Sober Alcoholic Existence

1. Sober Alcoholic Existence József Madácsy Department of Social Work and Social Policy University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities Response-able Communities – International Conference May 22-24, 2013, Pécs, Hungary

2. Introduction • The statements in this poster-presentation are based on the literature of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), and an empirical research performed among members of Hungarian AA, in which • a 650-hour participant observation, • 32 interviews and • a questionnaire completed by 126 respondents were included • Hereinafter I attempt to summarize some characteristics of the existence of the sobering alcoholic as a being relating to herself or himself and the world in a specific way

3. Community of fate rooted in the alcoholic identity • A structural analogue can be observed between the beliefs of Christianity and AA: • as a common „weakness”, sin, is a universal characteristic of human beings forming a community of fate from individuals, so a common problem, alcoholism, forms a community of fate from alcoholics sobering in AA

4. The question of responsibility for alcoholism • There is a common belief that people are responsible for their alcoholism (Wurm 2003), while AA definitely denies it: alcoholism is a disease like diabetes or cancer, so alcoholics can not help their alcoholism • Yet members of AA take a kind of posterior responsibility for their earlier alcoholic behaviour when making amends to people they harmed • Members of AA say that they become responsible for their alcoholism after they have come into possession of the solution (of AA): they gain the capability of choice in this manner

5. Similarities between the drama of the protestant Christian believer and that of the alcoholic • Both of them • has fallen • is in the trap of sin or alcohol • can not escape from it by her or his own power • but may be saved by a Higher Power (HP), if her or his life is surrendered to her or his HP (Antze 1987)

6. The inevitability of dependency • AA members say that after you have quitted drinking, you have to attend AA meetings in the rest of your life • So the question is not that you are dependent or totally free: you are inevitably dependent on something • Dependency is an original condition in human existence • Your freedom is to chose the power on which you will depend

7. The nearness of death • In the nearness of death, the sobering alcoholic’s life is existentially sharp-edged, she or he has to be conscious and ready for prompt change • As a consequence of sin, „normal” Christian people may die in the sense of „second death”, but they do not die physically because of sin: they have a moratorium to change till their physical death • Contrarily, when a sobering alcoholic makes moral mistakes, it may cause relapse, so it may be fatal physically and spiritually at the same time – for the sobering alcoholic there is no difference between physical and spiritual (second) death

8. Paradoxical existential situation • „For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16:25) • This paradox is a basic feature of sober alcoholic existence, too, and it is a source of a paradoxical field of meaning, in which meanings often turn into their contraries: • „I am so lucky that I am an alcoholic.” (because it has been the beginning of a spiritual awakening) (Kelemen – B. Erdos 2004)

9. Bibliography • Antze, P. (1987): Symbolic Action in Alcoholics Anonymous. In: Douglas, Mary (ed.): Constructive Drinking. Perspectives on Drink from Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 149-181. • Kelemen, G. – B. Erdos, M. (2004): Craving for Sobriety. A Unique Therapeutic Community in Hungary. Pécs: University of Pécs – Leo Amici 2002 Foundation. • Wurm, C. (2003): Vajon hasznos-e a függőség fogalmának alkalmazása? Egzisztencialista megfontolások. Addiktológia 2 (3-4): 487-497. [Is Addiction a Useful Concept? An Existential View.European Psychotherapy 4 (1), 153-160.]

10. Thank you for your attention!