Emotions Anonymous

Emotions Anonymous is a twelve-step program

Twelve-step program

A Twelve-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems...

for recovery from mental and emotional illness. there were approximately 1,100 EA groups active in the United States. EA is the largest of three organizations that have adapted the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...

(AA) to create a program for people suffering from mental and emotional illness. Neurotics Anonymous is a predecessor of EA. Emotional Health Anonymous (EHA), was created independently. To avoid confusion with Narcotics Anonymous

Narcotics Anonymous

Narcotics Anonymous is a twelve-step program modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous describing itself as a "fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem," and it is the second-largest 12-step organization...

(NA), Neurotics Anonymous is abbreviated N/A or NAIL.

History

The conception of Neurotics Anonymous began with Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous

co-founder Bill W. After achieving sobriety

Sobriety

Sobriety is the condition of not having any measurable levels, or effects from, alcohol or other drugs that alter ones mood or behaviors. According to WHO "Lexicon of alcohol and drug terms..." sobriety is continued abstinence from alcohol and psychoactive drug use...

Bill continued to suffer from neurosis

Neurosis

Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving distress but neither delusions nor hallucinations, whereby behavior is not outside socially acceptable norms. It is also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, and thus those suffering from it are said to be neurotic...

, specifically depression

Clinical depression

Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...

. In letters to other AA members he wrote about his personal experience with neurosis, its prevalence in AA, and how he and others learned to cope with it. Bill expressed that as he learned to let go of his dependence on people and situations for emotional security and replaced that dependence with "showing outgoing love as best as he could," his depression began to subside. In correspondence with another AA member about neurosis and psychoanalyst Karen Horney

Karen Horney

Karen Horney born Danielsen was a German-American psychoanalyst. Her theories questioned some traditional Freudian views, particularly his theory of sexuality, as well as the instinct orientation of psychoanalysis and its genetic psychology...

Bill suggested how a Neurotics Anonymous fellowship might operate.
In a subsequent letter to Ollie in June 1956, Bill suggested the inventory of psychic damages include inferiority

Inferiority complex

An inferiority complex, in the fields of psychology and psychoanalysis, is a feeling that one is inferior to others in some way. Such feelings can arise from an imagined or actual inferiority in the afflicted person...

, shame

Shame

Shame is, variously, an affect, emotion, cognition, state, or condition. The roots of the word shame are thought to derive from an older word meaning to cover; as such, covering oneself, literally or figuratively, is a natural expression of shame....

, guilt

Guilt

Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...

and anger

Anger

Anger is an automatic response to ill treatment. It is the way a person indicates he or she will not tolerate certain types of behaviour. It is a feedback mechanism in which an unpleasant stimulus is met with an unpleasant response....

. He added that the effectiveness of the inventory would come from reliving the experiences and sharing them with other people.

Neurotics Anonymous was created eight years later, February 3, 1964 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

by Grover Boydston (August 16, 1924 - December 17, 1996). Grover was an AA member, recovering alcoholic, psychologist

Psychologist

Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...

, and Ed.M.

Master of Education

The Master of Education is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in a large number of countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum and instruction, counseling, and administration. It is often conferred for educators advancing in...

Grover had attempted suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

five times before the age of 21 and, like Bill W., was neurotic. Grover believed members of twelve-step programs shared the same underlying neuroses caused by self-centeredness, a view expressed in other twelve-step programs. Grover went as far as to say, "All of us are, indeed, brothers, and the variations in detail are no more than if one of us likes chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

ice cream

Ice cream

Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...

, and the other likes vanilla

Vanilla

Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla . The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod...

."

