sustainable recovery: the self-transformative power of storytelling in alcoholics anonymous

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Sustainable Recovery: The Self-Transformative Power of Storytelling inAlcoholics AnonymousLinda C. Lederman a & Lisa M. Menegatos aa Hugh Downs School of Communication , Arizona State University ,Tempe, Arizona, USAPublished online: 29 Aug 2011.

To cite this article: Linda C. Lederman & Lisa M. Menegatos (2011) Sustainable Recovery: The Self-Transformative Power of Storytelling in Alcoholics Anonymous, Journal of Groups in Addiction &Recovery, 6:3, 206-227, DOI: 10.1080/1556035X.2011.597195

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Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 6:206–227, 2011Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1556-035X print / 1556-0368 onlineDOI: 10.1080/1556035X.2011.597195

ARTICLES

Sustainable Recovery: The Self-TransformativePower of Storytelling in Alcoholics Anonymous

LINDA C. LEDERMAN and LISA M. MENEGATOSHugh Downs School of Communication, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

The present study builds on Robinson’s (1979) research on Alco-holics Anonymous (AA) in the United Kingdom and his findingthat storytelling was an important part of the recovery process inAA. We surveyed 178 members of AA in the United States andasked them how sharing their story of recovery with other alcoholicshelped them stay sober. Thematic data analysis reveals storytellingimpacts the storyteller in five primary ways: being reminded of apainful past, reinforcing one’s recovery, losing the sense of termi-nal uniqueness, developing one’s relationship with one’s self, andhelping others. Drawing on Fisher’s narrative paradigm (1984)and Denzin’s (1987a, 1987b) conceptualization of the role of selfin the alcoholic’s recovery, we argue the stories are a form of self-persuasion that help AA members sustain their sobriety. In recovery,alcoholics develop a better understanding of themselves, replacetheir alcoholic selves (Denzin, 1987a) with recovering selves (Den-zin, 1987b), and begin to have a sense of themselves that we referto as the “aspirational self.”

KEYWORDS Alcoholics Anonymous, alcoholic self-narrative, self,recovering self, aspirational self, storytelling, self-persuasion, sobri-ety, recovery, communication

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) began in the mid-1930s when two alcoholics,Bill Wilson (a stockbroker) and Dr. Bob Smith (a surgeon), met, each with

The authors thank Dr. Perry Pauley at California State University-Fullerton, who workedwith us on the initial design for data collection and thematic analyses.

Address correspondence to Linda C. Lederman, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Ari-zona State University, 300 E. University Dr., Tempe, AZ 85287-6505. E-mail: [email protected]

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Sustainable Recovery 207

a long and disappointing history of attempts to get sober and remain sober.Through telling one another their tales of their drinking and their lifelongstruggles to stop, the two men helped each other achieve and maintain sobri-ety (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1976). Bill Wilson’s and BobSmith’s experiences of sharing their stories honestly with one another even-tually became the centerpiece of recovery in AA. From the support group’sinception, the purpose of sharing one’s story of “experience, strength, andhope” was twofold: “to stay sober and to help other alcoholics achieve so-briety” (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 2010, p. 1). Over time,the stories told by men (and eventually women) trying to achieve and/ormaintain sobriety took on a format, generally consisting of three main parts:the alcoholics’ past experiences with drinking, what happened to bring themto seek recovery in AA, and what it is like for them now that they are sober(Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1976).

The importance of storytelling in AA was underscored in Robinson’s(1979) research in the United Kingdom. Using both a large random surveyand in-depth interviews with AA members in England and Wales, Robinsonfound a relationship “between not telling one’s story and dropping out” ofthe 12-step program (p. 66). Additionally, study participants indicated thatlistening to and giving “talks and stories” were some of the most helpful as-pects of AA meetings (p. 63). Robinson argued that “talking is the mechanismof change in AA” (p. 63); it was the primary method by which alcoholics gotsober and remained sober in the self-help group. While numerous studiessince Robinson’s have also found talking and/or storytelling to be an impor-tant part of the recovery process in AA (Denzin, 1987b; O’Halloran, 2008;Rasmussen & Capaldi, 1990; Weegmann & Piwowoz-Hjort, 2009), questionsregarding how and why this is so remain.

The present study builds on Robinson’s (1979) work by exploring theimpact of storytelling on the storyteller in AA. We asked AA members todescribe the ways in which sharing their story of recovery with other al-coholics helps them stay sober. We analyzed the data qualitatively, initiallyusing a grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2001), to explore participants’retrospective perceptions of how storytelling impacts them. The themes thatemerged suggested the stories were persuasive on an intrapersonal level.Thus, we conducted a second wave of data analysis, drawing on WalterFisher’s (1984) narrative paradigm and Denzin’s (1987a, 1987b) conceptual-ization of the role of self in the alcoholic’s recovery. We ultimately arguethat storytelling in AA is a form of reflexive self-persuasion that facilitatessustained recovery, including the development of what we conceptualize asthe “aspirational self.”

PREVIOUS STUDIES OF AA

The body of literature on AA has demonstrated the short-term and long-term benefits of AA participation (Connors, Tonigan, & Miller, 2001; Cross,

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208 L. C. Lederman and L. M. Menegatos

Morgan, Mooney, Martin, & Rafter, 1990; Kaskutas et al., 2005; Moos & Moos,2005; Project MATCH Research Group, 1997); however, studies that focus onthe ways by which those benefits occur are less prevalent. In their synthesisof AA and 12-step facilitation studies that investigated statistical mediatorsof AA’s impact on substance use outcomes, Kelly, Magill, and Stout (2009)determined that the primary “‘mechanisms’ of behavior change” (p. 241) thatmediated participation in AA and participants’ sobriety included self-efficacy,motivation to stay sober, commitment to AA, spirituality, reading AA litera-ture, developing social networks with other sober people, and helping otheralcoholics. While some of these mechanisms—such as creating social net-works and helping others—involved talking to other alcoholics, the studiesreviewed by Kelly et al. did not, to our knowledge, focus specifically on theact of storytelling.

