Discussion:
I am half Irish and half Cherokee Indian, therefore, it is safe to say that in my family, alcohol is no stranger. My grandfather, uncles, cousins and me all have one thing in common, alcohol. I have always had problems with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), for two reasons, one, as a police officer, information was not easy to obtain and two, I did not understand why someone would allow their will to fail. Since becoming an interrogator, I have taken several courses in psychology and the one thing that I have realized from AA is that of a psychological factor. A portion of me believes that AA sessions are working and very needed. The other portion of me wonders why they even exist. These portions lead me to step back and see that the mind is a most powerful organ and can dictate things that we as humans cannot comprehend. AA placed a greater focus on the psychological and neurological aspects of a person's will and thoughts within the mind (Koerner, 2010). However, when dealing with a person's will, attempting to focus on the true aspect of that person's thought process is not as easy as people think. A person's will can either bring to submit to something or shut that something down. This is the aspect that dictates the success and failures of AA. All human beings have a certain degree of guilt that dwells within, whether it is believed or not. Even the hardest criminal mind eventually broke down and allowed the guilt within to come forward. I have looked into the eyes of some of the most war hardened killers and eventually they talked to me. All this being said, AA has documented proof of overwhelming success because of two characteristics that its inventor realized from the start; a psychological understanding and spirituality. No matter who you are, everyone is seeking to find that one person that can pull them from the ashes of despair and guide them into a greater sense of being. At a person's most vulnerable point, they will seek out help and cry out. That is the spiritual entity within us all pleading with God to deliver us from the evils that we have created. At this point, AA counselors enact the most important characteristics of the program; admitting the problem, professing faith in God and what he can do, making amends with those we have wronged, and building a future of spiritual healing (Brande, 2013). These characteristics allow members to retrain our will toward lessening the chemical dependency and greatening our faith in God and allowing his will to guide our paths. As an interrogator, I would interrogate at the moment after the raid in order to catch them at their most vulnerable. AA counselors know that change begins at the most vulnerable point in a person's life, therefore, the turning point is in the most vulnerable aspect of dependency. There are those that will not cecum to the efforts of AA counselors but the responsibility remains to give help in the hopes that one day it will take hold.
Reference:
Brande, L. (2013). About the alcoholics anonymous (AA) 12-step recovery program. Retrieved from https://www.recovery.org/topics/alcoholics-anonymous-12-step Koerner, B. I. (2010). Secret of AA: After 75 years, we don't know how it works. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2010/06/ff_alcoholics_anonymous/all.