While in AA, Grover discovered working the Twelve Steps helped remove the neuroses underlying his alcoholism. As an experiment Grover instructed a woman who suffered from neurosis, but not alcoholism, to work the Twelve Steps. He discovered that they aided her recovery from neurosis as well. He wrote Alcoholics Anonymous World Services for permission to use their Twelve Steps with the word "alcohol" in the First Step replaced with "our emotions." Permission was granted. Grover placed an ad in a Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

newspaper for Neurotics Anonymous, and organized the first meeting from those who responded to it. NAIL grew modestly until an article was published on it in Parade
Parade (magazine)
Parade is an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 500 newspapers in the United States. It was founded in 1941 and is owned by Advance Publications. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., Parade has a circulation of 32.2 million and a readership of nearly 70...

magazine. The Associated Press

Associated Press

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

and United Press International

United Press International

United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...

republished the story, and NAIL groups began forming internationally.

Marion Flesch (July 24, 1911 - October 10, 2004) is responsible for starting what would become Emotions Anonymous. Marion was a graduate of St. Cloud State Teachers College (now St. Cloud State University

St. Cloud State University

St. Cloud State University is a four-year public university founded in 1869 on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Cloud, Minnesota, United States. The university is the largest member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system which is the largest single provider of higher...

) and at various times worked as a teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

, secretary

Secretary

A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...

, clerk, accountant

Accountant

An accountant is a practitioner of accountancy or accounting , which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resources.The Big Four auditors are the largest...

, bookkeeper

Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions. Transactions include sales, purchases, income, receipts and payments by an individual or organization. Bookkeeping is usually performed by a bookkeeper. Bookkeeping should not be confused with accounting. The accounting process is usually...

and office manager. Later in life she became a certified chemical dependency counselor through the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

and started work on a master's degree, but stopped at age 80 due to health concerns. Marion originally went to Al-Anon meetings at the advice of a friend to help deal with panic attacks. After she learned of NAIL, she started the first such meeting in Minnesota. It was held April 13, 1966, at the Merriam Park Community Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. NAIL grew quickly in Minnesota, and by Fall of 1966 there were thirty active groups in the state.

Differences developed between the Minnesota groups and the central offices of NAIL. The Minnesota Intergroup Association separated from NAIL on July 6, 1971, after unsuccessful attempts to reconcile differences with NAIL and later adopted the name Emotions Anonymous. They wrote to Alcoholics Anonymous World Services for permission to use the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Twelve Traditions

The Twelve Traditions of twelve-step programs provide guidelines for relationships between the twelve-step groups, members, other groups, the global fellowship, and society at large. Questions of finance, public relations, donations, and purpose are addressed in the Traditions...

. Permissions was granted. Emotions Anonymous officially filed Articles of Incorporation

Articles of Incorporation

The Articles of Incorporation are the primary rules governing the management of a corporation in the United States and Canada, and are filed with a state or other regulatory agency.An equivalent term for LLCs in the United States is the Articles of Organization...

on July 22, 1971.

By 1974 the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders...

, at the time in second edition (DSM-II), was undergoing revision. The framework developed for the third edition (DSM-III) was no longer based on psychoanalytic

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...

principles such as neurosis. The connotation of neurosis in common language also began to change. "Neurosis" was being used, increasingly, in a facetious or pejorative

Pejorative

Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...

sense, rather than a diagnostic sense. These combined factors could make it difficult to take an organization known as Neurotics Anonymous seriously. In current NAIL literature, there is not a scientific definition ascribed to neurosis. As used in the NAIL program, a neurotic is defined as any person who accepts that he or she has emotional problems.

Although EA outgrew NAIL in the United States, NAIL in Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

continued to grow. It has only been since early 2007 that NAIL groups have again begun to formally organize in the United States, composed largely of Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

-speaking members. EA groups are mostly distributed throughout Europe and English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

-speaking parts of the world, with some notable exceptions being Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

and India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Outside of the Americas, NAIL is only active in Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

.

Emotional Health Anonymous was created sometime before July 27, 1973. Currently, EHA is only active in the Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

area.

Purpose

EA is not intended to be a replacement for psychotherapy

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...

, psychiatric medication

Psychiatric medication

A psychiatric medication is a licensed psychoactive drug taken to exert an effect on the mental state and used to treat mental disorders. Usually prescribed in psychiatric settings, these medications are typically made of synthetic chemical compounds, although some are naturally occurring, or at...

