Reconstructing Self: Using Deep Learning Groups Among Adult Children of Alcoholics

This paper explores the use of the deep learning group model in affirming the self-transformative effects often experienced among members of self-help groups for Adult Children of Alcoholics (AGOAs). A theoretical discussion of the construction and reconstruction of self is derived from the tenets of symbolic interaction, social construction and narrative theory. The deep learning group (DLG) is presented as a social context in which members' life stories can attain enhanced meaning when viewed from intellectual and emotional standpoints. Benefits from incorporating additional tenets of emotion theory, specific to emotional resocialization, in the DLG model are also proposed. The stories exemplifying changes in self-concept were shared by members of an Adult Children of Alcoholics group during a oneday DLG workshop held in January 1995.