AA MINORITY REPORT 2017 (revised)

Click here

Wednesday 31 December 2014

Alcohol research – Centres for Disease Control and Prevention



CDC works 24/7 to protect America from health, safety and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same.

CDC increases the health security of our nation. As the nation’s health protection agency, CDC saves lives and protects people from health threats. To accomplish our mission, CDC conducts critical science and provides health information that protects our nation against expensive and dangerous health threats, and responds when these arise”

Cheers


The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Tuesday 30 December 2014

The “chit” system (US) – an abuse of constitutionally guaranteed rights


In the ten year period between 1996 and 2007, five high-level US courts -- three federal circuit courts and two state supreme courts -- did take a long and hard look at AA's claim. Each of these cases involved a person who was being forced to participate in AA meetings, either as a condition of their parole or probation, or while actually incarcerated. These cases reached the highest level of judiciary scrutiny -- only one level below the US Supreme Court -- because they involved the critical issue of separation of Church and State. This separation is a fundamental aspect of US law, known as the Establishment Clause, and is explicated in the first amendment to the US Constitution, which states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

The parolees, probationers and inmates in each of these cases claimed that the State was using its power to force them to participate in a religious activity. They claimed that AA meetings were religious. Thus, their required attendance was a violation of the Establishment Clause, which requires governmental neutrality with respect to religion and a wall of separation between Church and State.

In Establishment Clause cases, the high-level courts use a three-part test to determine if the wall of separation has been violated. First, has the State acted? Second, does the action amount to coercion? And third, is the object of coercion religious rather than secular? The answer to the first part of the test was quickly answered: yes, these cases clearly showed action by the State, involving the governmental branches of probation, parole and imprisonment. The second test was likewise quickly answered: yes, the probationers, parolees and inmates were being coerced into AA attendance.

Next, the high-level courts addressed the third part of the test. They took a long look at the Big Book and its 200 references to God; a look at the Twelve Steps and their unmistakable references to God; the prayers in A.A. meetings; and based on a full examination of these,
ruled that AA doctrines and practices must be viewed as religious. Because multiple high-level courts have ruled uniformly on this matter, these rulings now constitute "clearly established law" in the US.

Here are links to the judicial decisions for the five US high-level court cases:
Griffin v. Coughlin (1996), Kerr v. Farrey (1996), Evans v. Tennessee Board of Paroles (1997), Warner v. Orange County Dept. of Probation (1999) and Inouye v. Kemna (2007). [see
Links and downloads under Case law (US)(relating to AA)]

…......

The 2007 Inouye v. Kemna was SO clear, that it suggested any agent of any state which attempted to force a person to attend AA/NA could be sued. Recently this is what happened in California, and the state of California and Westcare were each told to pay approximately $1 million dollars to Barry Hazle who brought the lawsuit.”


(our emphasis)

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Our thanks to the member who drew this article to our attention

Monday 29 December 2014

Alcohol research – American Society of Addiction Medicine




ASAM is a professional society representing over 3,000 physicians and associated professionals dedicated to increasing access and improving the quality of addiction treatment; educating physicians, other medical professionals and the public; supporting research and prevention; and promoting the appropriate role of physicians in the care of patients with addiction”

Cheers


The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Alcohol research – National Centre for Biotechnology Information


 

The National Centre for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information”

Cheers


The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Sunday 28 December 2014

A Full And Thankful Heart, November, 1970, Bill W


Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Saturday 27 December 2014

Alcohol research – The Society for Prevention Research




The Society for Prevention Research is an organization dedicated to advancing scientific investigation on the etiology and prevention of social, physical and mental health, and academic problems and on the translation of that information to promote health and well being. The multi-disciplinary membership of SPR is international and includes scientists, practitioners, advocates, administrators, and policy makers who value the conduct and dissemination of prevention science worldwide.“

Cheers


The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Alcohol research – Health and Social Care Information Centre


 

We are the national provider of information, data and IT systems for commissioners, analysts and clinicians in health and social care.