, or any kind of professional mental health treatment. People may find EA useful when psychiatric treatment is not available to them, when they have resistance to psychiatric treatment, or as a complement to such treatment. EA does not attempt to coerce members in to following anyone's advice. EA members express this in the saying, "No questions, no advice, stick to yourself."

Intellectual disabilities and hospitalization

Jim Voytilla of the Ramsey County, Minnesota

Ramsey County, Minnesota

Ramsey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota, founded in 1849. As of 2010, the population was 508,640. Its county seat is St. Paul, which is also Minnesota's state capital. The county is named for Alexander Ramsey , the first governor of the Minnesota Territory...

, Human Services Department created EA groups for mentally retarded substance abuse

Substance abuse

A substance-related disorder is an umbrella term used to describe several different conditions associated with several different substances .A substance related disorder is a condition in which an individual uses or abuses a...

rs in 1979 Voytilla noted when this particular demographic of substance abusers attended AA meetings in the surrounding community, they felt uncomfortable and made others attending the meetings uncomfortable. Voytilla's EA meetings were created to avoid these problems, and address the illnesses of his clients other than substance abuse. Since then, four articles have narrowly defined EA as a program specifically for mentally retarded or intellectually disabled substance abusers.

In a similar way, EA has also been incorrectly described as an organization either specifically or primarily for those who have been discharged from psychiatric hospitals.

While EA does not discriminate against any demographic—all that is needed to join EA is a desire to become emotionally well—EA is not, and never has been, a program specifically for people of any particular background or treatment history. It is not uncommon, however, for former patients in psychiatric hospitals to seek help in EA after being discharged.

Demographics

Grover Boydston conducted the first demographic study of Neurotics Anonymous in 1974. Much of what he found has been reproduced in subsequent demographic studies of Emotions Anonymous and similar groups. Such studies are rare and samples sizes are usually small as any group following the Twelve Traditions

Twelve Traditions

is required to protect the anonymity of their members. While researching such groups is still ethically possible, it is more difficult given this constraint.

Age: Boydston's study found the average age of NAIL members surveyed to be 43.02 years. A study six years later of self-help groups for people with serious mental illness, found the average age to be 35.3 years.

Attendance and Tenure: Of the NAIL members surveyed Boydston found they attended, on average, six meetings per month and had spent an average of 2.37 years in NAIL. The meaningfulness of the latter statistic is mitigated as NAIL only existed for approximately ten years at the time of the survey.

Employment and socioeconomic status: Boydston categorized the occupations of NAIL members in to four categories.

Professionals - Includes people who practice a profession that is so considered by scientific, academic, business, and other people. It includes physicians, lawyers, engineers, nurses, college and university instructors
Faculty (university)
A faculty is a division within a university comprising one subject area, or a number of related subject areas...

. These represented 38% of the members surveyed.
Clerical persons - Includes people who perform office work or sales
Sales
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....

work according to the classification of "clerical
Clerk
Clerk, the vocational title, commonly refers to a white-collar worker who conducts general office or, in some instances, sales tasks. It is also occasionally used to refer to third-year medical students completing a medical clerkship. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record...

." These represented 32% of the members surveyed.
Homemakers - A person who takes care of a home as his or her main work. These represented 16% of the members surveyed.
Other - Includes students and people who do not fit in to the three previous categories. These represented 32% of the members surveyed.

According to Boydston's results at least 70% of NAIL members were employed. This is similar to a specific study of EA that found most of the members were middle class

Middle class

The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

. Other studies of self-help groups for people with serious mental illness found most of the members tend to be unemployed, while others found members to be predominately working class

Working class

Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...

Ethnicity: Boydston's study, and all similar studies in the literature have found that the majority of members in NAIL, EA, and other self-help groups for people with serious mental illness are white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...

.

