Fighting any form of addiction, be it alcoholic, nicotine, narcotic, or another, requires a person’s efforts to overcome it. The desire to change one’s life for the better and look at the world soberly is what many people come to with time, and all of them are united by the desire to return to normal life without harmful substances. I want to share my recent experience of Narcotic Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous mutual aid groups attendance, which helped me see the world differently. I managed to evaluate real human stories behind my preconceptions about drug addicts and alcoholics and could also discover valuable information about how interaction in such communities was built. I want to discuss my views concerning human vulnerability and explain how my views on the addiction problem have changed after that meetings.
I attended both meetings the same day, on the evening of June 28. The first meeting of Narcotic Anonymous started at 5:30 p.m. in St. John’s Lutheran Church (587 Springfield Avenue, Summit, NJ 07901). The group’s name is Another Choice, which signifies that people with addictions can pursue different paths in their lives free from dependence on drugs. The meeting consisted of individuals who suffered from narcotic abuse of various forms such as heroin, cocaine, LSD, or methamphetamine use. The second session began two hours later in Oakes Center (120 Morris Avenue, Summit, NJ 07901). The group that I joined as a guest is named Back to Basics. It was found to create a platform for mutual help among people struggling with alcoholism.
As I was approaching St. John’s Lutheran Church around 5:20 p.m., I felt nervous but, at the same time, wanted to join the future meeting. The memories about my own battle against addiction to Xanax were circling in my head. Different details of that period of my life appeared in front of my eyes: how I first understood my problem, how much I suffered withdrawal consequences, and how happy I was to finally quit. Therefore, the upcoming meetings did not only serve curiosity satisfaction and personal horizon expansion purposes but also were intimate experiences for me.
Before the session had started, I talked with the group coordinator and asked for permission to participate as a guest, which I was kindly granted. What surprised me first was that the meeting consisted of people of various social classes and ages. Poor people, those belonging to the middle class, elderly, and youngsters, all were mixed in one group of 15 people, including the coordinator. This is hard to realize how such a demographic blend would be able to build relations in everyday life, but being united with one goal made the interaction seamless, at least from the observer’s perspective.
Another factor that has had a deep impression on me is the atmosphere of friendliness, encouragement, and acceptance. Listening to the group members’ personal experiences, who shared intimate, usually sad facts of their biography, was sad. However, once the speakers finished their stories, all the other members showed a high degree of empathy and support. After I attended such a meeting, I realized why such meetings were important for their participants. A sense of the common problem and the belief in collective help were the factors that brought the group together, liberating its members and creating a supportive environment comparable to a psychotherapeutic session. Thus, this is fascinating how truthful communication and attentive listening can help people overcome their problems successfully.
Moreover, I constantly kept comparing my personal story with those heard from the group members. I was thinking how my own treatment process would have passed if I had attended one of such groups and concluded that quitting would be much easier for me in that case. Furthermore, I could recognize myself in many stories told by the members. Despite being different on the surface, our experiences were very similar on the inside. For that reason, in my opinion, my individual experiences were valuable and helped me empathize more with the people in the group.
The second meeting that I attended was similar to the first one. Probably, the stories were less tragic, but the atmosphere was the same. However, this time, I could observe how the newcomer (a middle-aged man) integrated into the group. In the beginning, he was struggling to share his story and true feelings with the others due to embarrassment, but he could do it slightly better after the supportive words from the coordinator.
This is hard to express all the thoughts that I had after attending those meetings in one paper; thus, I will share the most significant reflection that concerns the topic of vulnerability. In the “outside” world, we seek to hide our weaknesses, struggles, and pain as those subjects are considered taboo by society. Nevertheless, the existence of such groups as Narcotic Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous show the importance of truthful sharing of our feelings with those who genuinely care. The meetings helped me witness the force of intimate human connection and interaction as an antidote against problems that a single person cannot solve on their own.