Abstract: This study represented an attempt to quantify the conclusions drawn from contemporary analytic theories on the function of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Mack (1981) and others (Levin, 1987; Rinsley, 1988; Robinson, 1996; Tiebout, 1944) highlight a connection between addiction and narcissistic pathology. It was speculated that AA provides people with experiences consistent with psychoanalytic theory and practice, in particular, experiences with 'mirroring' and 'merger.' The psychoanalytic literature links mirroring and merger experiences with development of self (Kohut, 1977; Winnicott, 1970/1989), healthy narcissism (Kohut, 1977), and the capacity for empathic relatedness (Fonagy, 2001; Winnicott, 1970/1989). The process of recovery, then, was assumed within the context of this investigation to parallel a narcissistic surrender. If so, those exposed to the mirroring and merger experiences engendered in the AA process should, over time, become more neurotic, and less narcissistic, in personality. The Alcoholic Anonymous Affiliation Scale (Humphreys, Kaskutas, & Weisner, 1998), Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (Hendin & Cheek, 1997) and the Caruso & Mayer measure of emotional empathy (Caruso & Mayer, 1998) - a trait that can singly distinguish the narcissistically organized personality from the neurotic type - were used to highlight such a change in personality type. The results from 93 participants were mixed. While level of AA affiliation and narcissistic maturity did not significantly correlate, the results gleaned a significant positive correlation between AA affiliation and empathic relatedness.