Hospitalization: Boydston's study of NAIL members found that 42% percent had been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons. More recent studies have shown that in self-help groups for serious mental illness approximately 60% (55%-75%) of members had been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons.

Marital Status: In Boydston's study of NAIL members he found 25% were single
Single (relationship)
In legal definitions for interpersonal status, a single person is someone who is not in a relationship or is "unmarried". If a marriage is annulled, however, or it is found to have been void ab initio , and assuming the person was not married previously, that individual is single, rather than...

, 48% were currently married
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

, 22% were divorced and 5% were widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...

ed. This finding has not been replicated in studies of similar groups where it was found most members had never been married.

Religion: Boydston's survey included not only religious affiliation, but also included a measure of religiosity
Religiosity
Religiosity, in its broadest sense, is a comprehensive sociological term used to refer to the numerous aspects of religious activity, dedication, and belief . Another term that would work equally well, though is less often used, is religiousness...

. Of the NAIL members surveyed he found 24% identified as Catholic
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....

, 47% identified as Protestant, 9% identified as Jewish, and 19% did not consider themselves religious. Additionally, only 19% of members identified themselves as "very religious," 42% identified themselves as moderately religious, and 39% identified themselves as "not very religious."

Specific disorders (neuroses): Boydston's survey contained an open-ended question asking about the "main complaints" NAIL members came to the program with. He summarized them in a list of twelve. Listed below are his results, in order from the highest to lowest percentage of members reporting them. Members often presented with more than one complaint.

Depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...

(58%)
Anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...

(32%)
Fear
Fear
Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger...

s (23%)
Problems in relationships
Interpersonal relationship
An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the...

(18%)
Psychosomatic pains
Psychosomatic illness
Psychosomatic medicine is an interdisciplinary medical field studying the relationships of social, psychological, and behavioral factors on bodily processes and well-being in humans and animals...

(14%)
Confusion
ConFusion
ConFusion is an annual science fiction convention organized by the Stilyagi Air Corps and its parent organization, the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association. Commonly, it is held the third weekend of January. It is the oldest science fiction convention in Michigan, a regional, general SF con...

(13%)

No desire to live (11%)
Inability to cope (9%)
Nervousness
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...

(7%)
Loneliness
Loneliness
Loneliness is an unpleasant feeling in which a person feels a strong sense of emptiness and solitude resulting from inadequate levels of social relationships. However, it is a subjective experience...

(6%)
Feelings of hopelessness (5%)
Hate (3%)

Sex: Boydston's study of NAIL members found approximately 36% were male, and 64% were female. This ratio, of two (or more) females for every male, has been reproduced in all other studies of self-help groups for persons with serious mental illness, as well as specific studies of EA groups.

Previous treatments

The tables below are the percentages of members who received the listed treatments before joining NAIL. The data is taken from Boydston's 1974 study of NAIL members. The treatments mentioned in this table represent those that were available in 1974 and earlier.
Psychotherapies

Psychotherapy	Members utilizing (%)
Psychiatrists	70
Psychologists	35
General practitioner General practitioner A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities... s (M.D.)	58
Clergy Clergy Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....	50
Group therapy Group therapy Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group...	41
Individual Therapy Psychotherapy Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...	22
Other nonphysical therapy (self-help groups such as AA, NA)	8

Drugs taken

Drug	Members utilizing (%)
Tranquilizers	72
Anti-depressants	53
Sleeping pills Hypnotic Hypnotic drugs are a class of psychoactives whose primary function is to induce sleep and to be used in the treatment of insomnia and in surgical anesthesia...	43
Other drugs (including alcohol)	25

Somatic therapies

Therapy	Members utilizing (%)
Hospitalized Psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...	42
Electroshock treatments Electroconvulsive therapy Electroconvulsive therapy , formerly known as electroshock, is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect. Its mode of action is unknown...	27

Mexico City

In 1988 the World Health Organization

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

estimated that 89 percent of Mexico City's

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

population was in a crisis they described as "psychological and very severely emotional." It is estimated that 15% of the workforce

Workforce

The workforce is the labour pool in employment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic region like a city, country, state, etc. The term generally excludes the employers or management, and implies those involved in...

in Mexico City are alcoholics

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

. In Mexico City, alcoholism is ten times more prevalent in men than in women (the disparity increases in rural areas) and AA groups are consequently predominately male. The Mexican government funds a hot line staffed by volunteers from NAIL to counsel people in crisis by phone.

