Table of Contents
Introduction
Alcoholism and drug abuse is a severe issue in many parts of the global context. A research by the World Health Organization notes that one in eight American adults is an alcoholic. This represents 12.7 of the American population, showcasing how prevalent the problem is (Jalali et al 2019). In the global context, the number of people who die from alcoholism is 3 million annually.
Other impacts such as family breakdowns, job losses and diseases have been associated with the aspect of drug and alcohol abuse. It is on this context that the gravity of the matter becomes of the essence. Drugs and Alcohol Abuse impacts negatively to the individuals and society in general in the context of health as well as economic advancements. It is on this aspect that many programs have sprung up with the motive of assisting the individuals who have become addicts of Alcohol and other drugs.
This research paper aims at exploring the three critical programs whose objectives are to help people who have had drug and alcohol addiction-related problems. More importantly, the similarities, as well as differences of Alcohol Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Al-anon, are discussed through an in-depth analysis. It is worth noting that the programs play a significant role in transforming the society within the US by ensuring that individuals are free from addiction resulting from drug abuse. By identifying the critical elements of the programs, it would be essential to have an elaborate comprehension of what each of them stands for.
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Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global mutual aid fellowship whose primary and only motive is to assist the members in staying sober as well as helping the other individuals with alcohol-related problems. Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is a nonprofit fellowship that assists individuals with general substances abuse. Moreover, the Al-anon (for families) is a global fellowship that supports the family members and friends of alcoholics through a recovery program.
Similarities of Alcohol Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Al-anon
The underlying motive that facilitates the activities of the three programs is the need for alleviating the drugs and Alcohol-related problems within the society. This is the concept that holds the group together in ensuring that individuals are able to move forward despite the hindrances associated with drug abuse and alcohol addiction (Sell & Magor-Blatch 2016). It is only the Al-Anon whose primary focus is the family and friends of the individuals who are already alcoholics. However, the institution operates on the aspect that alcoholics cause a lot of problems to the immediate family and friends and such it is important to include them in the healing and treatment process. Additionally, all of the three programs are not government or states sponsored but are founded on the voluntary members’ contribution. It is worth noting that uniquely the members reject any input from an external person such as a well-wisher.
The structure of the operations of the program is based on the voluntary conduct of the members. Most of the members of the entire organizations are individuals who had become addicts as well as drug abusers previously (Jalali et al 2019). As such, most of them had experienced on the same issues an aspect that makes the running of the institutions to be very practical. All of them are guided by the element of eliminating the drug abuse menace within the society through the transformation of the individuals. It is also worth noting that despite all of them being formed within the United States, they have been globalized and such operate in the majority of the global nations where alcoholism and drug abuse are rampant. For instance, in 2018, there were 70,000 NA meetings which were present in more than 140 global countries.
The twelve-step program is one of the critical prevalent aspects that unify all of the three programs. This involves the guiding principles that give an outline relating to the element of addiction and compulsion recovery course of action (Helm 2019). Although it was initially developed by the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), it has been adopted by both the Narcotics Anonymous (AA) as well as Al-Anon. The process of the program involves some of the following aspects: Individuals admitting they have no control of their alcoholism, examination of past errors with the use of a mentor, making amends, turning over new life as well as assisting others with the alcoholism problem. This program has been identified to play a very critical role in helping fight the problem of alcoholism within society.
Differences between Alcohol Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Al-anon
Despite playing a ubiquitous and critical role, the three programs showcase some differences which are evident from the mode of operation.
First, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) targets in assisting individuals who have become alcohol addicts. Specifically, the institution operates on the context that “stays sober and helps other alcoholics achieve sobriety’, implying that the specific focus is on alcoholic persons. On the other hand, Narcotics Anonymous (NA) program does not specialize in one particular element of drug abuse but generalizes in the aspect of substance abuse. As such, NA can be associated with drugs such as cocaine, heroin, cannabis, Alcohol, opioids etc. It thus can be deemed to be broader when compared with AA and Al-Anon.
On this context, AA can be pointed to be part of NA (Helm 2019).. Moreover, Al-Anon focuses on the aspect of alcohol abuse among individuals. However, it is worth noting that the primary focus is not on the alcoholics themselves but on the immediate family members as well as friends. As such, this program can be noted not to have a direct link with the aspect of eliminating alcohol abuse among individuals. It is, however, more focused on the recovery program of the family and friends of the alcoholics themselves.
