The Alcoholic Society: Addiction and Recovery of the Self

Norman Kent Denzin

Jan 1993 · Transaction Publishers

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This work is both an amalgamation and extension of two early classic studies by the author, The Alcoholic Self and The Recovering Alcoholic. The new book provides a comprehensive study of how ordinary people live and experience alcoholism. And it does so in a larger context of the recovery process. Offering a unique theoretical foundation to understanding the lived experience of the active alcoholic, the author asserts that alcoholism is a disease in which negative emotions divide the self into warring, inner factions, fueled and distorted by alcoholic intoxication. The reader will find in The Alcoholic Society a clear, concise, picture of the inner life of alcoholism-a collective portrait drawn from the perspective of the active, drinking alcoholic. The work is solidly anchored in a long-term study of the socialization experiences that began in alcoholism treatment centers and continue in Alcoholics Anonymous recovery programs. The new volume details the transformation of self that accompanies the life cycle of illness and recovery. The book covers the treatment process, the restructuring of self, the alcoholic's interaction with his recovery treatment program and the modalities of self-transcendence that result from treatment. The Alcoholic Society will prove to be of inestimable value to professionals from all spheres, especially social psychologists who are working on the loss of self-efficacy, and practitioners and researchers in treatment centers who must confront realities of alcoholism on an everyday basis.