P-42 - A Brief Guide to Alcoholics Anonymous

1 ALCOHOLICSANONYMOUS is a fellowship of menand women who share their experience, strengthand hope with each other that they may solvetheir common problem and help others to recoverfrom alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is adesire to stop drinking. There are no dues or feesfor membership; we are self-supportingthrough our own contributions. is not allied with any sect, denomination,politics, organization or institution; does not wishto engage in any controversy; neither endorsesnor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober andhelp other Alcoholics to achieve by Grapevine, Inc.

2 ;reprinted with 1972 byAlcoholics Anonymous World Services, Riverside DriveNew York, NY 10115 All rights address: Box 459 Grand Central StationNew York, NY 12/17 (Ripon) 12/7/17 3:05 PM Page 2A Brief Guide toAlcoholics 12/7/17 3:05 PM Page 3 12/7/17 3:05 PM Page 4 Alcoholism is recognized as a major health prob -lem. In the , it is the third greatest killer, after heart disease and cancer and it does notdamage Alcoholics alone. Others are hurt by itseffects in the home, on the job, on the high -way. Alcoholism costs the community millions ofdollars every year.

3 So whether or not you everbecome an alcoholic yourself, alcoholism still canhave an impact on your have learned a great deal about how toidentify and arrest alcoholism. But so far no onehas discovered a way to prevent it, becausenobody knows exactly why some drinkers turninto Alcoholics . Doctors and scientists in the field have not agreed on the cause (or causes) of that reason, concentrates on help ingthose who are already Alcoholics , so that they canstop drinking and learn how to live a normal,happy life without 12/7/17 3:05 PM Page 5 What is alcoholism?As sees it, alcoholism is an illness.

4 Alcoholicscannot control their drinking, because they are illin their bodies and in their minds (or emotions), believes. If they do not stop drinking, theiralcoholism almost always gets worse and the American Medical Association andthe British Medical Association, chief organiza-tions of doctors in those countries, also have saidthat alcoholism is an are the symptoms?Not all Alcoholics have the same symptoms, butmany at different stages in the illness showthese signs: They find that only alcohol can makethem feel self-confident and at ease with otherpeople; often want just one more at the end of aparty; look forward to drinking occasions andthink about them a lot; get drunk when they hadnot planned to; try to control their drinking bychanging types of liquor, going on the wagon, ortaking pledges; sneak drinks; lie about theirdrinking; hide bottles; drink at work (or inschool); drink alone.

5 Have blackouts (that is, can-not remember the next day what they said or didthe night before); drink in the morning, to relievesevere hangovers, guilty feelings and fears; fail toeat and become malnourished; get cirrhosis ofthe liver; shake violently, hallucinate, or have con-vulsions when withdrawn from is Anonymous is a worldwide fellowshipof men and women who help each other to 12/7/17 3:05 PM Page 6sober. They offer the same help to anyone whohas a drinking problem and wants to do some-thing about it. Since they are all Alcoholics them-selves, they have a special understanding of eachother.

6 They know what the illness feels like andthey have learned how to recover from it in members say that they arealcoholicstoday even when they have not had a drink formany years. They do not say that they are cured. Once people have lost their ability tocontrol their drinking, they can never again besure of drinking safely or, in other words, theycan never become formeralcoholics or ex-alco-holics. But in , they can become sober alco-holics, does help the alcoholic?Through the example and friendship of therecovered Alcoholics in , new members areencouraged to stay away from a drink one day ata time, as the do.

7 Instead of swearing offforever or worrying about whether they will besober tomorrow, concentrate on not drink-ing right now keeping alcohol out of their systems, new-comers take care of one part of their illness their bodies have a chance to get well. Butremember, there is another part. If they are goingto stay sober, they need healthy minds andhealthy emotions, too. So they begin to straightenout their confused thinking and unhappy feelingsby following s Twelve Steps to Steps suggest ideas and actions that canguide Alcoholics toward happy and useful be in touch with other members and tolearn about the recovery program, new membersgo to meetings are meetings?

8 Alcoholics Anonymous is established in approxi-mately 170 countries. The people in each groupget together, usually once or twice a week, tohold meetings, of two main 12/7/17 3:05 PM Page 7(1) At open meetings, speakers tell howthey drank, how they discovered , and howits program has helped them. Members maybring relatives or friends, and usually anyoneinterested in is also welcome to attend open meetings. (2) Closed meetings are for Alcoholics are group discussions, and any memberswho want to may speak up, to ask questions and to share their thoughts with fellow mem-bers.

9 At closed meetings, can get help with personal problems in staying sober and ineveryday living. Some other can explainhow they have already handled the same problems often by using one or more of theTwelve belongs to other illnesses, alcoholism strikes all sorts ofpeople. So the men and women in are of allraces and nationalities, all religions and no reli-gion at all. They are rich and poor and just aver-age. They work at all occupations, as lawyers andhousewives, teachers and truck drivers, waitress-es and members of the does not keep a list of members, butgroups do report how many people belong toeach one.

10 From these reports, total member-ship is estimated at over 2,000, an alcoholic have to go all theway down before can help? was started in 1935 by a New York stock-broker and an Ohio surgeon, who had both been hopeless drunks. At first, most membersalso had been seriously ill; their drinking hadsent them to hospitals, sanitariums, or jails. Butmore and more people began to hear about ,and soon many Alcoholics found they did nothave to let their illness do that much could recover in beforetheir healthhad been totally wrecked, while they still hadtheir jobs and their 12/7/17 3:05 PM Page 8 Are there any young people in The pamphlet Young People and gives thepersonal stories of ten who joined when theywere under 30.