Secondly while as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) focus on the abuse of a legal substance, Alcohol this is not the case for Narcotics Anonymous (NA) which goes ahead to address both the abuse of legal and illegal substances; cannabis, cocaine as well as Alcohol etc. This illustrates that NA is more advanced when compared with the aspects addressed by the AA. Moreover, it is worth noting that this is also the case with Al-Anon whose primary focus revolves issues related to alcohol abuse. Moreover, it is crucial to address the unique nature of Al-Anon.
This is on the context of primarily focusing on the secondary parties of the aspects of alcohol abuse. This program addresses the impact of the alcoholics on family members as well as friends, while both AA and NA put their focus on the actual victims of the menace. This is one of the most critical differences between the AA and NA as well as Al-Anon.
One of the unique differences between the AA, NA and Al-Anon is the relationship with other social institutions. It is worth noting that both AA and NA have very effective relationships with hospitals and prisons. In fact, recent studies have indicated that there is a very close relationship between the two and the institutions (Sell & Magor-Blatch 2016). First, most of the meetings of the two programs are often held in health care facilities. This is the place where recovering individuals are getting their therapeutic treatment.
The individuals who have already recovered from the addiction will lead the meetings to address the issue that address the addicts. Through research, it was realized that many of the recovering individuals get more encouraged when they talk with people who have had gone through the problem and ultimately succeeded. As such, they get more motivated and are thus willing to undergo the healing process. Moreover, prisons facilities have also been deemed to be a very critical place for holding such meetings. Most of the alcoholics often find themselves in incarceration due to the offenses committed under the usage of the drugs. As such, they are imprisoned while undergoing treatment.
Both NA and AA often ensure that such individuals participate in their meetings to enable them to get the necessary mental help that will allow them to manage the problem (Rubya & Yarosh2017). On the other hand, the Al-Anon program need not utilize these facilities because the victims are often an ordinary person whose consequential impact arises from the already alcoholics. The need for the role of this program arises as the family members, as well as friends, start blaming themselves when they are unable to help the individuals who have already become alcoholics. The need for hospitals and prisons does not become of utter necessary within the Al-Anon program.
The primary role of the Al-Anon program does not encompass assisting alcoholics in ending their problem. Its focus is on the friends and family members who have suffered from the actions o the alcoholics. With a larger number of alcoholics being men, it is the opposite for the Al-Anon program whose most of the members are vulnerable women who are suffering from the impact of alcoholism (Helm 2019). On the other hand, AA and NA focus on the drug abusers as well as drunkards. Their primary focus revolves around ensuring that society is free from such kind of individuals.
It is worth noting that most of the friends and family members are the one that points out the need of these persons to participate in these programs. As such, the program only focuses on the individual. Moreover, many of the persons in this category comprises of men who have become accustomed to usage of drugs as well as alcoholism problem. It is worth noting that most of the family members in the Al-Anon program have some of their kin in the AA or NA programs.
Conclusion
Drug abuse and alcoholism is a very critical problem, not only in the US but in the global context. The numbers of individuals who indulge in drug and alcohol usage have continued to rise in recent years. With the uncontrolled indulgence, the problem persists which results in abuses and aspect of alcoholism. This has led to a negative impact on the persons and the society in general. It is on this context that programs such as the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA) as well as Al-Anon have emerged to address such issues. These programs have many similarities and some notable differences which have been elaborated. On a broad scale, these programs play an essential role in ensuring that society is free of drug abusers so as it can become healthier.
References
- Helm, P. (2019). Sobriety versus abstinence. How 12-stepper negotiate long-term recovery across groups. Addiction Research & Theory, 27(1), 29-36.
- Jalali, R., Moradi, A., Dehghan, F., Merzai, S., & Alikhani, M. (2019). The exploration of factors related to treatment retention in Narcotics Anonymous members: a qualitative study. Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy, 14(1), 14.
- Rubya, S., & Yarosh, S. (2017). Interpretations of online anonymity in Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 1(CSCW), 1-22.
- Sell, M., & Magor-Blatch, L. E. (2016). Assessment of coping in Al-Anon attending family members of problem drinking relatives. Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 11(3), 205-219.
