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CHAPTER 2
THE CURE: ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
A Brief History of AA
AA has to its credit a total membership of about 1,000,000
alcoholics. [THE ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA, International ed.
(1990), s.v., "Alcoholics Anonymous," by John L. Norris, M. D.
(Dr. Norris is Chairman, General Service Board of Alcoholics
Anonymous)]. It has 85,000 local groups in 130 countries. [THE
WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA, 1991 ed., s.v. "Alcoholics Anonymous
(A.A.)"]. The recovery rate is 75 percent. Guest House, which
treats alcoholic priests and works with AA, at one time had a
recovery rate of 80 percent. (Hoffer, op. cit., pp. 179-180. At
one time Psychiatrist Hoffer claimed a 50% recovery rate with LSD
therapy. I do not believe that LSD therapy is a good method of
treating alcoholics).
The Oxford Group
Psychologist John Drakeford traces the spiritual roots of AA
back to the Oxford Group:
Frank Buckman, originally an ordained Lutheran
minister, after a conversion experience became a
personal evangelism lecturer at Hartford Seminary. He
later left the seminary to engage in worldwide
evangelism and was responsible for the formation of the
Oxford Group Movement.
The Oxford Group was foremost of all a layman's
movement of people, loosely knit together, highlighting
the "changed life," as conversion was called. It
emphasized a series of steps: Confidence, which came
from speaking truthfully to another about one's life:
confession-conviction-a sense of wrongdoing, guilt;
conversion, acceptance of an altered way of life; and
continuance, helping others as the person himself had
been helped. [John W. Drakeford, INTEGRITY THERAPY
(Nashville: Broadman Press, 1967), p. 49].
The central assumptions of the Oxford Group are:
1. Men are sinners.
2. Men can be changed.
3. Confession is a prerequisite to change.
4. The changed soul has direct access to God.
5. The age of miracles has returned (through changed
lives, miraculous incidents, etc.).
6. Those who have been changed must change others.
The group lived by high ethical standards and
emphasized the four absolutes: HONESTY, PURITY,
UNSELFISHNESS, and LOVE. (Ibid).
Possibly the most dramatically successful of all
these small group movements is itself a derivation of
the Oxford Group and now widely known as Alcoholics
Anonymous. The Oxford Group sponsored a mission for
alcoholics at the Calvary Episcopal Church where Bill
W., an alcoholic, became associated with them and
achieved a degree of sobriety. (Ibid., p. 50).
Bill W., co-founder of AA, was born in East Dorset, Vermont,
in 1895. While in college, he decided to go into the Army (WWI).
He married shortly before going in. It was in the Army that he
began drinking. Because of some adjustment troubles after
discharge, he drank heavily. Then in 1934, Dr. Silkworth
pronounced Bill a hopeless alcoholic. Ebby T., Bill's friend,
was sobered by The Oxford Group, and paid a visit to Bill. Bill
had a spiritual experience in a hospital the next month. Dr.
Silkworth assured him that he was not hallucinating, and advised
him to hang on to it.
Bill began his work with alcoholics, but failed to sober
any. However, he remained sober. Six months after his
conversion, a crisis occurred when a job opportunity fell
through. The temptation to get drunk drove him to find another
drunk to talk to. His search led him to the historic meeting
with Dr. Bob in May 1935 in Akron. Dr. Bob was sobered, and
Alcoholics Anonymous was founded 10 June 1935.
Then at the end of 1937, the New York AA reluctantly parted
from the Oxford Groups, and in friendship . Oxford Group rules
did not seem to work with alcoholics. Dr. Bob and Bill saw
concrete results in 1937 when forty alcoholics became sober.
TWELVE STEPS was written in 1938.
There were 100 members by 1939. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS was
published in 1939. Also, in 1939, the midwest AA withdrew from
the Oxford Groups as those in New York had done in 1937--AA was
completely on its own now. This same year, Dr. Bob and Sister
Ignatia began treating the 5,000 that they were to treat in the
next ten years. Also, the first work in the mental institution
was begun this year.