Neurotics Anonymous (Neuróticos Anónimos) groups in Mexico, like the groups in the United States, are predominately female. The connotation of the word "neurotic," however, is different; anyone who openly expresses anger

Anger

is considered neurotic. For example, a wife who frequently scolds her husband or children is neurotic and can be treated in NAIL. While men can be neurotic it is considered to be mostly a female affliction, usually developed in response to male alcoholic behavior. Al-Anon groups in Mexico City are also predominately female, but many women attend NAIL to deal with their husband's alcoholism.

A study of Neurotics Anonymous members in the Xochimilco

Xochimilco

Xochimilco is one of the sixteen delegaciones or boroughs within Mexican Federal District. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the pre-Hispanic period...

borough of the Mexican Federal District

Boroughs of the Mexican Federal District

Mexico City — politically and administratively constituted as the Federal District — is divided into sixteen boroughs for administrative purposes. They constitute second-level administrative divisions, on par with the municipalities of Mexico. However, unlike municipalities, they do not have...

found members presented with a heterogeneous composition of problems and disorders (including depression, suicidal ideation

Suicidal ideation

Suicidal ideation is a common medical term for thoughts about suicide, which may be as detailed as a formulated plan, without the suicidal act itself. Although most people who undergo suicidal ideation do not commit suicide, some go on to make suicide attempts...

, obsessions

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Obsessive–compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions...

, anxiety

Anxiety disorder

Anxiety disorder is a blanket term covering several different forms of abnormal and pathological fear and anxiety. Conditions now considered anxiety disorders only came under the aegis of psychiatry at the end of the 19th century. Gelder, Mayou & Geddes explains that anxiety disorders are...

, sexual problems and somatic disorders

Somatoform disorder

In psychology, a somatoform disorder is a mental disorder characterized by physical symptoms that suggest physical illness or injury - symptoms that cannot be explained fully by a general medical condition, direct effect of a substance, or attributable to another mental disorder . The symptoms that...

). Most members were between 20 to 40 years old (73%) and were predominately female (87%); coinciding with established social roles in the culture that men are alcoholics and women suffer from depression and other emotional problems. All members in the sample had average or below average levels of income. While members worked on average 2.5 hours per day and 87% were satisfied with the amount of time spent working per day (as it allowed them more time to participate in the group) 87% were also dissatisfied with their economic security

Economic security

Economic security or financial security is the condition of having stable income or other resources to support a standard of living now and in the foreseeable future...

Processes

For more details on this topic, see Self-help groups for mental health: Group processes and Twelve-step program: Process

Emotions Anonymous views mental and emotional illness as chronic and progressive, like addiction

Substance dependence

The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...

. EA members find they "hit bottom" when the consequences of their mental and emotional illness cause complete despair. Twelve-step groups symbolically represent human structure in three dimensions: physical, mental, and spiritual. The illnesses the groups deal with are understood to manifest themselves in each dimension. The First Step in each twelve-step group states what members have been unable to control with their willpower

Will (philosophy)

Will, in philosophical discussions, consonant with a common English usage, refers to a property of the mind, and an attribute of acts intentionally performed. Actions made according to a person's will are called "willing" or "voluntary" and sometimes pejoratively "willful"...

. In some cases the emphasis is on the experience in the physical dimension; in AA the First Step suggests admitting powerlessness over alcohol

Alcoholic beverage

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...

, in Overeaters Anonymous

Overeaters Anonymous

Overeaters Anonymous is a twelve-step program for people with problems related to food including, but not limited to, compulsive overeaters, those with binge eating disorder, bulimics and anorexics...

