Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous (known commonly as "A.A." or "AA") is a world-wide fellowship of alcoholics whose primary purpose is to stay sober and carry the message of recovery from alcoholism through the Twelve Steps. A.A. is the original twelve-step program and has been the source and model for all subsequent and separate ones, such as Gamblers Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Sexaholics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, and Al-Anon/Alateen.

History and development

A.A. was started by two alcoholics who first met on May 12, 1935. One was Bill Wilson (William Griffith Wilson), a New York stockbroker; the other was Dr. Bob Smith (Robert Holbrook Smith), a medical doctor and surgeon from Akron, Ohio. In A.A. circles, the former is known as "Bill W." and the latter, "Dr. Bob."

Related Topics:
May 12 - 1935 - Bill Wilson - Bob Smith - Akron, Ohio

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wilson had been sober for some months when he met Smith, although he had struggled with sobriety for years. In that time he had made several important discoveries about his own alcoholism.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Firstly he had learned from a New York alcoholism specialist, Dr. William Duncan Silkworth, that alcoholism was not simply a moral weakness. Silkworth told Wilson, during one of Wilson's admissions to his drying-out clinic, that alcoholism had a pathological disease-like character. He told Wilson that, in his view, alcoholism was akin to an allergy, in the sense that it produced abnormal reactions to alcohol that were not observed in non-alcoholic drinkers; he called these reactions a "phenomenon of craving" -- once started drinking, the alcoholic finds it very difficult to stop. In addition, Dr. Silkworth told Wilson that alcoholics had a mental obsession that gave them reasons to return to alcohol after periods of sobriety, even knowing that they would then develop overwhelming cravings. This "double whammy" (as he called it) meant that the alcoholic could not stop once started, and could not stop from starting again. This explained the enormous recidivism rate of alcoholics.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wilson also discovered that some alcoholics were able to recover on a spiritual basis. This approach had been used by one of Wilson's old drinking buddies, Ebby Thacher, to get sober. Thacher had learned about the spiritual approach from Rowland H., an American business executive and alcoholic who had undergone treatment with the famous Swiss analytical psychologist Dr. Carl Jung. After a prolonged and unsuccessful period of therapy, Jung told Rowland that his case, like that of most alcoholics, was nigh on hopeless. Rowland was horrified and begged Jung to tell him anything that might help. Jung replied there was only one hope: a genuine spiritual conversion experience. History, he said, had recorded isolated examples of recovery from alcoholism that appeared solely attributable to the spiritual conversion of the alcoholic. He told Rowland to seek out a conversion experience.

Related Topics:
Spiritual - Carl Jung

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rowland H. returned to America and found a means to a spiritual awakening through the Oxford Group, a self-styled first-Century Christian movement that advocated finding God through moral inventory, confession of defects, restitution, reliance upon God, and helping others. It appeared that a spiritual awakening would relieve alcoholics of the mental obsession that kept sending them back to alcoholism after periods of sobriety.

Related Topics:
Spiritual awakening - Oxford Group

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Finally, Wilson found that by sharing his personal alcoholic experience with other alcoholics, his own sobriety seemed to grow stronger and it helped the other person as well.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

These were the ideas that he presented to Smith, who had been struggling with his own chronic drinking addiction. The two struck up a solid friendship and together they put Wilson's discoveries into practice. Smith's last drink is said to have been June 10, 1935, and that is considered within A.A. to be the date of the founding of A.A. Their first publication in 1939, Alcoholics Anonymous, the first 164 pages of which have remained virtually unchanged since then, has been a perennial best-seller. Given this start, it is no surprise that A.A. groups and members are frequently called "Friends of Bill W."

Related Topics:
June 10 - 1935

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The AA Grapevine is the international journal of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is written, edited, illustrated, and read by A.A. members and others interested in the A.A. program of recovery from the disease of alcoholism.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The growth of A.A., especially in its early years, was striking. In 2002, the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous reported more than 100,000 A.A. groups in 150 countries, with a total membership of approximately two million alcoholics.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~