Codependent Forevermore: The Invention of Self in a Twelve Step Group

In the same week that his father died, Alex came home to find his live-in fiancée 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. Is this 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.

Codependent Forevermore is thus an insider's look at the world of people "in recovery" and the society that produced them. Through extensive interviews with CoDA members, case studies, and the meetings she attended regularly, Irvine develops a galvanizing 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 gets to the heart of widespread American conceptions of relationships, selfhood, and community. Amidst the increasingly shrill criticism of the Twelve Step ethos, her reasoned and considered analysis of these groups reveals the sources of both their power and their popularity.

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 themselvesand 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. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Through the use of case histories, interviews with Codependents Anonymous (CoDA) members, and information gleaned from meetings she attended, Irvine (sociology, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder) presents both an interesting perspective on the sense of selfhood and an intelligent defense of the legitimacy of CoDA groups. Basing her study on research conducted within a 12-step group, Irvine focuses on how members develop a personal history or narrative that explains why they are the way they are in order to incorporate a sense of meaning in their lives. Also examined is what codependency really is and how CoDA works. Included is an excellent appendix, "Informed Consent and Fieldwork in 12 Step Groups," and an extensive list of references. Unfortunately, the narrow subject area of the book will limit its audience, recommending it for specialists, graduate libraries, or where interest warrants.AElizabeth Goeters, Georgia Perimeter Coll., Dunwoody
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.