{"product_id":"challenging-and-resisting-dominant-discourses-in-alcoholics-anonymous","title":"Challenging and Resisting Dominant Discourses in Alcoholics Anonymous","description":"This book is about what it’s like for someone in Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) to question the ideas and beliefs promoted in A.A.'s main text, The Big Book, and within the group itself. It focuses on how these beliefs shape the subjectivity of someone in A.A. and what happens when a person starts to leave or question the group. This happened to the author when training to become a psychotherapist or counsellor, which is also discussed.   This research also introduces a new method called ‘Reflexive Insider Discourse Analysis’. This method combines analysing A.A.’s Big Book with personal reflections from someone who has lived experience in A.A. It aims to understand not just what The Big Book says about being an alcoholic, but also how an alcoholic comes to understand and define themselves through this book. A key finding is that even though A.A. is one of the most common support options for alcohol addiction, there's very little academic research that looks closely at how it actually works or what messages it sends to its members, as most research just look at whether or not it’s effective.   By analysing The Big Book, this volume reveals that A.A. is deeply influenced by early 20th-century American, Protestant Christian, and individualistic values—even though it claims not to be religious. These values influence how people in A.A. see addiction, recovery, and themselves. These values have also gone out into the wider world and have influenced how society see alcoholics, alcoholism, and recovery. The research also explores what it’s like to step away from these beliefs and how this process can feel like leaving a religion. Finally, it discusses how A.A.’s ideas have influenced the wider mental health system and offers suggestions for how A.A. might update its approach to be more inclusive and relevant in today’s diverse and global society, as well as how mental health practitioners can educate themselves better on working with alcoholics or A.A. members.   This book is intended for clinicians looking to understand A.A. from an insider’s perspective further, as well as for qualitative researchers interested in discourse analysis as a methodology. Despite being a largely academic text, it is also for A.A. members, past or present, who have struggled with A.A.’s core messages and discourses.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57555397804405,"sku":"9781041373001","price":43.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/challenging-and-resisting-dominant-discourses-in-alcoholics-anonymous","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}