Alcoholics and narcotics anonymous: a radical movement under threat (2012)

In recent decades, the considerable proliferation of the self-help groups (especially those of the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA)) has attracted the interest of those engaged in the social sciences as well as of those responsible for mapping out health policies. This article is based on the 10-year involvement of the authors in a participatory action research project for the promotion of self-help groups in Greece as well as to an extensive literature review of the AA and NA movements. Based on this methodology, the objective of this article is twofold. First, it identifies the radical perspective of self-help groups, as the main source for their effectiveness, while it attempts an assessment of their effect on traditional professional attitudes. Second, it raises concerns over the radical perspective of these initiatives in the framework of their transition from an alternative stance towards their integration in formal Health Systems. This transition process is manifested in the following developments: (1) the constantly increasing number of old members who quit the role of the volunteer sponsor and undertake the financially beneficial role of (para-) professional addiction counselor; (2) the instrumentalization of 12 steps; (3) the increasing number of members who adopt the nosological perspective of addiction 4. The various adverse effects of dominant culture on the internal working of the groups are studied. Moreover, this article attempts a comparative assessment of the produced experience with the AA and NA movements in Greece and abroad.