Research that has examined the importance of storytelling in AA hastaken a rhetorical approach, emphasizing the content of the stories. Forinstance, upon analyzing The Big Book, AA’s primary text that is largely com-posed of AA members’ stories of recovery, Ford (1989) claimed AA was a“rhetorical community” that was based on the belief that members were “cho-sen people” who could “fetch good out of evil” and use their illness as a wayto help others to persuade them to join the organization. Humphreys (2000)drew on The Big Book, as well as stories shared in meetings and interviews,to categorize AA narratives into five basic types: the Drunk-A-Log, the SerialStory, the Apologue, Legends, and Humorous Stories. He argued that differenttypes of stories served different functions in AA, including relieving shameand guilt, transforming one’s identity, and persuading others to join. Theidea that one’s AA narrative could persuade other group members and one’sself was explored in Rasmussen and Capaldi’s (1990) study, which illustratedhow AA narratives displayed the concept of rebirth. Rasmussen and Capaldiargued that this emphasis on rebirth promoted both “self-acceptance”—byhelping members embrace their pasts and identify with others—and a “rein-terpretation of reality” that gave AA members’ lives meaning and coherence(pp. 255–257).

Rasmussen and Capaldi’s (1990) view that storytelling in AA had bothinterpersonal and intrapersonal influences enfolded Robinson’s (1979) ar-gument that storytelling was a way for support group members to connectwith, to identify with, and to help each other. It also enfolded Denzin’s(1987a, 1987b) claims that storytelling in AA facilitated an identify shift froman alcoholic self to a recovering self . According to Denzin (1987b), the new,recovering self developed through the telling and retelling of one’s narrativebecause this sharing process involved self-reflection and the reframing ofone’s experiences through the lens of AA’s ideology and language (Cain,1991; Denzin, 1987b; O’Halloran, 2008; Weegmann & Piwowoz-Hjort, 2009).As a whole, these studies found that storytelling in AA functions much likestorytelling in other types of illness support groups (Dickerson, Posluszny, &

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Kennedy, 2000; Hsieh, 2004)—interpersonally, storytelling is a way for groupmembers to give and receive social support and practical information; intrap-ersonally, storytelling is a way for group members to make sense of theirillness, to reconcile their old selves with their new selves, and to developand accept a new identity. The idea that both interpersonal and intraper-sonal processes are involved in sustaining sobriety through AA is consistentwith both the fellowship’s philosophy on treating alcoholism and with manyin the scientific community who examine the relationships between suchprocesses and substance use outcomes (Kelly et al., 2009).

In the addiction and recovery literature, the primary theoretical accountsof various AA processes and outcomes have been social control theory,social learning theory, behavioral economics, and stress and coping theory(Moos, 2007, 2008). Although these theories are helpful, they do not focus onstorytelling or talking, despite the fact that, as Robinson (1979) notes, “talkingis the one thing that AA members do more than anything else” (p. 63). Almost30 years after Robinson’s work was published, Moos (2008) indicated thatit is feasible that “communication patterns that promote” cognitive changes“may be the key active ingredients” in self-help groups like AA (p. 394).If communication patterns are indeed one of the mechanisms of change inAA, drawing on communication theories and concepts might help us gaina better understanding of one of the most commonly used and prescribedprograms for the treatment of alcoholism (Kaskutas et al., 2005; McNeece &DiNitto, 2005; National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2000)

The present study focuses on the intrapersonal impact of AA narratives.Rather than focusing on the content of the stories, we take a more retrospec-tive approach by asking AA members directly how they themselves thinksharing their story of recovery helps them stay sober and then by offeringa possible theoretical explanation as to why the reported impacts of story-telling on the AA storyteller contribute to his or her sobriety. In so doing, wehope to offer additional insight, using a communication lens, into the ways inwhich recovering alcoholics perceive that their storytelling might serve as amechanism of change in AA. Although this study does not examine the con-tent or language use of AA members’ stories, it is important to note that fromthe communication perspective, storytelling is conceptualized as a complex,interpretative process in which storytellers are both creating meanings oftheir experiences through their storytelling and reflecting through their cre-ations the social context (i.e., AA) in which they come to understand theiralcoholism (Gergen, 1991; Mokros, 2003; Mokros & Deetz, 1996; O’Halloran,2008). As such, storytelling is part of an ongoing communicative process thatsymbolically forms and re-forms the storytellers’ identity/identities throughtheir interactions with other recovering alcoholics and through their accep-tance of the AA worldview. This conceptualization of storytelling is rooted ina social constructionist view of communication (Berger & Luckmann, 1966).Given that storytelling is a communicative act and a key element of the

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recovery process in AA, using a communication theory such as Fisher’s nar-rative paradigm (1984) can better our understanding of how or why story-telling helps AA members sustain their sobriety and can potentially explainwhat makes stories an effective form of persuasion in AA.

FISHER’S NARRATIVE PARADIGM

Fisher (1984, 1987) argued that all people are storytellers by nature andthat we tell stories for the same reasons we use symbols—to make senseof the world around us, to create order, and to create a sense of commu-nity with others. The narrative paradigm conceptualized stories as a formof rhetoric, as a way to influence people’s beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors(Fisher, 1985). According to Fisher (1984, 1987), there are two standardsby which people decide whether or not a story is persuasive: (1) narrativecoherence or narrative probability, and (2) narrative fidelity. A story hasnarrative coherence if it is structurally and/or argumentatively sound, whichFisher (1987) termed “structural coherence,” and if it is consistent with paststories that the listener or reader has already accepted, which Fisher termed“material coherence” (p. 47). The most important element of narrative co-herence though is “characterological coherence,” or the believability of thecharacters (p. 47). If the story “‘hangs together’“ as a whole, if it is “free ofcontradictions,” then it has narrative coherence (Fisher, 1985, p. 349). Thesecond criterion for the persuasiveness of a story, narrative fidelity, involveswhether or not the various narrative elements “constitute good reasons forbelief or action” (Fisher, 1987, p. 105). To determine if a story does provideevidence of good reasons, a listener or reader should identify the valuesthat are integrated in the narrative and consider the appropriateness of thosevalues and the consequences of acting on them, including the impact thatadhering to those values might have on one’s relationship with others andon one’s relationship with himself or herself (Fisher, 1987). To have narrativefidelity, a story must “ring true” for the audience (Fisher, 1984, p. 8).

