Alcoholics Anonymous Second Edition

1 Alcoholics Anonymous The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism NEW AND REVISED Edition Alcoholics Anonymous WORLD SERVICES, INC. NEW YORK CITY 1955 CONTENTSC hapter Page Preface xi Foreword to First Edition xiii Foreword xv The Doctor's Opinion xxiii 1 Bill's Story 1 2 There Is a Solution 17 3 More About Alcoholism 30 4 We Agnostics 44 5 How It Works 58 6 Into Action 72 7 Working with Others

2 89 8 To Wives 104 9 The Family Afterward 122 10 To Employers 136 11 A Vision for You 151 PREFACE THIS IS the Second Edition of the book "AlcoholicsAnonymous," which made its first appearance inApril 1939. More than 300,000 copies of the firstedition are now in circulation. Because this book has become the basic text for ourSociety and has helped such large numbers of alcoholicmen and women to recovery, there exists a sentimentagainst any radical changes being made in it. There-fore, the first portion of this volume, describing recovery program, has been left largely un-touched. But the personal history section has been consider-ably revised and enlarged in order to present a moreaccurate representation of our membership as it istoday.

3 When the book was first printed, we hadscarcely 100 members all told, and every one of themwas an almost hopeless case of alcoholism. This haschanged. now helps Alcoholics in all stages ofthe disease. It reaches into every level of life andinto nearly all occupations. Our membership nowincludes many young people. Women, who were atfirst very reluctant to approach , have come for-ward in large numbers. Therefore the range of thestory section has been broadened so that every alco-holic reader may find a reflection of him or herselfin it. As a souvenir of our past, the original Foreword has xixii PREFACE been preserved and is followed by a Second on de-scribing Alcoholics Anonymous of 1955. Following the Forewords, there appears a sectioncalled "The Doctor's Opinion." This also has beenkept intact, just as it was originally written in 1939 bythe late Dr.

4 William D. Silkworth, our Society's greatmedical benefactor. Besides Dr. Silkworth's originalstatement, there have been added, in the Appendices,a number of the medical and religious endorsementswhich have come to us in recent years. On the last pages of this Second Edition will befound the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anony-mous, the principles upon which our groupsfunction, together with the directions for getting in touchwith FOREWORD TO THE FIRST Edition This is the Foreword as it appeared in the first printing of the first Edition in 1939 WE, OF Alcoholics Anonymous , are morethan one hundred men and woman who have re-covered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind andbody. To show other Alcoholics PRECISELY HOW WEHAVE RECOVERED is the main purpose of this book . Forthem, we hope these pages will prove so convincingthat no further authentication will be necessary. Wethink this account of our experiences will help every-one to better understand the alcoholic.

5 Many do notcomprehend that the alcoholic is a very sick besides, we are sure that our way of living hasits advantages for all. It is important that we remain Anonymous becausewe are too few, at present to handle the overwhelm-ing number of personal appeals which may resultfrom this publication. Being mostly business or pro-fessional folk, we could not well carry on our occupa-tions in such an event. We would like it understoodthat our alcoholic work is an avocation. When writing or speaking publicly about alcohol-ism, we urge each of our Fellowship to omit hispersonal name, designating himself instead as "amember of Alcoholics Anonymous ." Very earnestly we ask the press also, to observe thisrequest, for otherwise we shall be greatly handi-capped. We are not an organization in the conventional xiiixiv FOREWORD TO THE FIRST Edition sense of the word. There are no fees or dues what-soever.

6 The only requirement for membership is anhonest desire to stop drinking. We are not allied withany particular faith, sect or denomination, nor do weoppose anyone. We simply wish to be helpful to thosewho are afflicted. We shall be interested to hear from those who aregetting results from this book , particularly form thosewho have commenced work with other Alcoholics . Weshould like to be helpful to such cases. Inquiry by scientific, medical, and religious societieswill be welcomed. Alcoholics Anonymous FOREWORD TO Second Edition SINCE the original Foreword to this book waswritten in 1939, a wholesale miracle has takenplace. Our earliest printing voiced the hope "thatevery alcoholic who journeys will find the Fellowshipof Alcoholics Anonymous at his destination. Already,"continues the early text, "twos and threes and fives ofus have sprung up in other communities.

7 " Sixteen years have elapsed between our first printingof this book and the presentation of 1955 of our secondedition. In that brief space, Alcoholics Anonymoushas mushroomed into nearly 6,000 groups whose mem-bership is far above 150,000 recovered are to be found in each of the United Statesand all of the provinces of Canada. has flourish-ing communities in the British Isles, the Scandinaviancountries, South Africa, South America, Mexico,Alaska, Australia and Hawaii. All told, promisingbeginnings have been made in some 50 foreign coun-tries and possessions. Some are just now takingshape in Asia. Many of our friends encourage us bysaying that this is but a beginning, only the augury ofa much larger future ahead. The spark that was to flare into the first groupwas struck at Akron, Ohio in June 1935, during a talkbetween a New York stockbroker and an Akronphysician. Six months earlier, the broker had beenrelieved of his drink obsession by a sudden spiritual xvxvi FOREWORD experience, following a meeting with an alcoholicfriend who had been in contact with the OxfordGroups of that day.

8 He had also been greatly helpedby the late Dr. William D. Silkworth, a New Yorkspecialist in alcoholism who is now accounted no lessthan a medical saint by members, and whosestory of the early days of our Society appears in thenext pages. From this doctor, the broker had learnedthe grave nature of alcoholism. Though he could notaccept all the tenets of the Oxford Groups, he wasconvinced of the need for moral inventory, confessionof personality defects, restitution to those harmed,helpfulness to others, and the necessity of belief in anddependance upon God. Prior to his journey to Akron, the broker had workedhard with many Alcoholics on the theory that only analcoholic could help an alcoholic, but he had suc-ceeded only in keeping sober himself. The broker hadgone to Akron on a business venture which hadcollapsed, leaving him greatly in fear that he mightstart drinking again. He suddenly realized that inorder to save himself he must carry his message toanother alcoholic.

9 That alcoholic turned out to bethe Akron physician. This physician had repeatedly tried spiritual meansto resolve his alcoholic dilemma but had failed. Butwhen the broker gave him Dr. Silkworth's descriptionof alcoholism and its hopelessness, the physician beganto pursue the spiritual remedy for his malady with awillingness he had never again up to the moment ofhis death in 1950. This seemed to prove that onealcoholic could affect another as no nonalcoholic FOREWORD xviicould. It also indicated that strenuous work, onealcoholic with another, was vital to permanent re-covery. Hence the two men set to work almost franticallyupon Alcoholics arriving in the ward of the AkronCity Hospital. Their very first case, a desperate one,recovered immediately and became numberthree. He never had another drink. This work atAkron continued through the summer of 1935. Therewere many failures, but there was an occasional heart-ening success.

10 When the broker returned to New Yorkin the fall of 1935, the first group had actuallybeen formed, though no one realized it at the time. A Second small group promptly took shape at NewYork, to be followed in 1937 with the start of a thirdat Cleveland. Besides these, there were scatteredalcoholics who had picked up the basic ideas in Akronor New York who were trying to form groups in othercities. By late 1937, the number of members havingsubstantial sobriety time behind them was sufficientto convince the membership that a new light hadentered the dark world of the alcoholic. It was now time, the struggling groups thought, toplace their message and unique experience before theworld. This determination bore fruit in the spring of1939 by the publication of this volume. The member-ship had then reached about 100 men and fledgling society, which had been nameless, nowbegan to be called Alcoholics Anonymous , from thetitle of its own book .