Therapeutic recreation and the Twelve Steps

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 17-24
Author(s):  
Colleen A. Cooke, EdD, CTRS
Keyword(s):  
Alcoholics Anonymous ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Therapeutic Recreation ◽  
Twelve Step ◽  
Recreational Therapy ◽  
Twelve Steps ◽  
Therapy Services ◽  
The Individual

This article focuses on the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, and specifically on how recreational therapists can aid the recovery process by providing interventions that facilitate the working of the steps. Little has been written about Twelve Step application in recreational therapy practice, thus the meaning and work of each of the steps is explained, along with suggestions for how recreational therapy services can be applied to aid the individual in the work toward recovery from alcoholism.

Fellowship

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Taves
Keyword(s):  
Alcoholics Anonymous ◽  
Spiritual Path ◽  
Twelve Steps ◽  
Organized Medicine ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Personal Spirituality

This chapter traces the growing distinction between Bill Wilson's personal spirituality and the generic spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) through a focus on the emergence of the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions. As a spiritual path, AA centers on the Twelve Steps as worked in the context of groups that maintain their unity through their embrace of the Twelve Traditions. Taken together the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions simultaneously position AA as a fellowship that is compatible—but not aligned—with either “organized religion” or “organized medicine” and grounds the recovery of the individual and the unity of the organization in the spiritual principle of anonymity.

Recovery in Gamblers Anonymous

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ferentzy ◽  
Wayne Skinner ◽  
Paul Antze
Keyword(s):  
Alcoholics Anonymous ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Notable Feature ◽  
Rigorous Approach ◽  
Slow Pace ◽  
12 Steps ◽  
Gamblers Anonymous ◽  
The Individual

This article was written to provide an overview of recovery in Gamblers Anonymous (GA). How GA's approach reflects the distinctive needs of compulsive gamblers is a central theme. GA is a mutual aid organization modeled upon Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), though differing in some ways from that organization. One notable feature of GA is its emphasis on patience in the recovery process, reflected even in its approach to the 12 Steps, which are "worked" at a slow pace for this reason. Another feature that distinguishes GA is a seemingly more rigorous approach to avoiding potential triggers, notably gambling establishments. Whereas AA leaves it up to the individual to decide whether or not it is safe to enter establishments where alcohol is served, GA's official stand on such questions is uncompromising: members should not enter, or even go near, gambling establishments. Reasons for these differences are discussed.

scholarly journals A proposed mechanism of action for the Twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

2015 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Luis A. Giuffra
Keyword(s):  
Support Groups ◽  
Mechanism Of Action ◽  
Alcoholics Anonymous ◽  
Reward System ◽  
Maladaptive Behaviors ◽  
Twelve Steps ◽  
Compensatory Behaviors ◽  
Surrogate Decision ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain

Among peer-support groups for alcoholics, Alcoholics anonymous (AA) is by far the most widespread and successful with tens of thousands of groups all around the world. However, the mechanism of action of AA’s success is not immediately clear. Advances in understanding the neuroscience of addiction have allowed the identification of two brain areas that, among others, explain the irrational and self-destructive behavior of alcoholics. First, alcohol hijacks the reward systems of the midbrain in charge of detecting and experiencing pleasure (through the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental area) with a pleasurable stimulation that far exceeds the normal pleasures of life (such as eating and sexual reproduction). These pleasurable experiences are essential for the survival and evolution of the species. Nature has cleverly linked pleasure with survival, and it is exactly this link that is usurped and hijacked by intoxicants like alcohol. Therefore, the reward system senses the effect of alcohol as essential for the survival of the alcoholic. In addition, the prefrontal cortex (perhaps the only area of the brain that could allow us to understand and prevent the dangers of the excessive and compulsive alcohol use) is also affected by this intoxicant. It becomes hypoactive and unable to counteract the urges and demands of the reward system to constantly repeat the “feel good” (associated over millions of years with survival of the individual and species) that comes from using alcohol. The Twelve Steps of AA help alcoholics reverse these effects. First, through steps 1 to 3, it encourages the use of a Surrogate Decision-Maker (often, it is the AA group itself that acts as such). Second, steps 4- 12 foster the practice of Compensatory Behaviors (a life of honesty and service) devoted to counteract the maladaptive behaviors that facilitate the alcoholic’s behavior of repeating what feels good (i.e. getting intoxicated). Lying, stealing, dishonesty and manipulation are not intrinsic personality defects of the alcoholic: they are the symptoms of a usurped reward system and hijacked prefrontal lobes.

