Narratives for Recovery: Personal Stories in the ‘Big Book’ of Alcoholics Anonymous

Abstract

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a mainstay for recovery from alcoholism, yet critical aspects of this program remain only partially understood, including the element of storytelling. Using qualitative research methods derived from narrative analysis, we examined a set of personal stories from the “Big Book” of AA and proposed a normative, structural model for these accounts. The overall storyline followed classical literary conventions for tragedy and comedy. Prototypical stages included: (1) first or early drinking, (2) alcoholic regression, (3) hitting bottom, (4) progress in the AA program, and (5) stable sobriety, embedded in a subjective, evaluative function over time.