HSCIC is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department of Health.“

Cheers


The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Friday 26 December 2014

The Synanon cult infiltration of AA (Grapevine articles 1968-1979)(contd)


Extracts from the aacultwatch forum (old)

Tenth/twelfth Step Meetings”   AA Grapevine March 1968 Vol. 24 No. 10 http://da.aagrapevine.org/

"Tenth/twelfth Step Meetings
We are not here to talk about. . .inventory; we're here to do the taking.

SEVEN people, five men and two women, sit in a circle in a living room behind closed doors.

The leader speaks: "Since Joe is here for the first time, let me explain how this meeting runs. This is basically a Tenth and Twelfth Step meeting. Each of us is here to do three things: first, take an inventory of how he is doing in his practice of the program; second, invite the rest of the group to help him with the inventory by pulling him up in areas where he is off the beam but doesn't see it; and third, tell the group what he is going to do, with God's help, to put right what he has been doing wrong.

"There is no limitation on rough language. We say what is to be said the best way we can, whether four-letter words are involved or not. Just one caution--don't use this freedom to show off or make the ladies blush. No one is going to be impressed."

The leader continues, "The one basic rule of this meeting is that we stick to the principle of rigorous honesty with ourselves and with each other. There are twenty-three hours in the day for being nice. In this hour, we drop that. Not that anyone here is trying to put anyone else down. Quite the contrary. In this recovery game, it is possible literally to kill with too much of the wrong type of kindness. All of us are sick in the same way, and we all share the symptom of being hardened, long-time self-kidders.

"We've heard it said that the first principle in recovery is learning to get honest with ourselves. Well, this meeting is a means to that end. We have found that, especially in the tough areas--sex is one for me--we often don't get the necessary degree of self-honesty without the help of friends in this program who love us enough to tell us specifically where, how, and why we are full of baloney. Also, we have found that, as experienced self-conners, we too easily tune out one person who tries to pull us up. We resort to some such monkey business as 'Yes, but he doesn't understand. I'm different.' But when three or four move in together and pull us up, it's harder for the monkey to cop a plea. We have a chance to face and accept a tough truth that we would otherwise have ducked--at the cost, very possibly, of our sanity, sobriety, and lives."

The leader ends his opening remarks by saying: "A couple of final points: There are no observers in this meeting; everyone here is here to participate. What is said in this room stays here; some of it will be rough. We are not here to talk about how to take inventory; we're here to do the taking. Finally, and most important, this process is spiritual surgery and God is the surgeon. It's God as we understand Him, all right, but it is, nevertheless, God. Truth is one of the oldest names for the Higher Power. We are trying to find out the truth about ourselves, however tough that truth may turn out to be, in the confidence that, if we do our job thoroughly and sincerely, we will begin, as the Big Book says, to discover that self-will has blocked us off from Him. As a result of what we do here (to consult the Big Book again), our spiritual beliefs will begin to grow more into a spiritual experience. Spiritual growth through such awakening is what this meeting is aiming at, and the rough language and loud voices should never make us forget that."

The meeting starts. The leader begins by discussing his own situation. Then he invites the rest of the group to comment on what he has said or any ways they have noticed him fouling up. One of the group may, for example, point out self-pity in something he said. Another touches on his selfishness in a difficult personal relationship that he discussed. Their comments are specific. After some discussion, the leader decides to make a moral contract with the group to follow a certain course of action in the difficult relationship and to spend time during his daily Eleventh Step work asking knowledge of God's will and the power to carry it out in that situation.

Then it's someone else's turn to discuss himself. He has a resentment which he tries to justify. The whole group lands on him. At first he bristles, but after a while he begins to see where he was hung up and how to get clear.

One by one, the seven discuss their own problems, confusions, and shortcomings, open themselves up to the group, and tell the group what they are going to do about the areas where they are falling down. The circle is completed in an hour and twenty minutes. The meeting is closed with the Lord's Prayer.