Fisher’s narrative paradigm is usually applied to situations where onemight be influenced by another’s communication (Brinson & Brown, 1997;Fisher, 1987); however, the theory can also be applied to one’s own com-munication. Fisher (1987) noted that narrative coherence and fidelity were“considerations for judging the merits of stories, whether one’s own or an-other’s” (p. 88). He went on to argue that evaluating discourse should beautomatic or second nature for everyone and that the questions one shouldask to determine the logic of good reasons in a narrative “can ascertain theweight of reason in any given message, including one’s own” (1987, p. 108).In examining both the intrapersonal and social influences of storytelling inAA, Rasmussen and Capaldi (1990) drew on Fisher’s concept of good rea-sons and claimed that AA narratives advocate self-acceptance and a new

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interpretation of reality as good reasons why alcoholics should adhere tothe AA way of living. In their application of Fisher’s narrative paradigm,Rasmussen and Capaldi specifically focused on how the concept of goodreasons applied to the rebirth myth they found in the content of AA mem-bers’ stories. The present study utilizes Fisher’s concepts of narrative co-herence and narrative fidelity and applies them not to the content of AAnarratives, but to AA members’ reflective accounts of how storytelling helpsthem sustain sobriety. It asks the question, what is the impact on storytellersthemselves of telling their stories in AA?

METHOD

To address the research question, an exploratory, qualitative study was de-signed to survey recovering alcoholics in AA about the impact that tellingtheir stories has on them. To not be intrusive in AA meetings, we designeda brief questionnaire and sought ways to find recovering AA members with-out going into meetings. In this section, we describe the participants andrecruitment procedures, the survey, and the steps involved in the first waveof data analysis, before turning to the primary themes that emerged fromthat analysis.

Participants and Recruitment

Upon receiving approval from the university’s institutional review board,participants were recruited online via Facebook, a social networking site.An advertisement for the study was posted on Facebook for 10 days andappeared more frequently during that 10-day period for an estimated 2,800U.S. Facebook users who referenced AA in their profile or fan affiliation. Therecruitment advertisement read as follows: “R U a friend of Bill W? We arelooking for people in recovery from alcoholism who participate in a 12-stepprogram to share their stories.” When participants clicked on the advertise-ment box, they were directed to an online information page about the survey,which then directed them to the consent form and questionnaire. The snow-ball method was also employed, whereby respondents who completed thequestionnaire were asked to forward the survey link to other AA memberswho might be interested in participating in the study. The study advertise-ment was viewed by 176,137 Facebook users. Of those, 583 people tookfurther action and clicked on the advertisement box, which took them to thestudy information page. Of those, 178 completed the questionnaire. To pro-tect participants’ confidentiality, each response received a study-generatedidentification number; participants were not asked to provide names. Partic-ipants ranged in age from 19 to 75 years (M = 44.14, SD = 10.54). Themajority were female (51.7%) and Caucasian (96.2%). The study used a

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recruitment method of advertising on Facebook, as we were not attempt-ing to do a randomized or representative study of AA members; instead, ourgoal was to gather initial descriptive responses to our questions, which couldthen be the basis for future work that would have more inferential power.Thus, we are aware that it is most likely that our respondents are a subgroupof AA and consisted of those who could be contacted through this socialnetworking site.

Measure

The questionnaire used in this study was part of a larger project involvingstorytelling and recovery, and it posed several open-ended questions on thetopic. The focus of the present investigation was participants’ responses tothe first open-ended item: “Please describe in your own words how sharingyour story of recovery with other alcoholics helps you stay sober.” Demo-graphic questions were also asked. Participants’ descriptions provided thedata for the initial thematic analysis, which is described next.

Thematic Data Analysis

Using a grounded theory approach to the data analysis, we began with line-by-line coding and constant comparative analysis (Charmaz, 2001; Strauss &Corbin, 1998). Initially, two members of the research team individually readthrough the first 16 respondents’ answers to the first open-ended surveyquestion, examining each line of data and labeling the main concept, idea,or feeling being described in each thought unit (Charmaz). Once both re-searchers completed the line-by-line coding of the 16 responses, they met tocompare and discuss their results. The few discrepancies in the line-by-linecoding were resolved through discussion. Then, using constant comparativeanalysis (Charmaz; Strauss & Corbin) and looking for similarities, differences,and patterns in what was said among the first 16 participants, a codebookwas created. Using the codebook, the authors of the present study coded theremaining 162 responses, line by line. As the process of constant comparativeanalysis continued, the codebook was refined, and the initial 16 responseswere recoded accordingly. Using this grounded theory approach, five majorthemes emerged, as described below, followed by a second wave of dataanalysis where we applied Fisher’s narrative paradigm, augmented by Den-zin’s conceptualization of the self in recovery from alcoholism, to the themes.

FINDINGS

Emergent Themes

Respondents indicated that telling their stories to other alcoholics affectedthem in a variety of ways, including their ability to influence others as well

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as the ways in which they themselves were changed. Given the researchquestion, this study focused on the responses regarding the impact uponthe storytellers themselves. Five primary themes emerged from the data:being reminded of a painful past, reinforcing one’s recovery, losing thesense of terminal uniqueness, developing one’s relationship with one’s self,and helping others. We explicate each theme below, and following Wood’s(2004) example, we quote participants extensively as “a form of face validityby allowing readers to assess the fit between data and themes” (p. 561). Forreading ease, typos, spelling errors, and punctuation errors in the originalresponses have been corrected here.

