Interpretative Phenomenological

Analysis of the Development of

Spirituality with Recovering
Members of Alcoholics
Anonymous

FI N OL A SPA RSH OTT -MCDA I D,

CN W L N H S FOUN DA TI ON TRUST
&
GL EN N A . WI L L I A MS,
L EEDS BECKETT UN I VERSI TY

British Psychological Society Annual Conference,

26-28 April 2016.
East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham.
 Context

 Addiction interpreted as biological, social, cultural and biosocial phenomenon

(Larkin & Griffiths, 2002)

 Treatment routes include medication for initial withdrawal, continued

medication, psychological therapies and rehabilitation centre attendance

 Impact on individual, family, friends & colleagues

 Estimated 1.6 million in UK dependent on alcohol and 1 in 16 are receiving

specialist support (Health & Social Care Information Centre, 2013)(attributed to
limited treatment options)

 Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a well-known, low cost and widely available

recovery programme, but not without its critics (eg. Dodes & Dodes, 2014,
Swora, 2004)
3
 Context
• Spirituality - a holistic phenomenon, often mistaken for religiosity. Definitions
include search for meaning or purpose and a belief in a Higher Power (Kale,
2004; Zinnbauer, Pargament & Scott, 1999)

• AA refers to spirituality as being private & internally linked to individual rather

than identifying with an organised religion; being spiritual can emanate from
anything important to a person, which may or may not include concept of deity
(Bjorklund, 1983)

• Research into impact of AA as a programme (Kaskutas, 2009) and social

support networks in 12 Step Fellowships (Groh, Jason & Keys, 2008)

• One study demonstrated quantitatively that spiritual experiences/awakenings

were central to AA members’ sobriety (Kaskutas, Bond & Weisner, 2003)

• Limited qualitative analysis in this area, whereas most studies of alcoholism and its
treatment involves analysis of quantitative data
 Study Aim

This research was aimed at exploring how men, who

were AA members, perceived the role of spirituality
as part of their recovery programme and how
spirituality may have impacted on long-term
sobriety.
 Method

• Ethical approval granted by Nottingham Trent University Ethics Committee

• Participants recruited from Alcoholics Anonymous Open Meetings . Inclusion criteria identify as
having had at least one spiritual experience and have sponsored 1 person as part of AA, sober for
at least 1 year

• Four white British males were recruited, length of sobriety 1.5 to 32 years (mean length 17.38
years), sample size deemed sufficient for IPA study (Smith, Flowers, Larkin, 2013)

• Participants aware data would be anonymised and could be withdrawn up until publication of
results

• Semi-structured interviews lasting approximately one hour

 Analysis

• Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2013)

• Verbatim transcripts analysed independently of each other and read multiple times before
themes were identified

• Better levels of validity were achieved through ensuring each transcript was assessed
initially by itself and without reference to any other participants data before any
superordinate or subordinate themes were proposed and then overtly connected to the
data (Willig, 2008)
Participant Information

Pseudonym Years First Higher Power Sponsored Other

Sober Meeting Information

Unsure of what his Higher -Aged 42,

Robert 13 1999 Power is. 25-30 -Employed
-Married for the
second time
Believes there is a -Aged 50
Dave 23 1991 connection to divinity within >2 -Employed
everyone. -Widowed from
second marriage

His Higher Power is with -Volunteers

Kris 32 1981 him at all times and he >3 -Aged 49
speaks to Him as a friend. -Married 30 years

Memory and admiration for -Aged late 40’s

Harry 1.5 2000 a female relative who had >1 -Divorced
passed away
Superordinate Themes

Trust

Self-
awareness Community
 Themes of Spirituality and Recovery
Superordinate Theme 1: Trust
1. Higher Power Understanding, conception and perception of a Power greater
than oneself, and how this can aid sobriety.
2. Willingness to follow the Steps Willingness to follow the Twelve Steps, trusting that it will lead to
sobriety.
3. “Doing the next right thing” Being a responsible member of society and a good citizen
4. Cleansing and Psychological cleansing and self maintenance (steps 4-10)
maintaining
Superordinate Theme 2: Self-awareness
1. Acceptance of self and others Accepting own perceived faults (step 4), remaining open minded rather
than judging others
2. Acceptance of life as it is Life has challenges even within sobriety
3. Realisations and Awareness & understanding of “light bulb moments”,
Revelations educational revelations or spiritual experiences which may
lead to a feeling of amazement, peace or serenity
4. Identification with others Increased self-awareness & understanding through listening to &
observing others
Superordinate Theme 3: Community
1. Listening and Sharing Sharing personal faults and hearing others
2. Making Amends Step 9
3. Face to face Socialising Being with others who have struggled with alcohol
4. “Giving back” Carrying message & helping others
Samples from
Trust:
Higher Power
 Robert’s Experiences