I have been sitting in on meetings like this for three and a half months now. They have added a depth to my sobriety, sanity, and spiritual growth which were never previously in the picture, despite the fact that I went into them with over two years of AA sobriety under my belt. In just these three-plus short months, I have seen these meetings have the same deeply positive effect on many lives other than my own.

In addition to saying that I lack the power to communicate just how helpful and great I think these meetings are, I'd like to say a couple of things by way of clarifying what they are and what they aren't. First, they are not, I repeat not, group therapy. They are God and group (in that order) therapy--and, believe me, that's a far different kind of animal. Second, there is really nothing new about them. They hark back directly to the practice of the first AA members. In that sense, they represent a renewal of the early spirit of the movement. For me, they have acted as an antidote for the tendencies to which many of us are susceptible as members of a Fellowship which is now thirty-two years old and has a large membership and a good press. The tendencies are to get stodgy and "respectable," to apologize for God and the Steps, and to avoid an unsophisticated, head-on approach in carrying the message. Just such an approach, the Higher Power, and the Steps are the very things that made AA work in the beginning and, I believe, still make it work today.

T. P. Jr.

Hankins, New York"

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS To use “comment” system simply click on the relevant tab below this article and sign in. All comments go through a moderation stage

PPS Join us on Diaspora* here

Thursday 25 December 2014

Alcohol research – King's College London University Addictions Department




Formed in March 2010, The Addictions Department brought together the addiction research unit and the sections of alcohol research, tobacco research and behavioural pharmacology. The Addictions Department is also known as the National Addiction Centre (NAC).”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

British Institute of Human Rights


 

bihr.org.uk

Founded over 40 years the British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) is an independent charity working to bring human rights to life here at home. We empower people to:
  • know what human rights are (and often what they are not)
  • use them in practice achieve positive change in everyday life without resorting to the courts, and
  • to make sure those in power respect and progress our human rights laws and systems.
At the heart of everything we do is a commitment to making sure the international promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, developed after the horrors of World War II, is made real here at home. Our innovative work seeks to achieve a society where human rights are respected as the cornerstone of our democracy and enable each of us to live well in communities that value the equal dignity of each person.

Our education, research and advocacy work supports people and organisations to realise the potential of human rights to empower people and to transform organisations. By doing so, we inspire a new generation of organisations and individuals to recognise that human rights are the standards by which we should live, and to live up to their human rights responsibilities.”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Wednesday 24 December 2014

Stuff! (contd)



Whisper Systems: “Our mission is to make private communication simple.

Open Whisper Systems is both a large community of Open Source contributors, as well as a small team of dedicated developers. Together, we're working to advance the state of the art for secure communication, while simultaneously making it easy for everyone to use.”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

See also under Free Stuff in Links and Downloads

Bill and Bob's Excellent Adventure! (contd)


A wildly imaginative dianoetic rambling concerning the the “basic text” of Alcoholics Anonymous (viz. the Big Book) (our comments in red print)

Chapter 2 There Is A Solution (pp. 26-29)


A certain American business man had ability, good sense, and high character [this would suggest that those suffering from alcoholism do not necessarily lack these attributes nor that when they recover they are mysteriously rendered incapable of taking responsibility for their OWN lives!]. For years he had floundered from one sanitarium to another. He had consulted the best known American psychiatrists. Then he had gone to Europe, placing himself in the care of a celebrated physician (the psychiatrist, Dr. Jung) who prescribed for him. Though experience had made him sceptical, he finished his treatment with unusual confidence. His physical and mental condition were unusually good. Above all, he believed he had acquired such a profound knowledge of the inner workings of his mind and its hidden springs that relapse was unthinkable. Nevertheless, he was drunk in a short time. More baffling still, he could give himself no satisfactory explanation for his fall [ie relapse is not based purely on a failure of cognition. This faculty is merely insufficient of itself].

So he returned to this doctor, whom he admired, and asked him point-blank why he could not recover. He wished above all things to regain self-control. He seemed quite rational and well-balanced with respect to other problems [see above]. Yet he had no control whatever over alcohol. Why was this?