In 1940, the first religious leaders approved of AA; Father
Dowing and Dr. Fosdick. In 1941, an article in the SATURDAY
EVENING POST publicized AA and AA membership grew from 2,000 to
8,000 from March through December!
AA's first prison work was initiated at San Quentin in 1942.
In 1945, Dr. Silkworth and Teddy R. began treating the first of
10,000 prisoners to be treated the next ten years.
In 1944, THE A.A. GRAPEVINE was established.
In 1946, "The Twelve Traditions" were formulated and
published.
In 1949, leading medical associations recognized AA.
In 1950, the First International Convention was held in
Cleveland. This same year, Dr. Bob died.
In 1951, the First General Service Conference met and AA
received the Lasker Award from the American public Health
Association.
In 1953, TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS was published.
In 1955, the Twentieth Anniversary Convention met at St.
Louis. The Three Legacies of Recovery, Unity and Service were
turned over to AA from the "old-timers."
Bill W., co-founder of AA passed away January 24, 1971.
This synthesis gives an historical sketch of AA. [Bill W.,
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS COMES OF AGE (New York: Harper and Brothers,
1957), pp. vii ff.]. (ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp. 1-16).
(Clinebell, op. cit., pp. 119 ff.). (Hoffer, op. cit., pp. 22-
23).
Group Dynamics of AA
Some principles used in AA are stated in Twelve Steps and
Twelve Traditions:
The Twelve Steps
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol--that
our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves
could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over
to the care of God as we understand him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of
ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human
being, the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these
defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and
became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people whenever
possible, except when do so would injure them or
others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we
were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our
conscious contact with God as we understood Him,
praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the
power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of
these steps, we tried to carry this message to
alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our
affairs.
The Twelve Traditions
1. Our common welfare should come first; personal
recovery depends upon A. A. unity.
2. For our group purposes there is but one ultimate
authority--a loving God as He may express Himself in
our group conscience.
3. The only requirement for A. A. membership is a
desire to stop drinking.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters
affecting other groups or A. A. as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose--to carry
its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
6. An A. A. group ought never endorse, finance, or
lend the A. A. name to any related facility or outside
enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and
prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every A. A. group ought to be fully self-
supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-
professional, but our service centers may employ
special workers.
9. A. A. as such, ought never be organized; but we may
create service boards or committees directly
responsible to those they serve.
10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside
issues; hence the A. A. name ought never be drawn into
public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction
rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal
anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our
traditions, ever reminding us to place principles
before personalities. [TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE
TRADITIONS (?: Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc.,
1953), pp. 5 ff.].
Forces Acting on the Alcoholic
Before examining the principles of AA, it might be well to
review some forces acting from within and from without on the
alcoholic. One force is peer pressure. The alcoholic probably
was in a drinking society, and felt pressure to conform in order
to be accepted, and to help meet certain psychological needs.
(Dunn, op. cit., p. 23).
As he continued to drink, associational forces probably
began to pressure him from differing internalized groups'
demands, such as church and family.
Then, at some point, a biochemical dependence on alcohol may
have become established, adding another strong internal pressure
for him to drink.
A violated value system (conscience) continued to add more
guilt. This guilt continued to drive him farther into drinking
in order to anesthetize psychic pain. (Ibid., p. 19).
Family and friends may identify with the alcoholic at first,
helping him hide the truth from himself. These are some forces
acting on the alcoholic. (Drakeford, op. cit., passim).
[Malcolm and Hula Knowles, INTRODUCTION TO GROUP DYNAMICS (New
York: Association Press, 1959), pp. 32. ff]. [O. Hobart Mowrer,
ABNORMAL REACTIONS OR ACTIONS? (AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ANSWER)
(Dubuque: William C. Brown Company Publisher, 1969), passim. Dr.
Mowrer is a renown research psychologist].
The alcoholic, while under internal pressure, may lose hope
and try to "solve" his problem by suicide. "Menninger referred
to alcoholism as `chronic suicide,' with the alcoholic seeking
self-destruction in alcohol." (Hoffer, op. cit., p. 25). Dunn
agrees with Menninger that the alcoholic has a tendency toward
self-destruction. (Dunn, op. cit., p. 144).