(OA) it is powerlessness over food

Food

Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...

. In other groups the First Step emphasizes the experience in the mental dimension; in NA the First Step suggests admitting powerlessness over addiction, in EA (as well as NAIL and EHA), it is powerlessness over emotions. EA, NAIL and EHA focus on deviant moods and emotion

Emotion

Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...

s, not just a craving for mood alteration. The subjective experience of powerlessness over one's emotions can generate multiple kinds of behavioral disorders, or it can be a cause of mental suffering with no consistent behavioral manifestation (such as affective

Mood disorder

Mood disorder is the term designating a group of diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classification system where a disturbance in the person's mood is hypothesized to be the main underlying feature...

disorders).

In the Third Step members surrender

Surrender (spirituality and psychology)

To surrender in spirituality and religion means that a believer completely gives up his own will and subjects his thoughts, ideas, and deeds to the will and teachings of a higher power. It may also be contrasted with Submission...

their will to a Higher Power

Higher Power

Higher Power is a term coined in the 1930s in Alcoholics Anonymous and is used in other twelve-step programs. It is also sometimes referred to as a power greater than ourselves and is frequently abbreviated to HP.-History:...

, this should not be understood as encouraging passiveness, rather its purpose is to increase acceptance of reality. The process of working the Twelve Steps is intended to replace self-centeredness with a growing moral consciousness and a willingness for self-sacrifice and unselfish constructive action; this is known as a spiritual awakening, or religious experience

Religious experience

Religious experience is a subjective experience in which an individual reports contact with a transcendent reality, an encounter or union with the divine....

Effectiveness

Neurotics Anonymous developed the Test of Mental and Emotional Health as a tool to help members evaluate their progress. It is a fifty question test, with each answer rated on a three level Likert scale

Likert scale

A Likert scale is a psychometric scale commonly involved in research that employs questionnaires. It is the most widely used approach to scaling responses in survey research, such that the term is often used interchangeably with rating scale, or more accurately the Likert-type scale, even though...

. Possible scores range from zero to one hundred. Higher scores are thought to indicate better mental and emotional health.

In Boydston's survey of NAIL members, when asked if they had received help through the program, 100% of those surveyed said "yes." Boydston claimed NAIL had similar results to AA in terms of recovery — 50% with a desire to stop drinking do so, 25% recover after one or more relapses, but most of the other 25% never successfully recover.

Criticism

For more details on this topic, see Self-help groups for mental health: Criticism

Secular Humanist

Free Inquiry, a publication affiliating itself with secular humanism

Secular humanism

Secular Humanism, alternatively known as Humanism , is a secular philosophy that embraces human reason, ethics, justice, and the search for human fulfillment...

, criticized Alcoholics Anonymous and Neurotics Anonymous organizations operating in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

as having questionable therapeutic methods based on supernatural intervention. Further, stating such groups practice deception, foster ignorance, and promote blatantly false beliefs. The journal claimed the methods used create a kind of mental control that almost completely destroys individual freedom and integrity.

NAIL members in Comalapa

Comalapa, Chontales

Comalapa is a municipality in the Chontales department of Nicaragua....

(a municipality in Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

) believe X-ray images (radiografías) can serve as a moral diagnostic revealing information about the intent and mores

Mores, in sociology, are any given society's particular norms, virtues, or values. The word mores is a plurale tantum term borrowed from Latin, which has been used in the English language since the 1890s....

of those being examined. There is, however, no evidence that they are deliberately attempting to mislead other members. Americans had similar misunderstandings of X-ray technology when it was first introduced in the United States.

