The principles of the 12-step program have become widely practiced for various kinds of addictive and compulsive behaviors. Obesity is a highly prevalent disorder because food is a necessity for people in contrast to substances and risks. Although drug and alcohol abuse cause dramatic drawbacks for human’s life, even a seemingly less fatal disorder as an eating disorder deserves attention. That is why the current paper focuses on the 12-step program of Overeaters Anonymous (OA).
The online session was in a chat-format where participants could log in using any name. It was impossible to know anything about the demographic characteristic of the group unless the participants mentioned anything themselves. However, it was clear that the participants had different extent and variants of eating disorders because different participants expressed varied kinds of emotions. Moreover, I could feel the caring and supportive atmosphere of the whole group. People were ready to listen without judgment, and the group admin was well-prepared and moderated the meeting operatively.
However, it was easier to enter and leave the chat any time than it would be during a real meeting, not to mention that some members might have problems with the connection. For this reason, the group dynamics felt unstable and somewhat non-serious, although it did not seem to spoil the tone at least for active participants. Overall, the meeting felt comfortable because, in this format of a conversation, any participant was safe from most of the unpleasant factors such as other people’s staring and the pressure to stay.
At first, I was skeptical about the format, especially when I realized that there was no voice communication, but only texting. As it turned out, the group managed to have a fully functional session using written speech only. They also adopted the rules of the group to the online context. For example, special keyboard shortcuts signified that participants wanted to share, accepted abbreviations were used for common responses. At the beginning of the session, the moderator announced the rules for newcomers, stated the general theme for the session, and read a prayer. Therefore, the group managed to create the process using standard actions and signposts.
In the current context of online settings, it was fascinating to observe how people manage to express extralinguistic reactions (mimic, feelings) using linguistic tools. Although it happens in everyday life as well, in the given situation, it is crucial to develop and use precise ways of showing interest and support. Another feeling I experienced was that the audience was fully engaged and accepting. That atmosphere allowed the participants to be sincere with each other and to move further in their journey toward recovery.
Moreover, I expected the participants’ central theme to be eating behavior and food addiction, but they discussed other sides of their life as well. People were sharing their concerns about work, family, and communication with strangers. They were trying to incorporate the principles of the program into their lives, and not only to one aspect of it. For instance, discussing work problems, they were talking about it within the step the speaker was going through. Due to such an approach, the recovery is probably more effective because it helps a person to control all of the life aspects.
Being a 12-step program, OA follows the main principles of this kind of organization. The main topics of this approach seem to be community, shared responsibility, admitting the unpleasant reality (especially the truth of being out of control of one’s life), and acquiring the faith in higher forces capable of controlling what the person cannot regulate. These principles help participants to feel support and to realize that they belong to a community of people with similar stories. It is also beneficial to eliminate illusions through accepting the reality because illusions usually stop people from realizing significant changes in life that were caused by the addiction.
The course on drugs in society covers some issues with the therapy of people suffering from addiction. As it was discussed during classes, the biopsychosocial mechanisms of getting addicted are constant, and eating disorders are an example of them. The online meeting of OA demonstrated this fact clearly. Furthermore, this experience helped to realize how community self-organizes social practices, which should help people in need. Although OA has its specific features as a self-organized community, it resembles general principles of other 12-step groups.
To conclude, the experience of attending the online OA meeting was useful for understanding how omnipresent addictive patterns are. The meeting also demonstrated that it was possible to construct the necessary environment using test messages, although there were some limitations as well. The participants created a caring and gentle atmosphere in the chat, encouraging others to express their concerns in order to get support and overcome the problem. It was also a beneficial opportunity to observe how the principles of the 12-step approach were implemented into eating disorders treatment and to compare this variant of therapy to other approaches to helping people with addictions.