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

This paper explores the use of the deep learning group model in af-firming the self-transformative effects often experienced among mem-bers 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, spe-cific to emotional resocialization, in the DLG model are also pro-posed. The stories exemplifying changes in self-concept were shared by members of an Adult Children of Alcoholics group during a one-day DLG workshop held in January 1995