Estudos Interdisciplinares em Psicologia
ISSN 2236-6407
COSTA, Raul Max Lucas da DANZIATO, Leonardo. The social bond in the construction of the anonymous alcoholic's identity. Est. Inter. Psicol. []. 2021, 12, 3, pp.22-39. ISSN 2236-6407. https://doi.org/10.5433/2236-6407.2021v12n3p22.
In contemporaneity, the presence of several anonymous groups composes a diverse set of identity groups that claim their difference and distinction. Considering the historicity of the Brotherhood of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), this article analyzes the identity construction of the anonymous alcoholic and its relationship with the social bond. We used the official literature of the Brotherhood as a data source and the psychoanalytic theory as a theoretical reference for the analysis of the results. We find that the identity construction of the anonymous alcoholic establishes, in principle, from an institutional engagement to the AA, being its operation based on the ideals of brotherhood, anonymity and alcohol abstinence. Among AA the symptomatic identification with the alcoholism disease occurs concomitant to the establishment of the fraternal bond that functions as an imaginary and egoic repair for the alcoholic in his work of identity production. We conclude that the "anonymous alcoholic" identity construction is equivalent to the purpose of the therapeutic proposal of AA that consists in the adhesion to a new way of life, whose effects are of segregation to the social bond and of alienation to the Institutional Other.
: alcoholics anonymous; psychoanalytic theory; identification; subjectivity; sociability.