He begged the doctor to tell him the whole truth, and he got it. In the doctor’s judgement he was utterly hopeless; he could never regain his position in society and he would have to place himself under lock and key or hire a bodyguard if he expected to live long. That was a great physician’s opinion.

But this man still lives, and is a free man. He does not need a bodyguard [or even a sponsor!] nor is he confined. He can go anywhere on this earth where other free men may go without disaster, provided he remains willing to maintain a certain simple attitude [an attitude which he or she elects to adopt ie. NOT one which is forced upon them].

Some of our alcoholic readers may think they can do without spiritual [ie. not necessarily religious] help. Let us tell you the rest of the conversation our friend had with his doctor.

The doctor said: “You have the mind of a chronic alcoholic. I have never seen one single case recover, where that state of mind existed to the extent that it does in you.’’ Our friend felt as though the gates of hell had closed on him with a clang.

He said to the doctor, “Is there no exception?’’

Yes,’’ replied the doctor, “there is. Exceptions to cases such as yours have been occurring since early times. Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are called vital spiritual experiences [not to be confused necessarily with any 'theistic' experiences]. To me these occurrences are phenomena. They appear to be in the nature of huge emotional displacements and rearrangements. Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of the lives of these men are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate them. In fact, I have been trying to produce some such emotional rearrangement within you. With many individuals the methods which I employed are successful, but I have never been successful with an alcoholic of your description.”*

Upon hearing this, our friend was somewhat relieved, for he reflected that, after all, he was a good church member. This hope, however, was destroyed by the doctor’s telling him that while his religious convictions were very good, in his case they did not spell the necessary vital spiritual experience.

_________________
* For amplification—see Appendix II.

Here was the terrible dilemma in which our friend found himself when he had the extraordinary experience, which as we have already told you, made him a free man.

We, in our turn, sought the same escape with all the desperation of drowning men. What seemed at first a flimsy reed, has proved to be [or not] the loving and powerful hand of God [or Higher Power, principle etc of each individual's conception]. A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, “a design for living’’ that really works.

The distinguished American psychologist, William James, in his book “Varieties of Religious Experience,’’ indicates a multitude of ways in which men have discovered God [or some other entirely non-theistic conception]. We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired. If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed, or colour are the children of a living Creator [or not] with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try. Those having religious affiliations will find here nothing disturbing to their beliefs or ceremonies [and those among us who do not possess such affiliations may well find such notions “disturbing”]. There is no friction among us over such matters [evidently things have changed – or at least in some areas!].

We think it no concern of ours what religious bodies our members identify themselves with as individuals. This should be an entirely personal affair which each one decides for himself in the light of past associations, or his present choice. Not all of us join religious bodies, but most of us favour such memberships [and an increasing number don't. See here and here].

In the following chapter, there appears an explanation of alcoholism, as we understand it, then a chapter addressed to the agnostic. Many who once were in this class are now among our members. Surprisingly enough, we find such convictions no great obstacle to a spiritual experience.

Further on, clear-cut directions are given showing how we recovered. These are followed by forty-two personal experiences.

Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God [or Higher Power of their understanding]. These give a fair cross section of our membership and a clear-cut idea of what has actually happened [ie. their own experience] in their lives.

We hope no one will consider these self-revealing accounts in bad taste. Our hope is that many alcoholic men and women, desperately in need, will see these pages, and we believe that it is only by fully disclosing ourselves and our problems [therefore it is insufficient to present a purely one-sided view of recovery – warts and all should be revealed!] that they will be persuaded to say, “Yes, I am one of them too; I must have [note: NOT 'you must have'!] this thing.””

