Overview

In the same week that his father died, Alex came home to find his live-in fiancee in bed with another man. Paul is a divorced single parent who was recently forced to go on disability. Liz left an abusive husband and then found herself involved with yet another controlling man. These three, along with many others, have found a kind of salvation in Codependents Anonymous. The text asks whether this is self-indulgent psychobabble or legitimate therapy?; are Twelve Step groups helpful communities or disguised addictions?; and what exactly ""is"" codependency, the psychological condition that has apparently swept the United States? Leslie Irvine went inside ""CoDA"" to find out. The book is thus an insider's look at the world of people ""in recovery"" and the society that produced them. Through interviews with CoDA members, case studies and the meetings she attended regularly, Irvine develops a perspective on contemporary Americans' sense of self. She explores the idea that selfhood is a narrative accomplishment, achieved by people telling stories to themselves and about themselves. She shows how Alex, Paul, Liz and many others create a sense of self by combining elements of autobiography, culture and social structure all within the adopted language of psycho-spirituality. By following the progress and tribulations of CoDA members, Irvine seeks to get to the heart of widespread American conceptions of relationships, selfhood and community. Amidst the increasingly shrill criticism of the Twelve Step ethos, her analysis of these groups reveals the sources of both their power and their popularity.

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9780226384719

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Reviews

A scholarly exploration of the 12-step group Codependents Anonymous (CoDA) and how its participants use the group structure and process to invent and reinvent themselves. Sociologist Irvine (Univ. of Colorado, Boulder) sees the development of selfhood as a narrative accompishment, created in the stories people tell about themselves - and this includes stories they tell to themselves. CoDA was founded in 1986 by a couple who found that Alcoholics' Anonymous and similar groups were not meeting participants' needs for support in working on developing healthy relationships with others in their lives. CoDA differs from these other 12-step support groups in that it focuses on family systems issues, and doesn't address substance abuse issues. CoDA does share with other groups 12-step guidelines for assessing and changing one's life, and Twelve Traditions, which establish the principles and rules of the organization. Irvine's chief focus here is how CoDA gives its participants the framework and vocabulary with which they can explain themselves and understand their lives. Irvine also has two other themes: first, to explain what codependency is, as a cultural phenomenon. Second, she considers how institutions, social structure, and culture contribute to development of a self. Irvine reports here on her 17 months of ethnographic research, during which time she attended over 200 CoDA meetings in New York City and on Long Island; she both participated in meetings and conducted limited interviews with other participants. Brief illustrative examples of participants' stories are included here. Irvine's examination of these subjects is beyond the needs of the casual reader, and her use of sociological terminology and investigative framework can create rough going for those not in her field. A dense, careful sociologic examination, then, of how this particular support group serves and defines its members. (Kirkus Reviews)

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