Marcin Wnuk, Jagiellonian University Department of Neurology, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health April 2022
In Poland, alcohol abuse and addiction cause serious social, economic, and health related problems. The general rate at which alcohol is consumed each year per capita has been increasing since 1999, as have the numbers of individuals using alcohol in a risky and problematic way. In Poland, there are about 800,000 alcohol-dependent individuals and about 2–2.5 million citizens who abuse alcohol. One method of support
for alcohol-dependent individuals in Poland is participation in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). This method of addressing alcoholism is based on the completion of a spiritual 12-step programme and a philosophy of alcohol addiction as a deadly, chronic, progressive, and multifaceted disease negatively affecting the social, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of life. The roots of this self-help movement come from the United States and date back to 1935.
In Poland, AA meetings have been organised since 1974. Currently, there are 2300 meetings per week. In the literature one can find well-established discussions about the effectiveness of this form of therapy for individuals with alcohol dependence. Some studies have indicated involvement in AA as an effective way of alcohol-dependence recovery.
Little is known about the spiritual mechanism underlying the relationship between involvement in AA and subjective well-being. The aim of this study was to test the beneficial role of existential well-being in the indirect relationship between involvement in AA and the subjective well-being in a sample of individuals with alcohol dependence from Poland. In the literature, there is a lack of research regarding predictors of subjective wellbeing among participants of self-help groups. Most researchers have focused on abstinence duration or reduced drinking as a recovery indicators.
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