“I faked it to make it... You

pray a lot. Don’t know who
you’re praying to. ... I have
no idea. Blind faith. No idea. I
just didn’t have any resistance
or reticence. ... I think that’s
probably more important
really… I still haven’t got
God’s telephone number
or his email address, you
know... I’ve got no idea... But it
doesn’t matter. It doesn’t
matter to me.”
Dave’s Experiences
“I believe...deep down in
every person there is this
connection to divinity... I
think that’s what we tap into
when we’re at that place of
desperation...So is it a God
outside of me? Yes. Is it a
God inside of me? Yes... it’s
grown from praying to
something... I didn’t really
understand... I heard enough
old timers say. ...Stop
looking for God out there.
And pointed to my chest
and said ‘God is within you,
not without you”.
 Harry’s Experiences
“...[His grandmother, who
had passed away,] was there
as...some form of
deity...which I weave
around...the good things that
are occurring in my life...and
it gets bigger and bigger from
there. So I suppose it’s an
anchor... like a tent peg...
giant tent peg, the more I do
with it... The more I’m
weaving around this tent peg,
the cord if you like, my cord
of spirituality... it’s rooted.”
Samples
from Trust:

Cleansing
and
Maintaining
Harry

“I basically sieve out what

crap has been going on the
previous day… you can cut
the wheat from the
chaff in your life, without
dragging the useless bits of
rubbish in your mind…if
I’m not maintaining
‘me’ then, everybody
around me, who’s
directly involved with
me, will suffer”.
 Kris
“[Spirituality]…is a thing
that you have to
nurture. Or work on...I’m
convinced that my...God
wants me to be the best
person I can be...he
knows I won’t be perfect
but if I make an effort to be
a better person I can feel
more comfortable inside. I
can feel happier about
me...that’s always my
perogative”
Samples
from
Self-Awareness

Realisations
and
Revelations
Robert’s Experiences
“The only reason I’m not drunk
tonight is because I found what I was
looking for in the bottle’ [Quote from
AA tape] ...when I first heard him say
that, I just, it was like lots of other
stuff... What the hell does he mean by
that? So I just sort of filed it away for
future reference...... By the time I was
6 or 7 months sober..... I heard that
tape....100 or 200 times by that
stage.... the phrase just came wafting
by again. ... and suddenly it was like
my eyes lit up. It was like. Bing!
You know, suddenly ... I identified
with him! I knew what he
meant! ...I’ve got this sort of sense
of peace that I never had before.
WOW that’s amazing...”
 Kris’ Experiences

“What I consider a spiritual

awakening…centred around
my last drink…where I
realised what kind of
person I’d become and I
did not like that
person...I felt the anger and
the pain that I must have
caused people who owned
those cars, and all the other
people in my life”
Samples
from

Community

Giving
back
Robert

“All I’ve been trying to do

with alcohol was trying to
get out of myself…in
recovery, you kind of try to
do the same thing...In
positive ways. Like maybe
– working with somebody
else, a sponsee or whatever
it is so to take the focus
off yourself”
 Kris

“I was starting to get really

frustrated at not being able
to do any service…not
getting the sort of sparkle
in my sobriety...starting
to get a bit dull...I was not
feeling like I was
contributing...my sobriety
was getting a bit dull, and I
know if that continues my
sobriety isnt going to
[continue]...”
 Discussion

 Trust:
o Higher Power
Differing perceptions among participants.
Participant least certain of his Higher Power continued with spiritually focused activities
o Cleansing & Maintaining
Nurturing/honing spirituality, progressing towards a state of self-actualising (Maslow, 1971;
Medina, 2013;2014)
 Self Awareness:
o Realisations & Revelations
Uncovered epiphanies akin to James’ (1902/2004) portrayal of spiritual experiences of the
educational variety
 Community:
o Giving Back
The need to contribute aligns with Foucault’s (2005) argument that one cannot care for oneself
in isolation.

Potential Strength:
Homogenous sample
Potential Limitation:
Cannot offer insights for
spirituality and alcoholism
recovery for women or
those from different ethnic/
cultural backgrounds or for
those who might have
positive prior experiences
of religion or spirituality
(N.B. all of the current
sample had negative
experiences of religion or
spirituality prior to coming
to AA).
 Clinical applications:
Spiritually focused behaviours (e.g. prayer and meditation)
appear to be routes to fostering better levels of well-being
(Shapiro, 2012).
Participants viewed adherence to 12 Steps as having
therapeutic effects through: honing their spirituality,
remaining humble, and being involved in a recovery-focused
community.
We propose increase levels of awareness and discussion into
how to integrate the role of spirituality in mainstream
alcoholism recovery programmes.
We recommend further research into the potential impacts
of cultivating spirituality for wellbeing with people
experiencing other mental health-related problems and
investigations into whether this may be of help.
 Contact

 Finola Sparshott-McDaid
Finolamcdaid@hotmail.com

 Glenn A. Williams
G.A.Williams@leedsbeckett.ac.uk