Theme #1: Reminders of a Painful Past

When members of AA follow the traditional format in telling their story,they begin with the past, with a description of their drinking and the conse-quences of their drinking. For 42% of the participants in the present study,this served as a reminder of how bad life was before AA. As Respondent #11explained, “It is easy to forget the pain and anguish of the late stages of mydrinking 28 years ago, but when I tell my story, it all comes flooding back.Most of it is not a bad thing, although some of the things I talk about havingto do with my children still bring a kind of pain when I think about them.”Several participants noted that it was sometimes easy to romanticize their olddrinking experiences, and that sharing their story with others helped themsee the past more clearly: “I think that hearing myself talk about what I usedto do, the behavior and the feelings, just makes the way that I lived mylife sound more and more ridiculous to me. Sometimes I get nostalgic, andwhen I think back, I’m not looking at the whole picture. Yes, it was fun, fora while, but when I am sharing my story with a sponsee or others, it alwaystakes it full circle to the truth” (Respondent #174). Being reminded of theirpast helped AA members to be grateful for their present. As Respondent #18explained, “It might be easy to take my sobriety for granted, but when Ishare my story (what it was like), I remember how hopeless and difficultmy life was (what happened). I see the miracle of grace when I surrenderedand (what it is like now) my life today gives hope to people who mightbe as sick/suffering as I was.” While talking about the past served as animportant reminder of painful experiences, talking about the present servedas a reminder of how they achieved sobriety and the benefits it has broughtthem, which we explain in the next theme.

Theme #2: Reinforcing Recovery

Almost a third of the respondents spoke to this theme. They said that sharingwith other alcoholics served to reinforce their own recovery by reiteratingthe progress they had made and helping them to be grateful: “It provides me

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with a backdrop against which I can view my life as it is today, and maintaina sense of gratitude for what I have and pride in what I have accomplished”(Respondent #66). Respondent #70 said that sharing reminded her “how theprogram and steps has worked and is continuing to work for me, how muchI have changed and grown, and reminds me of how lucky I am and blessedto have stayed sober for this amount of time.” Respondent #34 described thebenefits in her life today: “I have a life beyond my most ambitious dreams;my family is back; I have my dream job, and I get to remember that I wantwhat I have, not have what I want.”

In addition to instilling a sense of gratitude, sharing their story of recov-ery also served to remind some participants of AA concepts and principles.Respondent #58 spoke of this in the context of sponsoring: “I continuallyam reinforcing sobriety ‘basics’ in my own mind while learning more aboutthe steps and the Big Book.” As Respondent #103 explained, “It is the onlyway to keep the steps fresh. It is impossible to take a newcomer throughthe steps without going through them again myself.” Thus, sharing one’sstory can help remind an AA member of the rewards of recovery and of theprocess it took to achieve those rewards.

Theme #3: Losing the Sense of Terminal Uniqueness

“I love it when I share my story and another woman (or man) says, ‘Oh mygod, I didn’t think anyone else had that experience.’ Then we both knowthat we aren’t alone” (Respondent #74). This sense of knowing they werenot alone was important to many of the study participants. Many recoveringalcoholics use the term “terminal uniqueness” to describe the sense of howdifferent they believed they were from others until they found others likethemselves in AA. As Respondent #105 put it, sharing “helps me feel lessisolated, less different from others.” Approximately 23% of participants saidthat sharing their story of recovery helped them stay sober by enhancingtheir relationships with other people in AA. For some, no longer feelingalone was due to the social support they received from the group. As oneAA member said, “I can call any one of them for support” (Respondent #32).Many spoke of a mutual understanding and acceptance in the fellowshipbecause they could identify with each other. Respondent #100 said, “Thereis nothing that feels as good as when you are sharing your story and someonenew can relate.” Similarly, Respondent #20 explained, “It is helpful to knowthat I am not alone and that others know what I am going through and havehad the same feelings and fears and stayed sober.” The sense that manyof their stories were the same seemed to be a bonding experience that AAmembers were made to “feel a part of” (Respondent #94). Sharing helped AAmembers socialize, connect, and feel a sense of belonging to the fellowship.Respondent #17’s words were echoed by several study participants: “It’s the‘we.’”

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In these quotes and those that follow, we can see how—even though AAmembers were asked how sharing their stories impacted them—respondentsreflected that, in part, their awareness of the impact was comparative andinfluenced both by other AA members’ stories and by the responses theyreceived from people who listened to their stories. As such, the terminaluniqueness theme, perhaps more than any of the other themes, reveals theiterative, constituted, and/or socially constructed nature of storytelling inAA. As O’Halloran (2008) explains, “AA discourse is marked by constantallusions to and reiteration of shared texts. There is a pervasive tendency toaffirm and confirm the voices and experiences of other members” (p. 109).Through this social context, the alcoholic’s sense of isolation and/or terminaluniqueness is diminished, and a new sense of self is created, in part, throughdialogic interactions with other recovering alcoholics (Denzin, 1987a, 1987b;O’Halloran). AA members’ attempts to find similarities in their stories, and inthe process, connect with their peers, reveals the socially situated nature oftheir storytelling. Additionally, the openness and honesty that are considerednecessary aspects of sharing stories in AA seem to facilitate relationships withother AA members, as well as members’ relationships with themselves.

Theme #4: Developing One’s Relationship With One’s Self

The fourth theme, developing one’s relationship with one’s self, involvednumerous overlapping subthemes, including the benefits of self-disclosure,personal clarity, identity development and acceptance, and personal growth.Sharing one’s story of recovery is a form of self-disclosure. When peopleself-disclose, they share their personal thoughts, feelings, and experiencesand reveal aspects of who they are. Just as disclosure is a vehicle for de-veloping relationships with others (Altman & Taylor, 1973), it can facilitateone’s relationship with one’s self.

