb to the substance and trigger the allergy as soon as alcohol is consumed. 

The latter implies that the alcoholic experience surfaces as a creative adjustment, an attempt by the subject in question to assimilate from the environment that which is useful for his or her development and consolidate the heterogeneous elements into a new whole, nonetheless, the answer becomes rigid and before the appearance of a new situation, the alcoholic, unable or afraid of abandoning the safety that the known answer provides does not immerse into an aggression phase, destructive enough to assimilate the novelty.

The formation of a Gestalt, in a situation of alcohol dependancy, will be constantly interrupted by the emergence of a more relevant necessity, the need for the substance, this becomes paramount and organizes the behaviour of the individual until the need is satiated, subsequently, while withdrawal syndrome does not set in (it is not necessary to reach this stage, a simple craving will suffice) this phases into the background and yields its place to something important in the new now which will eventually be hindered, once more, by the imperious desire to drink. If contact consists in the formation of this figure then the constant necessity to drink becomes an interruption.

If the contact process is general, the development of the subject in question is inhibited, the interruption will result in a hinderance of psycho-social development in addition to a physical degeneration that the substance itself causes. As aspects of self in a simple and spontaneous act, the it, the ego and the personality represent the main stages of the creative adjustment, (Perls, Hefferline & Goodman 1951, p.195), in a situation of alcoholism, however, the id function includes proper organic agitations as well as the perception that the subject in question has of the environment around him, his possibilities and the unpleasant feelings that bind him to it. The ego represents the progressive identification of consumption possibilities, coupled with the successive alienation of any possibility that may present unpleasantness, which generates the personality function to lack a situation of novelty to assimilate, which is why instead of having a creative adjustment this becomes a conservative one. 

The self belongs to the organism and the environment which explains why it feels the essence of both, this is also why I incline myself towards Goodman’s paradigm proposing alcoholism as a field phenomenon in which each element is swayed by the other.

All around the world alcoholism is known as a disease and, even though the definition varies depending on the source, its common denominator is always a person that the literature defines as an alcoholic. In 1994, during the ninth revision of International Classification of Disease (ICD) the World Health Organization (WHO) substituted the term alcoholism, which it was catalogued in epigraph 303 of the glossary of disease as a non transmissible one, for the alcohol dependence syndrome. It is considered to be, in the clinical area with the most orthodox psychological approaches as a mental disorder, making its way into the scope of psychopathology that has, as an objective, the description of altered psychic manifestations (Luque & Villegrán, Restrepo 2007, p.124) Gestalt psychotherapy exposed its own vision of this very subject in what is known as its founding book: Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth of the Human Personality, which proposes that any disturbance of the conscience is considered a psychopathology,  (Perls, Hefferline & Goodman, 1951, pp.xli) and more recently, explored through the work of Gianni Frencesetti that offers a psychological perspective  which is radically relational.

Francesetti (2015) consideres that the object of psychopathology must not be the individual but the field instead, the suffering, which in this case is the alcoholism, shouldn’t be placed on the patient if the phenomenon surges in a contact-boundary, which belongs to the organism as well as its environment. Owing to this Francesetti proposes the concept of “Psychopathological Field” as a phenomenological field that lacks a contact-boundary so that psychopathology, at least from Gestalt point of view, may place it’s sights on this. (p.70)

In Gestalt the person-environment fit or organism field is disclosed. It is difficult to think of the alcoholic experience of the field while avoiding to set the main focus on the organism and objectify it as soon as we add the alcoholic label to it. This is due to the influence of more prevailing orthodox focuses on the matter. 

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