MAKING MEANING OF ALCOHOLICS-ANONYMOUS FOR SOCIAL-WORKERS - MYTHS, METAPHORS, AND REALITIES

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), the increasingly popular mutual-help progra m for alcoholics, is often criticized for being just another substitut e addiction, emphasizing ''powerlessness'' to already disenfranchised groups, being a religion or cult, adhering to a medical model of disea se instead of a strengths perspective, and other such areas Of concern to social workers. Many of these interpretations are based on viewing AA as an alternative treatment model or a rational service delivery m odel. This article addresses common critiques of AA by offering a way of understanding it as a ''normative narrative community,'' where iden tity transformation takes place through the use of metaphor and storyt elling. The article suggests alternative meanings of key metaphors, su ch as ''powerlessness,'' describes areas of program strength and poten tial barriers for social workers, and reviews current research on AA e ffectiveness.