(our emphases)

Coming next – Chapter 3 More About Alcoholism

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Stuff! (contd)


 

Detekt: A new software tool in the ‘cat and mouse’ game against Big Brother


Detekt is a free tool that scans your Windows computer for traces of FinFisher and Hacking Team RCS, commercial surveillance spyware that has been identified to be also used to target and monitor human rights defenders and journalists around the world. Read more about our Intentions and Methods

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

See also under Free Stuff in Links and Downloads

Alcohol research – WHO: Global Information System on Alcohol and Health


 

The WHO Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH) provides easy and rapid access to a wide range of alcohol-related health indicators. It is an essential tool for assessing and monitoring the health situation and trends related to alcohol consumption, alcohol-related harm, and policy responses in countries. “

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Monday 22 December 2014

Stuff! (contd)


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Cheers 

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

See also under Free Stuff in Links and Downloads

A.A. Tomorrow, November, 1973, Bill W




Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Sunday 21 December 2014

Alcohol research – International Centre for Alcohol Policies



The International Centre for Alcohol Policies (ICAP) is a not-for-profit organization, supported by major producers of beverage alcohol.  As a basis for open dialogue with the scientific and public health communities, and as a contribution to meaningful discourse about beverage alcohol's role in society, the companies sponsoring ICAP believe that:
  • The vast majority of people who consume beverage alcohol do so responsibly and to enhance the quality of their lives.
  • When consumed moderately and in a responsible manner by individuals with good health and dietary habits, who have no medical reason to refrain from drinking, beverage alcohol is associated with few risks of harm and has been reported to have some beneficial effects on health.
  • Irresponsible consumption of beverage alcohol is associated with a variety of risks both to the individual and to the public in health, social, economic, and safety contexts. Irresponsible consumption refers to high levels of intake, either on single occasions or repeatedly, or to drinking in inappropriate circumstances or by those who should not be drinking at all.
  • Alcohol policies need to be based on an objective understanding of available research about alcohol and should aim to create a reasonable balance of government regulation, industry self-regulation, and individual responsibility.”
Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Alcohol research – Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland´s Alcohol Strategy (MESAS)


 

healthscotland.com/scotlands-health/evaluation/planning/MESAS


Background: Scotland’s Alcohol Strategy


In a bid to reduce alcohol related harm and improve the health and well-being of the Scottish population, the Scottish Government is taking forward Scotland’s alcohol strategy. Scotland’s alcohol strategy is a whole population approach incorporating both legislative and policy measures to shift changes in alcohol related behaviours. The strategy comprises the Framework for Action, Licensing (Scotland) Act (2005), Alcohol etc (Scotland) Act (2010) and most recently the Alcohol Minimum Pricing (Scotland) Act 2012 (still to be implemented). Further information on alcohol related policy is Scotland is available on the NHS Health Scotland Alcohol webpages.

Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland’s Alcohol Strategy (MESAS) 

The Scottish Government has tasked NHS Health Scotland with the responsibility of evaluating Scotland’s alcohol strategy (including Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP), if implemented) through the Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland’s Alcohol Strategy (MESAS) programme of work.  The key evaluation questions outlined for the whole MESAS programme of work are:
  • How and to what extent has implementing the package of measures (taken together and/or individually) contained in the Scottish alcohol strategy contributed to reducing alcohol-related harms?
  • Are some (people and businesses) affected (positively and negatively) more than others?
  • How might the strategy be implemented differently to improve effectiveness?
A ‘Theory of Change’ approach has been adopted to address the evaluation questions presented above. The Theory of Change assumes that alcohol related harms will reduce if alcohol consumption goes down. Further information on the Theory of Change and the evaluation plan is available in the first annual MESAS (baseline) report.

The evaluation comprises of a portfolio of seven studies. The studies started at the beginning of 2010 and will run through to 2015, with the monitoring of routine data continuing beyond. Further information on the study portfolio can be found in the MESAS Briefing Paper (December 2009). Additionally the evaluation of the impact of MUP, if implemented, will be developed and interpreted within the framework of the MESAS programme of work. The evaluation plan for MUP is currently being devised.”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)


PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

Saturday 20 December 2014

For the attention of the Big Book 'Thumpers' (or 'Nutters' as we prefer to call them)....


The sections they always seem to miss (including Joe and Charlie in their so-called “Big Book study"!)