Bill W., co-founder of AA, believed in God. He declared,
I was not an atheist. Few people are, for that means blind
faith in the strange proposition that this universe
originated in a cipher [0] and aimlessly rushes nowhere.
[ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS. (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous
World Service, Inc., 1989), p. 10].
AA offers a type of conversion experience, which is implied
in the Twelve Steps. Many members of AA have a Christian
conversion. Dunn says,
From my observation and working with Alcoholics
Anonymous members over a period of years, those I have
known to be faithfully following the Twelve Steps and
living a new life are those who have come to a personal
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ibid., p. 125).
Steps five and six indicate admission of guilt and repentance.
Step two indicates faith in God's character. Step seven
indicates confession to God. Steps three and eleven indicate
bowing to the Lordship of God. The conversion experience itself
is indicated in step twelve. As the vertical relationship is
established, the horizonal relationship is also--members reach
out to help others in step twelve. Consequently, the circular or
internal relationship of the alcoholic is corrected.
When the novice alcoholic comes to an AA meeting, he hears
confession of recovered alcoholics. From this role modeling, he
sees that his rationalizations are unacceptable. In this non-
threatening atmosphere of caring people, it is easier to be
honest with himself and others. He leaves the denial stage and
confesses.
Now that the alcoholic is in a group that abstains from
alcohol, this positive peer pressure is internalized. Hoffer
comments,
Abstention is also contagious. The main reason for the
enormous success of Alcoholics Anonymous is their use
of these group principles. The AA groups provide
exactly the same three functions [as their former
drinking groups, only in reverse]: They educate the
alcoholic in the skills needed to remain sober, and
these are very important; they provide social sanction,
by group pressure, confession, public recognition of
past errors and tangible awards for sobriety; they
provide banking functions by helping find jobs, give
loans and in many ways help new members survive.
(Hoffer, op. cit., p. 2).
AA dynamics is can be described in its spiritual dimension
as well. The alcoholic after conversion not only has human
support, but God's support. A person's energy can be diverted
into selfish behavior or into unselfish behavior. EROS
represents selfish activities and AGAPE (God's love expressed to
and through the converted alcoholic) represents unselfish
activities. HAGIOS (holiness) represents the conscience or
superego, which has been educated by God's Word. The enlightened
conscience tells the EGO (the decision-making self) where, when
and how to direct his activity. The indwelling Holy Spirit gives
primary support and guidance of the converted alcoholic. The
additional human positive peer pressure and human support from AA
members further help him to make right decisions and carry them
out. In addition, an EGO that makes and carries out right
decisions becomes strong--old bad habits are replaced with new
good habits. Under the training of the Holy Spirit and his human
aides, the recovered alcoholic becomes a balanced individual who
both receives from society and gives back to society according to
the needs of both the individual and his fellow humans.
Husband and wife complement each other and help meet the
spiritual, psychological, social and physical needs of each other
in a unique way. AA is geared to help husband, wife and children
to become a fully-functional family. Al-Anon and Alateen enable
family and friends to help the alcoholic.
In real life, people sometimes falter and fail. AA group
members' social behavior is therapeutic to one who may be in
trouble. At this time, he will be aided by the action of the
group, since his creative energy is being dissipated internally,
possibly by interpsychic conflict due to his drinking. He will
receive strength from both confrontation and support of the
group. When he gains mastery of alcohol, he will begin to help
others. He will discover that he will receive strength to keep
sober by helping others with their common problem. AA members
remain honest with God, others and themselves. They keep
channels open to God and to other people.
It is interesting to note, that even though AA holds that
Alcoholism is a disease, the individual is held responsible for
his own wrongdoing. This is stated in steps five and ten.
Freud held that in neurosis, the superego overpowers the
ego, expending energy and producing a state of anxiety.
In Mowrer's view of neurosis, he postulated that the id
gains control of a weak ego and the conscience is dissociated.
Mowrer's hypothesis is probably a more accurate description of
what is happening in the alcoholic. (Mowrer, op. cit., p. 31.)
END