Abstract
BackgroundJapan’s tolerance of alcohol consumption and intoxication pose extreme difficulties for community-dwelling alcoholics who wish to abstain from alcohol and maintain sobriety. Emotional problems triggered in daily life can easily lead to relapse, especially after abstinence. Alcoholics Anonymous places great emphasis on dealing with attendees’ emotional experiences. However, the specific nature of this support is not well understood. Therefore, this study aimed to elucidate the emotional experiences of AA members who strive for sobriety while attending AA and to identify suggestions for new methods of support.MethodsThe present study employed an interview method. Data were analyzed using the KJ Method, which was developed by Japanese cultural anthropologist Jiro Kawakita. Study participants were 36 men chosen from AA groups in the Kanto and Kyushu regions of Japan.ResultsLong-term abstinence was achieved through the following process: 1) gaining objectivity, 2) striving to maintain an attitude of acceptance, and 3) remaining devoted to discipline for one’s goals, thereby 4) recovering one’s contradictory self. This was an unending process that unfolded as the individual tasks affected each other. To facilitate this process, AA members dealt with risk cues that destabilized post-cessation emotional balance while making daily efforts to regulate their own emotions.ConclusionsTo maintain sobriety, AA members strove to regulate their emotions. By doing so, they experienced personal growth and attained a life in which they did not require alcohol (i.e., sobriety). The present study indicated that Japanese nursing and health care workers should be willing to learn from AA members, such as by understanding the 12-step culture. The data also suggest the need to create environments conducive to AA activities, from which many alcoholics derive emotional support.
Highlights
Japan’s tolerance of alcohol consumption and intoxication pose extreme difficulties for communitydwelling alcoholics who wish to abstain from alcohol and maintain sobriety
A schematic representation of the spatial arrangement of the seven islands revealed four “Nearby Islands,” which we expressed as symbols. This schematic constituted an affinity diagram in which the emotional experiences of Japanese Alcoholics Anonymous members working toward sobriety are characterized by an iterative process of interrelations among these four symbols
Characteristics of emotional experiences of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) members in Japan striving for sobriety As the participants in this study attended AA to recover from alcoholism, they drew from a diversity of personal experiences to construct a life without alcohol
Summary
Japan’s tolerance of alcohol consumption and intoxication pose extreme difficulties for communitydwelling alcoholics who wish to abstain from alcohol and maintain sobriety. This study aimed to elucidate the emotional experiences of AA members who strive for sobriety while attending AA and to identify suggestions for new methods of support. Alcohol use disorder is a significant global health challenge. During the 2010 World Health Assembly, the World Health Organization adopted a Global Strategy to Reduce Harmful Use of Alcohol. Seizing this opportunity, the Japanese Society of Alcohol-Related Problems and other groups concerned with alcohol use disorder undertook efforts, which resulted in the passage of the. Another study reported that there was no optimally safe level of alcohol consumption, and that alcohol use contributed to loss of health resulting from various causes [2]. The true impact of alcohol on people’s health is still being debated from a global perspective
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