We quote:

AA Big Book


Chapter 7 - Working With Others

Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail. This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when other fail. Remember they are very ill.
Life will take on new meaning. To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends — this is an experience you must not miss. We know you will not want to miss it. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives.
Perhaps you are not acquainted with any drinkers who want to recover. You can easily find some by asking a few doctors, ministers, priests or hospitals. They will be only too glad to assist you. Don't start out as an evangelist or reformer. Unfortunately a lot of prejudice exists. You will be handicapped if you arouse it. Ministers and doctors are competent and you can learn much from them if you wish, but it happens that because of your own drinking experience you can be uniquely useful to other alcoholics. So cooperate; never criticize. To be helpful is our only aim.
When you discover a prospect for Alcoholics Anonymous, find out all you can about him. If he does not want to stop drinking, don't waste time trying to persuade him. You may spoil a later opportunity. This advice is given for his family also. They should be patient, realizing they are dealing with a sick person.
If there is any indication that he wants to stop, have a good talk with the person most interested in him —usually his wife. Get an idea of his behavior, his problems, his background, the seriousness of his condition, and his religious leanings. You need this information to put yourself in his place, to see how you would like him to approach you if the tables were turned.
Sometimes it is wise to wait till he goes on a binge. The family may object to this, but unless he is in a dangerous physical condition, it is better to risk it. Don't deal with him when he is very drunk, unless he is ugly and the family needs your help. Wait for the end of the spree, or at least for a lucid interval. Then let his family or a friend ask him if he wants to quit for good and if he would go to any extreme to do so. If he says yes, then his attention should be drawn to you as a person who has recovered. You should be described to him as one of a fellowship who, as part of their own recovery, try to help others and who will be glad to talk to him if he cares to see you.
If he does not want to see you, never force yourself upon him. Neither should the family hysterically plead with him to do anything, nor should they tell him much about you. They should wait for the end of his next drinking bout. You might place this book where he can see it in the interval. Here no specific rule can be given. The family must decide these things. But urge them not to be over-anxious, for that might spoil matters.
Usually the family should not try to tell your story. When possible, avoid meeting a man through his family. Approach through a doctor or an institution is a better bet. If your man needs hospitalization, he should have it, but not forcibly unless he is violent. Let the doctor, if he will, tell him he has something in the way of a solution.
When your man is better, the doctor might suggest a visit from you. Though you have talked with the family, leave them out of the first discussion. Under these conditions your prospect will see he is under not pressure. He will feel he can deal with you without being nagged by his family. Call on him while he is still jittery. He may be more receptive when depressed.
See your man alone, if possible. At first engage in general conversation. After a while, turn the talk to some phase of drinking. Tell him enough about your drinking habits, symptoms, and experiences to encourage him to speak of himself. If he wishes to talk, let him do so. You will thus get a better idea of how you ought to proceed. If he is not communicative, give him a sketch or your drinking career up to the time you quit. But say nothing, for the moment, of how that was accomplished. If he is in a serious mood dwell on the troubles liquor has caused you, being careful not to moralize or lecture. If his mood is light, tell him humorous stories of your escapades. Get him to tell some of his.
When he sees you know all about the drinking game, commence to describe yourself as an alcoholic. Tell him how baffled you were, how you finally learned that you were sick. Give him an account of the struggles you made to stop. Show him the mental twist which leads to the first drink of a spree. We suggest you do this as we have done it in the chapter on alcoholism. If he is alcoholic, he will understand you at once. He will match you mental inconsistencies with some of his own.
If you are satisfied that he is a real alcoholic, begin to dwell on the hopeless feature of the malady. Show him, from your own experience, how the queer mental condition surrounding that first drink prevents normal functioning of the will power. Don't, at this stage, refer to this book, unless he has seen it and wishes to discuss it. And be careful not to brand him as an alcoholic. Let him draw his own conclusion. If he sticks to the idea that he can still control his drinking, tell him that possibly he can — if he is not too alcoholic. But insist that if he is severely afflicted, there may be little chance he can recover by himself.
