Self-help groups

Groups that support communities of peers with a similar interest or illness.

Since the advent of managed health care and the cost-controls that have accompanied it, self-help groups have grown in popularity. Individuals who are offered limited mental health coverage through their healthcare plan often find self-help a positive and economical way to gain emotional support.

Overview

Twelve-step groups, one of the most popular types of self-help organizations, have been active in the United States since the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in 1935. AA and other 12-step programs are based on the spiritual premise that turning one's life and will over to "a higher power" (i.e., God, another spiritual entity, or the group itself) for guidance and self-evaluation is the key to recovery. Outside of AA and its sister organizations (Narcotics Anonymous, or NA; Cocaine Anonymous, or CA), a number of 12-step programs have sprung up to treat a range of mental disorders, such as Gambler's Anonymous (GA), Schizophrenics Anonymous (SA), and Overeaters Anonymous (OA).

Self-help organizations also provide support for individuals who are ill or have health issues. Support exists for people dealing with weight management, HIV, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, cancer, and incontinence, and for the families of individuals who suffer from these conditions. Self-help has moved beyond what are considered "problem" conditions to assist people who share interests or circumstances, including support groups for women who breast-feed (LaLeche league), singles, older adults, and new parents.

Family self-help groups are also available. Al-Anon, an organization for friends and family of alcoholics, is a companion organization to AA, as is Alateen, a program for teenagers who have been affected by alcoholics. Support groups for caregivers of individuals with life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer, often meet at treatment centers and hospitals that specialize or treat the illness in question.

A growing trend in self-help is the creation of online support communities. Chat-rooms, bulletin boards, and electronic mailing lists all provide convenient, around-the-clock access to peer support. Many large-scale consumer healthcare web sites provide forums for discussion on countless diseases and disorders, and major online commercial services such as America Online (AOL) provide sites for healthcare and patient support. In some cases, these groups may be moderated by a healthcare professional, although many are exclusively peer organized and populated. Some long-established self-help groups such as the LaLeche league now hold some of their meetings online, often out of their own web site.

Benefits

The accessibility of self-help groups is one of their most attractive features. Since no dues or fees are required, except for small voluntary contributions to cover meeting expenses, organizations such as AA are the most cost-effective treatment option available. In addition, meetings are usually easy to locate through local hospitals, healthcare centers, churches, and other community organizations. For AA and sister organizations, where daily attendance is encouraged if possible, the number of meetings held each week often number in the hundreds in large metropolitan areas. And with the proliferation of new online support communities and rapid growth of access to the Internet, self-help groups are becoming as accessible to individuals in rural areas as they are to those in large cities. Online self-help also offers the added benefit of anonymity and breaks down any barriers of age discrepancies, physical disabilities, race and culture differences, or other possible inhibiting factors in a face-to-face encounter.

Participation in self-help groups provides an essential sense of community and belonging. For individuals suffering from mental and organic illnesses, who may be lacking emotional support and empathy from their friends and family, this environment is a critical part of recovery. In addition to relieving emotional isolation, self-help groups tend to empower an individual and promote self-esteem . For example, AA encourages sponsorship (building a mentor relationship with another member), speaking at meetings, and other positive interactions with peers.

Introspection is another essential feature of many self-help groups, particularly in organizations that follow a 12-step program of recovery. For example, the fourth step of AA is for members to make "a searching and fearless moral inventory" of themselves, and the tenth step mandates that members continue "to take personal inventory" and admit wrongdoings. Such introspection may be beneficial to individuals who are having difficulties coming to terms with the thoughts and emotions that may be guiding their behavior. In this respect, a 12-step program may resemble cognitive therapy to a degree, in that recognition of maladaptive thoughts can ideally lead to a change in negative behavior.

Results

Several major studies have shown that 12-step programs can be just as, if not more, effective in treating alcohol- and drug-dependent patients as a regime of cognitive-behavioral therapy or psychotherapy . Further, if an inpatient is started on a 12-step program while in a traditional treatment or therapy, setting and the program is encouraged by the patient's healthcare provider, then the patient is more likely to remain in the 12-step program after traditional treatment has ended.

See also Alcohol abuse and dependence; Drugs/Drug abuse

Paula Ford-Martin

Further Reading

American Self-Help Clearinghouse. Self-Help Sourcebook Online. http://mentalhelp.net/selfhelp/

Further Information

Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. General Service Office. P.O. Box 459, Grand Central Station, New York, NY, USA. 10163, fax: 212-870-3003, 212-870-3400. http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.

National Self-Help Clearinghouse. Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York, 365 5th Avenue, Suite 3300, New York, NY, USA. 10016, 212-817-1822. Email: info@selfhelpweb.org. www.selfhelpweb.org.

SELF-HELP

Redressing or preventing wrongs by one's own actionwithout recourseto legal proceedings.

Self-help is a term in the law that describes corrective or preventive measures taken by a private citizen. Common examples of self-help include action taken by landlords against tenants, such as eviction and removal of property from the premises, and repossession of leased or mortgaged goods, such as automobiles, watercraft, and expensive equipment. Persons may use self-help remedies only where they are permitted by law. State and local laws permit self-help in commercial transactions, tort and nuisance situations, and landlord and tenant relationships.

