Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Stout, Carder

Titel

Addiction and the numinous

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations Publishing

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Sociological Abstracts

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• This dissertation examined the nature of addiction from a depth psychological perspective in order to ascertain the correlation between addiction and a search for spirituality. Using hermeneutic and phenomenological methodologies, the study explored the dominant presence of archetypes that consistently appear during addictive cycles and asked how these images may inform major psychological and emotional shifts. Archetypes often create a sense of the numinous, which is experienced as a feeling of awe and wonder. This inquiry explored the numinous quality of these occurrences and how the impact of numinosity induced regressive behavior as well as guided addicts toward a place of healing. Also considered is the role of synchronicity in the lives of addicts as they heal from their addictions and move into recovery. The study found similarities between the journey of the addict and the monomyth of the hero’s journey. The phenomenological research consisted of interviews with eight people in recovery from addiction. The study was conducted from a depth psychological perspective that encouraged the subjects to explore their personal unconscious and its relation to the collective unconscious. The intention was to produce a phenomenological description of themes or patterns that link addiction to spirituality. The research focused on the numinous occurrences that accompany the turning point from addiction to recovery in the lives of eight former addicts. The interviews uncovered a pattern that bound the participants together in five distinct phases. The phases—archetypal trauma, the archetypal high, hitting bottom, spiritual awakening, and spiritual conversion—created in the lives of these subjects the arc of an overreaching turning point that began in childhood and continues in present day. As the participants revealed the stories of their transitions from addiction to sobriety, a number of similarities emerged. The power of the numinous in the forms of the archetype of Self and synchronic occurrences energetically pushed the participants into a new realm of spirituality and self-preservation. The study examined the profound impact of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous on these eight men and women who narrowly escaped death and now lead positive and productive lives.