Relationship of Surrender and Narcissism to Involvement in Alcohol Recovery

Subjects were participants in two self-help groups, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA; n = 45) and Rational Recovery (RR; n = 10). Two groups of AA participants were distinguished based on degree of AA involvement. RR participants constituted the third group. As predicted, the Surrender Instrument was able to discriminate between the High AA, Low AA, and RR groups, with the High AA group scoring above the other groups on surrender. Results suggest there is more to the act of surrender than level of involvement, length of sobriety, or degree of dependence on alcohol. Some support is provided for AA's philosophy that surrendering to a Higher Power occurs during the course of alcohol recovery. Results suggested there is a negative correlation between pathological narcissism and surrender. Unfortunately, firm conclusions could not be drawn from this study regarding narcissism.