The Dynamics of Fellowship as Illustrated in Alcoholics Anonymous

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Abstract
An effort is made to support a concept of empathy by an outline of the dynamics of fellowship in the group therapy of Alcoholics Anonymous. Freud is cited as a valuable source for the argument that leaderless groups can be sound if united by a strong common ground and goal. But in the course of this argument, the psychosexual theory tends to be abandoned, and replaced by a theory of "person." If choice and action are concepts essential to an insight into fellowship dynamics, scientific assessment of the therapy will leave out a vital portion of the dynamics to be understood. But this is not to say that investigators cannot check the results of fellowship dynamics. They can and they do; it is well that they do. But there are clear limits to the effectiveness of such assessment, when the implications of transference, of action, and of fellowship are taken into account. Finally, the involvement of mutual self-respect in fellowship commits one to values, such as freedom and goodwill, which are not usually recognized as scientific in nature. It is argued that fellowship flourishes in the empathic act in the dynamics of Alcoholics Anonymous, and appears to function best on the assumption of a greater power.

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