World Views of Alcoholics Anonymous, Women for Sobriety, and Adult Children of Alcoholics/ Al-Anon Mutual Help Groups

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Women For Sobriety (WFS), and Al-Anon affiliated Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACoA/Al-Anon) mutual help groups each have different world views/philosophies regarding how to deal with alcohol-related problems. As members learn the world view of their mutual help organization, their perceptions are altered in multiple life domains. AA's world view emphasizes that members' self-centeredness causes suffering and should be overcome through surrender to a spiritual higher power. In contrast, WFS endorses the idea that individuals should be self-reliant and solve their problems through willpower and rational analysis. ACoA/Al-Anon represents a philosophical middle ground between AA and WFS, limiting members' sense of their own worth and importance in some respects and enhancing it in others. We discuss the bases of the three organizations' world views in various philosophical traditions and analyze their implications for organizational functioning. We also evaluate Antze's (1979) hypothesis that world views serve as a “cognitive antidote” for mutual help group members' problems.