scholarly journals Working the Self: Truth-Telling in the Practice of Alcoholics Anonymous

Human Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fredrik Palm
Keyword(s):  
Alcoholics Anonymous ◽  
The Self ◽  
Twelve Step ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Twelve Step Programs ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Close Study ◽  
Care Of Self

AbstractThis article interrogates twelve step practice within Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) from the perspective of Foucault’s later work on governance, truth-telling and subjectivity. Recent critical studies of addiction tend to view self-help cultures like that of AA and related twelve step programs as integral parts of contemporary power/knowledge complexes, and thus as agents of the modern “will to knowledge” that Foucault often engages with. In line with the widespread Foucauldian critique of governmentality, addiction self-help culture is thus conceived as one that primarily reproduces abstract, neoliberal norms on health and subjectivity. The argument put forward in this article aims to upset this framework attending to a number of features of twelve step practice that, arguably, bear striking resemblances to Foucault’s later discussions of ethics, care of self and truth-telling. In this, it is suggested that a close study of AA practices, might interrupt assumptions about contemporary addiction discourse and its relationship to issues of truth and power often reproduced in Foucauldian critiques.

scholarly journals Aquatic Therapy Interventions and Disability: A Recreational Therapy Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Scott ◽  
Angela Wozencroft ◽  
Vincenzo Nocera ◽  
Kelsey Webb ◽  
Jodi Anderson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Therapeutic Recreation ◽  
Recreational Therapy ◽  
Aquatic Therapy ◽  
Intensive Training ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Therapy Interventions ◽  
The Impact

Aquatic therapy interventions are critical for individuals with disabilities and the role of the therapist is just as critical for successful and effective interventions. The field of therapeutic recreation trains students to develop and implement evidence-based facilitation techniques including the use of aquatic therapy to assist in helping clients achieve a change in functional status. This review of the literature examined the impact of aquatic therapy interventions on a variety of disabilities including osteoarthritis, multiple sclerosis, Cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder, and mental health from a recreational therapy (RT) perspective. This review provides a variety of information on the positive benefits that may occur using aquatic therapy for diverse conditions. Examples include relaxation, stretching, and aerobic exercise and each has the ability to improve strength. It does appear that aquatic therapy interventions can provide a wide array of benefits that may reduce the burden associated with a variety of disabilities. These benefits may be useful in increasing the overall quality of life of a diverse group of disabilities. Likewise, due to the nature of RT, recreational therapists are in a unique position to provide plan and develop aquatic therapy interventions. However, it is the authors’ suggestion that those providing this service attend intensive training in order to provide aquatic therapy effectively. Additional research may be necessary to provide a more cohesive understanding of the impact of aquatic therapy on a variety of populations. Nonetheless, the information gleamed from this review, justify that aquatic therapy has benefits for a diverse clientele and thus may be useful in the implementation of RT programs.

Stories

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Taves
Keyword(s):  
Alcoholics Anonymous ◽  
White Light ◽  
Chain Reaction ◽  
Public Account ◽  
Twelve Steps ◽  
Ecstatic Experience ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Personal Version

In 1934, Bill Wilson (1895–1971), a (failed) stockbroker, had an ecstatic experience of a blinding white light while hospitalized for alcoholism, which he associated with the feeling of a “presence” and which gave rise to a vision of a “chain reaction of alcoholics, one carrying this message and these principles to the next.” The vision led to the anonymously authored “Big Book” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 1st edn., 1939) and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (1953) of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). This chapter analyzes how Wilson told and retold his story publicly in the context of AA in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. It traces the emergence of a gap between Wilson's personal version of his story and his public account of AA's beginnings.