Slightly more than 13% of participants touched on some of the benefitsof disclosure, particularly finding perspective and sense making, or clarifica-tion. Many of the respondents indicated that they were better able to clarifytheir thoughts or make sense of their experiences: “Telling my story alsoallows me to transform my understanding of my past” (Respondent #66); “Itsomehow makes it worth it to have gone through the bad times” (Respon-dent #60). Several participants said they were better able to accept their paststhrough sharing their stories with others. For Respondent #99, this seemedto contribute to clarity: “By keeping my story current, I see clearly what Idon’t want to be and the choices I don’t need to make.” For others, suchpersonal clarity was connected to their identity: “Telling my story to anotheralcoholic reminds me of who and what I am—an alcoholic sober by thegrace of God” (Respondent #11); “It always reminds me about the disease Isuffer from, and how much my life has changed” (Respondent #138). Their

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stories reinforce their alcoholic or disease identity as well as their evolvingsober identity.

For almost a third of the study participants, sharing was a vehicle forself-growth and improvement. One of most frequently mentioned elementsof this theme was becoming less self-consumed. As Respondent #23 putit, “My main problem is selfishness and self-centeredness; helping anotheralcoholic gets me out of myself.” Respondent #25 said, “It gets us out of ourown head.” While many participants spoke of how sharing allowed them tofocus more on others and less on themselves, many also said that sharingcontributed to their sobriety by making them more self-aware. For example,Respondent #134 said, “A lot of times, I discover things I may need to workon,” and Respondent #16 explained, “In sharing, I learn to be more honestand vulnerable and invariably humble and willing.” Humility was mentionedfrequently; participants indicated that sharing their stories of recovery seemedto help them remember there was always room for personal learning andgrowth.

Theme #5: Helping Others

Approximately 50% of the respondents said that sharing allowed them tohelp others, and this, in turn, helped them. AA members said they wereable to help other alcoholics by letting them know they are not alone, byserving as an example, and by giving them hope. Many participants referredto a common expression in AA: “You have to give it away to keep it.”Respondent #10 explained, “It is all about giving back what was so freelygiven to me. If I don’t share what I have gotten, I won’t be able to staysober with peace and serenity. It’s about being there for another alcoholicwhen they need someone to care.” Helping others was expressed as a formof repayment to the fellowship: “It always helps me to help other alcoholicsbecause there were people who helped me in the beginning of my sobriety,and without them, I would NOT be sober today. If people took the careand time to help me achieve sobriety, then I am willing to help the nextalcoholic” (Respondent #116). For some, this meant that helping others wasa duty: “We get so much and have a responsibility to help those that are inthe midst of this illness” (Respondent #168). However, many framed helpingothers as a rewarding experience. As Respondent #74 put it, “There is greatjoy in seeing the light come on in someone else’s eyes.” Respondent #2echoed the feeling of joy and encapsulated how sharing helped both herand fellow AA members: “Sharing my experience, strength, and hope withothers really keeps me ‘right sized’ and fully of humility. It is really truethat giving back what you have received keeps your life joyful and serene. Ireceive more gifts from giving than I could have ever imagined in my life.”

The five themes described above—being reminded of a painful past, re-inforcing one’s recovery, losing the sense of terminal uniqueness, developing

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one’s relationship with one’s self, and helping others—are a synthesis of AAmembers’ retrospective accounts of the ways in which sharing their story ofrecovery with other alcoholics helps them stay sober. Because these themessuggest both persuasive and intrapersonal processes are at play, we turnedto Fisher’s narrative paradigm (1984) and Denzin’s conceptualization of theself in recovery from alcoholism (1987a, 1987b) for further insight into AAmembers’ perceptions of the impact of their own storytelling on their sobri-ety. In applying this theoretical lens to the five themes enumerated above,we argue that storytelling in AA is a form of self-persuasion that facilitatesthe intrapersonal relational development of the “aspirational self.”

APPLYING FISHER’S NARRATIVE PARADIGM

Fisher (1984, 1985, 1987) posited that a story is persuasive if it has narrativecoherence and narrative fidelity. We will use the tests of narrative coherenceand narrative fidelity and apply them to the thematic data described aboveto help explicate why AA members’ stories are persuasive to the storytellersthemselves, or what we refer to as, self-persuasive.

Narrative Coherence

Analysis of the responses of participants in the present study indicated thatthe stories of recovery they shared with other alcoholics have the three ele-ments of narrative coherence (or probability): structural coherence, materialcoherence, and characterological coherence (Fisher, 1987). We believe thatstructural coherence is achieved, in part, when AA members’ stories followthe fellowship’s traditional format: what it was like, what happened, andwhat it is like now (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1976). Thisformat, which many participants referred to when describing how sharingtheir story helped them stay sober, gives the recovery narratives a tempo-ral organization or structure. Their pasts—the pain they caused themselvesand others while they were drinking—are not forgotten or denied; the pastis shared as part of the “what it was like” element of the story, and it isembraced, in part, because AA members would not be in the fellowship,would not be espousing the benefits of recovery, or “what it is like now,”had that painful past not occurred. This chronological format helps peoplein AA make sense of their lives and of their disease (O’Halloran, 2008), muchlike an illness narrative (Sharf & Vanderford, 2003). By taking a retrospec-tive look at their lives, by selecting specific events, people, and emotionaland/or cognitive moments and then trying to connect them all into a narra-tive, “storytellers can interpret events, ascribe meanings, justify actions, andmake links in retrospect that are less likely to be discerned when the narratorexperiences events in real time” (Sharf & Vanderford, p. 17). Sense making is

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achieved, in part, by telling one’s story in a chronological format that focuseson specific elements related to the disease of alcoholism and one’s recovery.In a way, the structural coherence of one’s story both reflects and reinforcesa coherence in one’s life—a newfound order and/or framing of reality thatRasmussen and Capaldi (1990) discuss as one of the good reasons inherentin AA narratives for accepting sobriety and the fellowship’s way of life.

