Road to Recovery

Alcoholism is recognized as a major health problem. Alcoholics cannot control their drinking alone. It is an illness that takes over the body and mind (or emotions) and can eventually lead to death, if the alcoholic does not seek help. It is said to be the third highest killer in the U.S. after heart disease and cancer.

Alcoholics show symptoms of their illness at different stages of their drinking. Some find that alcohol makes them self-confident and can feel more at ease when they are around other individuals; they need that last drink at the end of the night; they look forward to attending functions where alcohol will be present and drink in the morning to help relieve a hangover. These are just a few of the symptoms related to an alcoholic. Denial is one of the largest problems an alcoholic deals with. They do not want to admit they have a problem. They are afraid to face reality and deal with the problems that are still there. The alcohol did not take the problems away, only the ability to deal with them. But there is help for those who want to become sober and lead a better life without the dependency of alcohol.

A.A. (Alcoholics Anonymous) fellowships and meetings were held in Akron, Ohio. These meetings took place between 1935 and 1939 when Alcoholics Anonymous was an essential part of a Christian Fellowship. A.A. was the outcome of a meeting between William Wilson (Bill W.) a New York stockbroker and Dr. Robert Smith (Dr. Bob) an Akron, Ohio surgeon. Both men were hopeless alcoholics struggling to get sober.

Before they founded A.A., Bill W. and Dr. Bob were involved with the Oxford Group, a mostly nonalcoholic fellowship that emphasized universal spiritual values in daily living, led by Dr. Samuel Shoemaker, an Episcopal clergyman. Under this spiritual influence and the help of an old childhood friend Ebby Thatcher, Bill W. became sober and maintained his sobriety by working with other alcoholics, none of which stayed sober. Dr. Bob found that the Oxford Group had not helped him enough to attain sobriety. He read many spiritual books, attended many spiritual meetings, but remained drunk. It was not until after Bill W's sobriety that he and Dr. Bob actually met. It was at this meeting that Dr. Bob started to understand the Oxford Group's principles of fellowship through Bill W's understanding of him. Dr. Bob then began three intensive weeks at the Oxford Group.

Bill W. and Dr. Bob joined forces to understand alcoholism as a disease. They used principles and practices that had been taught at the Oxford Group, along with the influences from New York's Towns Hospital's Dr. Silkworth, who had often treated Bill for his alcoholism and helped him, understand it as a disease and not a problem of the mind.

Having the understanding of alcoholism, Bill W. and Dr. Bob founded the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. They adapted the idea of the necessity of change to counteract the hopelessness of alcoholism. The change of A.A. lies in the move from drunkenness to a sobriety as more than a state of not drinking. The change must move the alcoholic into a different life that has no need for alcohol. Having these principles to work with Bill W. and Dr. Bob went to work in the Akron City Hospital and rehabilitated another drunk to sobriety. These three men formed the fellowship based on the principles that would become A.A. By 1939, three other groups had formed in Akron, Cleveland, and New York. Over the four years 100 alcoholics had become sober.

Bill W. began writing Alcoholics Anonymous, also known as "The Big Book"; some even call it their " Bible". The 400-page book was published in April 1939, outlining the Twelve Steps to recovery and shared continuing case histories of recovering alcoholics. Bill based his writings of Alcoholics Anonymous on the spirituality he found with the Oxford Group. The Oxford Group taught about the spiritual approach of finding God and taking a moral inventory of ones-self. Bill discovered that some alcoholics could recover if they had a spiritual awakening. Many had lost their morals through the use and abuse of alcohol and by giving spiritual guidance they were able to cope and eventually get sober. Bill's friend Ebby Thatcher got sober using this approach. Bill believed if all alcoholics lived by the Twelve Steps of A.A. they could live normal, happy, and sober lives. The power of these Twelve Steps would be the motivation for an individual to start on the road to sobriety. They would unlock the door to many suffering alcoholics worldwide. A.A. grew enormously after the distribution of Alcoholics Anonymous by the new Alcoholic Foundation created by Bill W. and Dr. Bob with the financial assistance of the Friends of John D. Rockefeller. During the 1940's, A.A. had grown from small groups into a nationwide organization and by the 1950's, over 100,000 recovering alcoholics associated with A. A. Could be found worldwide.

With the increasing number of members, Bill W. focused on creating a successful method for A.A. structure and functioning that led to the Twelve Traditions, a plan that would provide non-coercive supervision for the growing organization. These Twelve Traditions would become the backbone of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Although alcoholism can be identified and put into "remission" no one has been able to discover a way to prevent it from happening, because no one really knows exactly why a person turns into an alcoholic.

For that reason, A.A. concentrates on helping those who are already alcoholics, so that they can stop drinking and learn how to live a normal, happy life without alcohol, through the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.

The main idea of A.A. is found in the principles of the Twelve Step program that describes the experience of the earliest members of the fellowship:

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.