Employment Issues Facing People with Traumatic Brain Injury in New Zealand

1996 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-58
Author(s):  
Rachel C. Winthrop
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Vocational Rehabilitation ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
Head Injuries ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Everyday Functioning ◽  
Rehabilitation Process ◽  
Vocational Rehabilitation Services ◽  
The Individual

An estimated 600 people seek hospital and/or medical assistance for recently acquired brain injury each week in New Zealand. Many of these people return to work only to find themselves unable to function at the same level as achieved prior to injury. The reasons for this are frequently not understood either by the individual with the injury, the individual's colleagues or by the various professionals approached for advice. Common deficits identified impact significantly on an individual's work performance indicating comprehensive vocational rehabilitation services are required. Rehabilitation counsellors have a key role to play in the vocational rehabilitation process of people with head injuries. This requires that rehabilitation counsellors possess a knowledge of brain injury sequelae, their effects on everyday functioning and of the recovery process from the injury.

scholarly journals Perceptions of Spirituality and Spiritual Care of Health Professionals Working in a State Hospital

Religions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 312
Author(s):  
Kerem Toker ◽  
Fadime Çınar
Keyword(s):  
State Hospital ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
Specific Care ◽  
The Individual

Background: The determination and fulfillment of the spiritual needs of the individual in times of crisis can be realized by the health care professionals having the knowledge and skills to provide individual-specific care. This research was conducted to determine the perceptions of health professionals about spirituality and spiritual care. Methods: The study of 197 health professionals working in a state hospital was performed. This study is a descriptive study which was conducted between December 2017 and January 2018. Data in the form of an “Introductory Information Form” and “Spirituality and Spiritual Care Grading Scale” was collected. In the analysis of the data, the Mann–Whitney U test, Kruskal–Wallis tests, frequency as percentage, and scale scores as mean and standard deviation were used. Results: It was determined that 45.7% of the health professionals were trained in spiritual care, but that they were unable to meet their patients’ spiritual care needs due to the intensive work environment and personnel insufficiency. The total score averaged by the health professionals on the spirituality and spiritual care grading scales was 52.13 ± 10.13. Conclusions: The findings of the research show that health professionals are inadequate in spiritual care initiatives and that their knowledge levels are not at the desired level. With in-service trainings and efforts to address these deficiencies, spiritual care initiatives can be made part of the recovery process.

Relaxation and Recovery in Sport and Performance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian Pelka ◽  
Michael Kellmann
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Muscle Tension ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Relaxation Techniques ◽  
Recovery Stress ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Recovery From Work ◽  
Stress States ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual

The sport and performance environment is highly demanding for its actors. Therefore, recovery from work and sports requires special attention. Without adequate recovery, optimal performance is not attainable. It depends, however, on the individual what adequate recovery actually is. An extremely demanding event for someone may not be as demanding for someone else. Every individual perceives his or her environment differently and therefore has to choose his or her response or prevention strategy accordingly. Monitoring one’s recovery-stress states might be a promising starting point to establish individual baselines and further regulate training or work intensities. Relaxation in terms of implementing systematic relaxation techniques seems to be an adequate approach. These techniques can be divided into muscle-to-mind and mind-to-muscle techniques focusing either on the training of one’s sensitivity to muscle tension or on the cognitive processes involved in relaxation. Whether the recovery process is finally successful depends on if the chosen methods fit the purpose of recovery (i.e., response to cognitive or physical demands), the setting/circumstance (i.e., time and place), and how comfortable one feels with the specific recovery strategy.

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