In addition to structural coherence, the narrative format of what it waslike, what happened, and what it is like now is seen as providing materialcoherence and characterological coherence, largely because this temporalformat is the group norm for storytelling in AA. We see evidence of thismaterial coherence with the third theme of AA members losing their senseof terminal uniqueness. The storyteller knows from the way his or her lis-teners respond that they too have similar stories, and the storyteller hearshis or her own stories when listening to others. Participants in the presentstudy indicated that in revealing their painful past, they affirmed to boththemselves and others in the fellowship that they have behaved in ways thatare characteristic of someone suffering from the disease of alcoholism—theyhave said and done things that other members of the program have said anddone. In so doing, the storytellers lose their sense of terminal uniqueness,realize they are not alone, and identify with others in the fellowship. Thisfinding is consistent with Robinson’s (1979) argument that storytelling in AAhelps members connect with each other, and with Rasmussen and Capaldi’s(1990) claim that the shared experiences of AA members that are revealedthrough the storytelling process helps promote self-acceptance.

Characterological coherence is also suggested in the reinforcing recov-ery theme. When celebrating their recovery in their narratives, the storytellersaffirm that they are behaving in ways that are characteristic of more long-term members of the fellowship. Achieving and maintaining sobriety throughworking the AA program becomes an expected part of one’s story for boththe listeners and the storyteller; and in sharing this aspect of the narrative,AA members remind each other and themselves that a good life—a goodsober life—is possible. As such, when AA members reinforce their recovery,they seem to also be reinforcing their self-efficacy, or their belief that theyare capable of living a life without alcohol (Bandura, 1997; Champion &Skinner, 2008; Kelly et al., 2009). They come to see themselves as soberalcoholics, fusing and embracing both their disease identity and their soberidentity (Denzin, 1987b; Rasmussen & Capaldi, 1990). We see evidence ofthis too in the theme regarding self-relational development, summarized wellby Respondent #11: “Telling my story to another alcoholic reminds me ofwho and what I am—an alcoholic sober by the grace of God.”

Overall, a story has coherence or probability, according to Fisher (1985),if it is free of contradictions. What we learned from our participants was thatfor many people in AA, the truthfulness of a story is assumed; and this we seeas linked to “rigorous honesty” (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1976,

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p. 58), which is considered a critical element in recovery. As one respondentput it, “When I am open to sharing, I tell on myself a little more every time”(Respondent #139). Honesty, or the most honesty one has at a given time, isprobably the only requirement of telling one’s story. Given that participantsreported becoming more honest and self-aware through their sharing, onecould argue that if an AA member’s story contained contradictions, thosecontradictions lessened over time as the story, as well as the recoveringalcoholic’s understanding of himself or herself, evolved. This argument isconsistent with Robinson’s (1979) finding that most UK AA members’ storiesof recovery change over time, eventually focusing more on recovery andless on past drinking experiences, and with Denzin’s (1987b) claims that AAmembers undergo an identity shift from an alcoholic self to a recovering self.The expectation that AA members be honest with themselves and others intheir sharing contributes to their stories’ coherence and fidelity.

Narrative Fidelity

Narrative fidelity involves a story’s truthfulness and its evidence of “goodreasons for belief or action” (Fisher, 1987, p. 105). Fisher (1984, 1985, 1987)believed good reasons should be evaluated by looking at both the reasoningand the values embedded in a story. Our data suggest that stories told inAA generally do represent many AA values: The stories treat alcoholism as adisease (Jellinek, 1946; Morse & Flavin, 1992), espouse abstinence, reiteratethe importance of working the steps and applying them to all aspects of one’slife, advocate helping others and instilling a sense of hope for the newlyrecovering alcoholic who is listening, and show that a life without alcoholis both possible and beneficial (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.,1976; Cain, 1991). AA stories advocate sobriety.

The disease model of alcoholism is reiterated when AA members referto their illness in their stories. This is often part of their past, which revealsmany of the symptoms of the disease of alcoholism. It is also part of theirdeveloping relationship with themselves as they become more aware of andaccepting of their disease identity. To admit to themselves and others thatthey suffer from the disease of alcoholism also facilitates their relationshipswith fellow AA members and decreases their sense of terminal uniquenessor feeling “different” (Respondent #105). Because AA views alcoholism as adisease, as an illness that can be treated but never cured, members of thefellowship are told that controlling their drinking is not possible; instead, thegoal is abstinence (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1976).

The importance of not drinking is also reinforced in AA narratives whenstorytellers talk about the pain drinking caused them—the past harm theydid to themselves and the people they care about. The narratives juxtaposethe dark side of drinking with the benefits of recovery. When people in

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AA remind themselves of the benefits of sobriety, of the positive ways theirlives have changed since joining the 12-step program, they are articulatingthe good reasons that one should embrace sobriety and the 12-step pro-gram. As expressed by participants in the present study, those good reasonscan be tangible consequences, such as having a “dream job” and havingone’s “family back,” or intangible consequences, such as a sense of grati-tude, increased self-esteem, and/or greater self-awareness. Thus, when anAA member’s narrative reflects the program’s values of abstinence and sobri-ety, the story validates his or her own experiences, as well as the experiencesof others in the fellowship, and allows him or her to reaffirm his or her ownvalues by voicing them. Storytelling also reinforces recovery by helping thestoryteller keep the steps fresh and active in his or her life, especially whenworking with other alcoholics in sponsor–sponsee relationships.

