Aventura espiritual: terapêutica na irmandade dos alcoólicos anônimos

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to understand the therapeutic process called “recovery” in Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) at Belém, Pará. This group presents itself as a “brotherhood”, which seeks to welcome those it considers carriers of a disease, of physical and spiritual nature, the alcoholism, offering them support to achieve the so-called “sobriety”. The transition from a life full of misfortunes to a happy and useful one, in their conception, is possible through practicing principles of conduct, considered to be spirituals, which substitute the alcohol addiction for the addiction to the so-called “Higher Power”. Therefore, “recovery” in AA refers to the therapeutic process to which the participants of the Brotherhood are submitted and, in this sense, to a process to be administrated for the whole life through participating in the group. When an AA member affirms “to have recovered” or “to be in recovery”, it wants to communicate not only that it no longer ingests alcoholic beverages, but also that it participates in the Brotherhood, following the precepts as recommended. In this way, it is truly “sober”. This work found that personal “recovering” means more that not ingesting alcoholic beverages, because it entails sharing with the other AA members the institutional views on categories related to reality (health, work, family, sexuality and spirituality), accepting AA as a “way of life”.