Increasing deviant stigma

Sociologist Edward Sagarin

Edward Sagarin

Edward Sagarin , also known by his pen name Donald Webster Cory, was an American professor of sociology and criminology at the City University of New York, and a writer...

noted that alcoholics and addicts are considered deviants

Deviant Behavior

Deviant Behavior is an interdisciplinary journal which focuses on social deviance, including criminal, sexual, and narcotic behaviors.The journal is published by Taylor and Francis, Inc., and was ranked 41st out of 46 psychology journals and 46th out of 90 sociology journals in 2004 by the...

because their behavior is socially labeled

Labeling theory

Labeling theory is closely related to interactionist and social construction theories. Labeling theory was developed by sociologists during the 1960's. Howard Saul Becker's book entitled Outsiders was extremely influential in the development of this theory and its rise to popularity...

as deviant. Meaning chronic substance abuse is seen as a deviant, while being sober

Sobriety

or "clean" is normal. For an alcoholic or addict, joining groups such as AA or NA immediately reduces their deviant stigma, regardless of whether or not the alcoholic or addict believes it does.

There is no similar clear cut language to label the deviance of those EA, EHA or NAIL, in the act of joining these groups members label themselves as deviant, and take on stigma by identifying as one of those in the group afflicted with the problems of the other members. Initially joining the group may prove to be more ego damaging than ego reinforcing, regardless of whether or not the group helps them overcome their problems. Therefore social stigma

Social stigma

Social stigma is the severe disapproval of or discontent with a person on the grounds of characteristics that distinguish them from other members of a society.Almost all stigma is based on a person differing from social or cultural norms...

would attract alcoholics and addicts to groups like AA and NA. It would, however, become a barrier preventing people from joining groups such as EA.

In contrast, those with severe mental illness may have acquired stigma through professional labels and diagnoses as well as through other behaviors associated with their mental illness defined as deviant. This stigma may not be as easily understood as alcoholism or addiction because the behavior is more varied and can not be explained by substance use.

The objective of NA and AA is not just to help their members stop abusing drugs and alcohol. It is acknowledged in these programs that addiction is more systemic than a "bad habit" and is fundamentally caused by self-centeredness. Long term membership in the AA has been found to reform pathological narcissism, and those who are sober but retain characteristics of personality disorders associated with addiction are known in AA as "dry drunks."

Literature

Emotions Anonymous publishes three books approved for use in the organization. Emotions Anonymous is the primary book, the Today book contains 366 daily meditation readings related the EA program, and It Works If You Work It discusses EA's tools and guidelines in detail.

From 1965 to 1980 Neurotics Anonymous published a mimeographed

Mimeograph machine

The stencil duplicator or mimeograph machine is a low-cost printing press that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper....

quarterly periodical, the Journal of Mental Health . This should not be confused with the newer journal of the same name that began publishing in 1992 . Early in the development of NAIL they used Alcoholics Anonymous (the so called Big Book) and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, the two fundamental books of the Alcoholics Anonymous program. While reading out loud at meetings, members changed instances of the word "alcoholic" to "neurotic." Passages in the book referring specifically to drinking were ignored. Eventually, NAIL began creating books from articles published in the Journal of Mental Health. There were three such books published in English.

The NAIL organizations in Brazil

Brazil

and Mexico

Mexico

use translations of the English literature as well as literature written by groups in their area.

Emotional Health Anonymous does not have their own literature, they use Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.

Tools and guidelines for recovery

All twelve-step program

Twelve-step program

A Twelve-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems...

s use the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Twelve Traditions

, but most have their own specialized tools and guidelines emphasizing the focus of their program. EA developed the "Twelve Helpful Concepts," and "What EA Is...and Is Not." EA's also uses a modified version of Al-Anon's "Just for Todays," as well as a slightly modified version of AA's Twelve Promises. The EA "Just For Todays" were adapted by a twelve-step organization for female victims of domestic violence

Domestic violence

Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...

with substance abuse histories, Wisdom of Women (WOW).

History

Purpose

Intellectual disabilities and hospitalization

Demographics

Previous treatments

Mexico City

Processes

Effectiveness

Criticism

Secular Humanist

Increasing deviant stigma

Literature

Tools and guidelines for recovery

See also

Neurotics Anonymous