Helping others, another important AA value, is done through sponsor-ing and other types of service work, and through the sharing process andworking Step 12, which is “to carry this (AA’s) message to alcoholics” (Al-coholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1976, p. 60). Many participantsin the present study indicated that sharing their story was a way of helpingother alcoholics, which in turn helped them because it was a rewarding ex-perience, allowed them to give back to the program, and/or helped thembe less self-consumed. As such, a more altruistic recovering self moves tothe foreground. Thus, in helping others, the storyteller experiences positiveconsequences for himself or herself and for others. The ultimate positiveconsequence of helping others might be sobriety itself, as some studies haveshown a connection between helping other alcoholics and sobriety (Crosset al., 1990; Pagano, Friend, Tonigan, & Stout, 2004).

The values that are embedded in AA narratives are consistent with thegroup’s values; thus, they are appropriate for the storyteller and for thoselistening to the story. Upon identifying the values espoused in a narrative andthen determining the appropriateness of those values, listeners, according toFisher (1987), should consider the consequences of acting on those values.Our data suggest that the consequences include achieving and sustainingsobriety, as well as better relationships with others (both inside and outsidethe program) and a better relationship with one’s self. We believe it is thisimproved relationship with one’s self that is the ultimate “good reason” forstorytellers (and listeners) to adhere to the AA values that are espoused intheir stories, and this evolving intrapersonal relationship is at the root of theself-persuasion that takes place when AA members share their stories.

Development of the Aspirational Self

Our data suggest the impact of telling stories on the respondents’ recov-ery reflects their changing sense of themselves over time, as they got toknow themselves better through telling their stories. It is their ability to

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look at themselves honestly, and in that sense to be self-reflexive, that isthe root of their changing understanding of themselves, and ultimately, oftheir changed or sustained behavior. As one respondent (Respondent #66)explained, “Sharing my story makes it possible for me to transform my per-ception of myself from a bad, broken, selfish, and less-valuable person intothat of a strong, empathetic, experienced, healer.” Drinking alcohol, whichwas once the centerpiece of the alcoholic’s existence, is talked about in re-covery stories as a behavior to avoid. As an alcoholic recovers, he or sheis no longer the person who drinks (“The person I am today chooses notto drink.”). Our finding that storytelling in AA fosters a better understandingof one’s self and one’s changing identity is consistent with previous studies(Cain, 1991; Denzin, 1987a, 1987b; Robinson, 1979).

Denzin (1987a, 1987b) noted that people in recovery in AA can identifywith both an alcoholic self and a recovering self . As he explained it, in callingthemselves “alcoholics” when they begin their stories, as all storytellers in AAdo, they do not mean that they drink alcohol; they mean that they have thedisease of alcoholism and through their owning it they no longer drink. Evi-dence of Denzin’s notion of an alcoholic self and a recovering self are foundin two themes in the data: being reminded of a painful past and reinforc-ing recovery. The importance of accepting and uniting these two identities,which Rasmussen and Capaldi (1990) also elucidate, is evident in the fourththeme: development of one’s relationship with one’s self. As Denzin (1987b)explains, “The alcoholic’s sobriety is maintained precisely because these twoselves are continually kept alive in the dialogues that occur within AA meet-ings” (p. 158). Denzin’s (1987a, 1987b) description of alcoholics’ differentself-manifestations is resonant with Holstein and Gubrium’s description ofthe self as a multilayered self (2000) and with Lederman’s (1996) constructof intrapersonal relationships, the self in relationship to its various aspectsof self.

Lederman (1996) argued that intrapersonal relationships are developedthrough self-talk, or the ways in which people talk to themselves (and oth-ers) about themselves. Storytelling in AA is a form of self-talk because thenarratives are shared both for other alcoholics and for one’s self. As indicatedin the present study, AA members listen to themselves as they share, and asthey do, they learn more about who they are—both an alcoholic self and arecovering self (Denzin, 1987a, 1987b)—and more about who they want tobecome. We conceptualize this vision of what they want to become as theiraspirational self. As Respondent #66 put it, “Repeating my story brings menew insights; I learn more about who I was, who I am, and who I want tobe . . . ” It is their ability to talk to others (and themselves) about who theywere, who they are, who they see themselves becoming, and who they wantto be that are vehicles for change for recovering alcoholics. This is part ofthe self-persuasion process. As Robinson (1979) explains, “By changing theway the alcoholic talks about himself and his place in the world, AA enables

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him to talk himself out of his alcoholism” (p. 75). Thus, sharing one’s story ofrecovery with other alcoholics is a form of self-talk that has an intrapersonalinfluence on the storyteller. Through this dialogic and symbiotic process, AAmembers become invested in wanting to be the people they see themselvesbecoming in sobriety—the aspirational selves, which they believe they canbecome as they see their lives unfolding, as many say, “beyond my wildestdreams.” It may even be that it is their ability to aspire to this new self thathelps the recovering self keep the alcoholic self (the self that wants to drinkagain) in check.

In sum, by using Fisher’s narrative theory to examine the themes foundin our data, we have been able to demonstrate the ways in which AA storieshave both narrative coherence and narrative fidelity. Narrative coherence isachieved largely through the traditional AA format of what it was like, whathappened, and what it is like now. This temporal organization contributesto the stories’ structural coherence and, because it is the group norm, to thestories’ material coherence. Because the stories reveal a predictable alcoholicself that helps AA members identify with other members of the fellowshipand accept their own pasts, and because the stories also reveal the expectedand evolving recovering self, they depict believable characters and give thestories characterological coherence. The stories “ring true” (Fisher, 1984,p. 8) for the storytellers and the listeners, as they are consistent with AA val-ues and provide “good reasons” (Fisher, 1987, p. 105) for embracing sobrietyand the AA way of life. Like Robinson (1979), we found that such good rea-sons include connecting with others, and like Rasmussen and Capaldi (1990),we found self-acceptance and sense making to be good reasons revealed inthe storytelling process. However, we believe these are aspects of a broadergood reason that is both a positive outcome of sobriety and a pathway bywhich sobriety occurs and is sustained: the extension of Denzin’s (1987a,1987b) alcoholic and recovering selves to identify the development and/orrealization of the aspirational self. Storytellers begin to uncover their aspi-rational selves, to get a glimpse at their own potential and possibilities, asthey share and listen to their own stories. As such, the stories are a formof self-talk that is self-persuasive, and it is through that self-persuasion thatthey find the way to sustain their sobriety and refrain from drinking alcohol.