Self-help is permissible where it is allowed by law and can be accomplished without committing a breach of the peace. A breach of the peace refers to violence or threats of violence. For example, if a person buys a ship financed by a mortgage, the mortgage company may repossess the ship if the buyer fails to make the mortgage payments. If the buyer is present when the ship is being taken away and the buyer objects to the repossession, the mortgage company breaches the peace if it can repossess the ship only through violence or the threat of violence. In such a case, the mortgage company would be forced to file suit in court to repossess the ship. Repossessors attempt to circumvent objections by distracting or deceiving the defaulting party during the repossession.

A majority of states have banned self-help by landlords in the eviction of delinquent tenants. These legislatures have determined that the interests of the landlord in operating a profitable business must be balanced against a tenant's need for shelter. In place of the self-help remedy, states have devised expedited judicial proceedings for evictions. These proceedings make it possible for a landlord to evict a tenant without unacceptable delays while giving the tenant an opportunity to present to a court arguments against eviction.

In states that give landlords the right of self-help, landlords may evict a tenant on their own only if they can do so in a peaceful manner. The precise definition of peaceful varies from state to state. In some states any entry by a landlord that does not involve violence or a breach of the peace is acceptable. In other states any entry that is conducted without the tenant's consent is illegal.

In any case, if a landlord evicts a tenant through self-help, the eviction must be performed reasonably. For example, a landlord may not nail plywood across the entrance to a tenant's second-story apartment while the tenant is inside and then remove the steps leading up to the apartment. One landlord who performed such self-help faced criminal penalties after the trapped tenant and her two-year-old daughter needed the help of the local fire department to escape the apartment. A landlord who violates laws on self-help may face criminal charges and a civil suit for damages filed by the tenant.

One new form of self-help that poses interesting problems is self-help by providers of computer software. Businesses in the United States that use computers have become dependent on computer software. Sometimes when disputes have arisen between the buyer of software and the software provider, software providers have disabled the buyer's software from a remote location. In one case a software supplier called Logisticon entered into a contract with Revlon Group to provide it with computer software. After a dispute arose between the two parties, Logisticon accessed Revlon's software system and disabled it, causing Revlon to suffer $20 million in product delivery delays. Revlon brought suit against Logisticon, alleging that Logisticon had violated the contract and that it had misappropriated Revlon's trade secrets. The two parties settled the suit out of court, and the terms of the settlement remain undisclosed.

Self-help measures are controversial because they amount to taking the law into one's own hands. Opponents of self-help laws argue that they encourage unethical and sometimes illegal practices by creditors and that they diminish public respect for the law. Proponents counter that self-help, if performed peaceably, is a valuable feature of the justice system because it gives creditors an opportunity to alleviate losses and keeps small, simple disputes from glutting the court system.

further readings

Bell, Tom W. 2003. "Free Speech, Strict Scrutiny, and Self-Help: How Technology Upgrades Constitutional Jurisprudence." Minnesota Law Review 87 (February).

Fischer, Julee C. 2000. "Policing the Self-Help Legal Market: Consumer Protection or Protection of the Legal Cartel?" Indiana Law Review 34 (winter).

Gerchick, Randy G. 1994. "No Easy Way Out: Making the Summary Eviction Process a Fairer and More Efficient Alternative to Landlord Self-Help." UCLA Law Review 41 (February).

Gitter, Henry. 1993. "Self-Help Remedies for Software Vendors." Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal 9 (November).

cross-references

Secured Transactions.

SELF-HELP GROUPS

The primary focus of self-help groups is to provide emotional and practical support and an exchange of information. Such groups use participatory processes to provide opportunities for people to share knowledge, common experiences, and problems. Through their participation, members help themselves and others by gaining knowledge and information, and by obtaining and providing emotional and practical support. These groups have been particularly useful in helping people with chronic health conditions and physical and mental disabilities. Traumatic life events such as death and divorce are also the basis for groups. Self-help groups are voluntary, and they are mostly led by members. Generally, groups meet on a regular basis, are open to new members, and do not cost money to join. Traditionally, self-help groups have been in-person meetings, but recently Internet self-help groups have become popular.

Patrick McGowan

(see also: Internet; Social Networks and Social Support )

self-help group nonprofessional organization formed by people with a common problem or situation, for the purpose of pooling resources, gathering information, and offering mutual support, services, or care. Self-help groups began to spread in the United States following World War II and proliferated rapidly in the 1960s and 70s. Among these groups are such organizations as Alcoholics Anonymous and those for the victims and families of victims of specific diseases, child abuse, suicide, and crime. Groups concerned with a shared situation include those for the elderly, single parents, and homosexuals. The definition of such groups sometimes includes social-advocacy organizations and halfway services (e.g., drug rehabilitation centers). Although self-help groups may draw on, or offer a bridge to, professional assistance, free services are usually provided by the members themselves through meetings, publications, the Internet, and individual contacts.

self-help. Social and moral doctrine that people should rely on their own efforts and not look to the state for help. In the 19th cent. self-help took two forms: collectivist, as with friendly societies, mutual improvement societies, Cooperatives, and trade unions; or individualistic, as with the practice of sobriety, thrift, hard work, and self-education. Self-help, as popularized by Samuel Smiles, was middle-class advice how working people might better themselves without upsetting the status quo or seeking public relief when sick, aged, or unemployed. It also harmonized with the skilled artisan tradition of independence.

John F. C. Harrison

self-help • n. the use of one's own efforts and resources to achieve things without relying on others: what government does is not a substitute for what people can do with encouragement and self-help. ∎  [as adj.] designed to assist people in achieving things for themselves: a self-help group for drug abusers.

Self-Help, see Smiles, S.