CONCLUSION

The present study took a communication perspective, grounded in the un-derstanding of communication as a complex, iterative, co-constructed inter-pretative process (Mokros, 2003), and explored one form of communication,storytelling, as a mechanism of change in AA. By questioning AA membersretrospectively about how telling their story of recovery with other alco-holics helped them sustain their sobriety, and then analyzing the data using

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a grounded theory approach, we found five primary ways in which sto-rytelling facilitated recovery for the support group members in our study:reminding them of their painful pasts, reinforcing recovery, decreasing theirsense of terminal uniqueness, enhancing their relationship with themselves,and allowing them to help others. By applying Fisher’s (1984) narrativeparadigm to these five themes and showing how the stories told in AA meetthe standards of narrative coherence and narrative fidelity, and by drawingon Denzin’s work on the recovering self (1987b), we were able to offer theo-retical insight into why storytelling might facilitate the ability to sustain theirrecovery for members of AA. The stories serve as persuasive evidence for thestorytellers themselves, elucidating good reasons why they should embracesobriety and the AA way of life, and revealing new evolving identities.

While numerous studies have found that persuasion takes place throughinterpersonal processes in AA (Ford, 1989; Rasmussen & Capaldi, 1990;Wright, 1997), the present study focuses on self-persuasion and the intrap-ersonal processes by which it occurs. Our data suggest honest storytelling isa form of self-talk. The storytellers themselves listen to their own narrativesas they share them (i.e., “When I tell my story to other alcoholics, I hearwhat I am saying, too.”), and they are impacted by hearing their own stories.Their reflections about themselves, about their drinking and their recovery,provide them with insights into themselves and their behaviors and fosterself-awareness, self-acceptance, and personal growth. We believe this is partof a dialectic, developing relationship with one’s self: Because the storytellerschange over time, their stories change over time, and because their storieschange over time, the storytellers change over time. In AA, sharing one’sstory of recovery is an iterative process of telling, retelling, and reframing;as such, it is a cognitive and communicative process, a form of intrapersonalcommunication, that serves as a powerful form of persuasion, influencingthe storytellers into changing themselves from what they were like whenthey drank into the people they are confident they can be.

Implications

This study has both practical and theoretical implications. By examining sto-rytelling as a possible mechanism of change in AA, we have been able toshed light on one of the ways the 12-step program helps alcoholics sustain so-briety. Such knowledge can help professionals in the substance abuse treat-ment field, as several researchers have indicated there is a need among socialworkers, clinicians, and other health professionals for a better understand-ing of 12-step group concepts, processes, and outcomes (Laudet & White,2005; Roth & Tan, 2008). From the research perspective, we have shownRobinson’s (1979) findings not only remain applicable to today’s recover-ing alcoholic but that the UK study and our U.S. study have synchronicity.

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The present study builds upon Robinson’s work and serves as additionaljustification for further research on storytelling or other communicative pro-cesses as mechanisms of change in AA.

Given Robinson’s (1979) argument that talking was the pathway to so-briety in AA, as well as our findings, it seems reasonable to suggest thattheoretical explanations for how and/or why AA works should address com-municative processes in the group. Fisher’s narrative paradigm served usefulhere; however, as a rhetorical theory, it can only be used to help explain thedata as opposed to being used to make and/or test predictions. We extendedFisher’s (1984) narrative paradigm beyond its traditional use by consideringstories as a form of self-persuasion and by applying it not to the content ofthe stories but to participants’ reflexive accounts of how they were impactedby their own storytelling. As such, this study demonstrates the fruitfulnessof looking beyond one’s “subjective framing of their illness events” (Hsieh,2004, p. 42) to the power of extending the narrative paradigm (Fisher, 1984)to take into account the impact of narrative on the narrators themselves.

Limitations and Future Directions

Our study was limited to AA and to people who self-selected to answerour questions. While they were from a wide demographic array in terms ofgeography, age, and gender, all were Internet-savvy users of Facebook. Thismay or may not skew the pool from which we drew our answers. In addition,we limited the theoretic lens from which we viewed our data because ofthe centrality of storytelling to the AA experience. Another limitation ofthe present study is that the question posed to participants did not specifybetween sharing briefly during meetings, sharing more formally in speakermeetings or conferences, sharing spontaneously before or after meetings,and sharing with a sponsor or sponsee. It is possible that different typesof sharing can contribute to one’s sobriety in different ways. Thus, futurestudies should specify the type of sharing being asked about. Additionally,it is reasonable to assume that the effects and benefits of sharing one’s storyare different for someone new to sobriety than they are for someone whohas been a sober member of the AA fellowship for 30 years. Future studiesshould look for differences based on these factors.

Additionally, although this study provides answers to our research ques-tion, it has opened up other questions. Does the recovering alcoholic whoserecovering self/voice gets drowned out by his or her own alcoholic self/voicehave less likelihood of staying sober over time than the recovering alcoholicwho begins to develop his or her sense of an aspirational self? Is what weobserved from questioning members of AA unique to that group or a phe-nomenon that presents itself in other self-help groups, and if so, how, if at all,is it part of the fabric of recovering health and/or coping with illness? Does

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telling the story aloud, in formal and informal ways, create a commitment tohealth and well-being that in and of itself is part of recovery? Future studiesmight look at the ways in which storytelling in AA interacts with and/orfacilitates additional mechanisms of change (including other communicativeprocesses and practices) in the 12-step group.

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sustainable recovery: the self-transformative power of storytelling in alcoholics anonymous

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