Continue to speak of alcoholism as an illness, a fatal malady. Talk about the conditions of body and mind which accompany it. Keep his attention focused mainly on your personal experience. Explain that many are doomed who never realize their predicament. Doctors are rightly loath to tell alcoholic patients the whole story unless it will serve some good purpose. But you may talk to him about the hopelessness of alcoholism because you offer a solution. You will soon have you friend admitting he has many, if not all, of the traits of the alcoholic. If his own doctor is willing to tell him that he is alcoholic, so much the better. Even though your protege may not have entirely admitted his condition, he has become very curious to know how you got well. Let him ask you that question, if he will. Tell him exactly what happened to you. Stress the spiritual feature freely. If the man be agnostic or atheist, make it emphatic that he does not have to agree with your conception of God. He can choose any conception he likes, provided it makes sense to him. The main thing is that he be willing to believe in a Power greater than himself and that he live by spiritual principles.
When dealing with such a person, you had better use everyday language to describe spiritual principles. There is no use arousing any prejudice he may have against certain theological terms and conceptions about which he may already be confused. Don't raise such issues, no matter what your own convictions are.
Your prospect may belong to a religious denomination. His religious education and training may be far superior to yours. In that case he is going to wonder how you can add anything to what he already knows. But he well be curious to learn why his own convictions have not worked and why yours seem to work so well. He may be an example of the truth that faith alone is insufficient. To be vital, faith must be accompanied by self sacrifice and unselfish, constructive action. Let him see that you are not there to instruct him in religion. Admit that he probably knows more about it than you do, but call to his attention the fact that however deep his faith and knowledge, he could not have applied it or he would not drink, Perhaps your story will help him see where he has failed to practice the very precepts he knows so well. We represent no particular faith or denomination. We are dealing only with general principles common to most denominations.
Outline the program of action, explaining how you made a self-appraisal, how you straightened out your past and why you are now endeavoring to be helpful to him. It is important for him to realize that your attempt to pass this on to him plays a vital part in your recovery. Actually, he may be helping you more than you are helping him. Make it plain he is under no obligation to you, that you hope only that he will try to help other alcoholics when he escapes his own difficulties. Suggest how important it is that he place the welfare of other people ahead of his own. Make it clear that he is not under pressure, that he needn't see you again if he doesn't want to. You should not be offended if he wants to call it off, for he has helped you more than you have helped him. If your talk has been sane, quiet and full of human understanding, you have perhaps made a friend. Maybe you have disturbed him about the question of alcoholism. This is all to the good. The more hopeless he feels, the better. he will be more likely to follow your suggestions.
Your candidate may give reasons why he need not follow all of the program. He may rebel at the thought of a drastic housecleaning which requires discussion with other people. Do not contradict such views. Tell him you once felt as he does, but you doubt whether you would have made much progress had you not taken action. On your first visit tell him about the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. If he shows interest, lend him your copy of this book.
Unless your friend wants to talk further about himself, do not wear out your welcome. Give him a chance to think it over. If you do stay , let him steer the conversation in any direction he like. Sometimes a new man is anxious to proceed at once, and you may be tempted to let him do so. This is sometimes a mistake. If he has trouble later, he is likely to say you rushed him. You will be most successful with alcoholics if you do not exhibit any passion for crusade or reform. Never talk down to an alcoholic from any moral or spiritual hilltop; simply lay out the kit of spiritual tools for his inspection. Show him how they worked with you. Offer him friendship and fellowship. Tell him that if he wants to get well you will do anything to help.
If he is not interested in your solution, if he expects you to act only as a banker for his financial difficulties or a nurse for his sprees, you may have to drop him until he changes his mind. This he may do after he gets hurts some more.
If he is sincerely interested and wants to see you again, ask him to read this book in the interval. After doing that, he must decide for himself whether he wants to go on. He should not be pushed or prodded by you, his wife, or his friends. If he is to find God, the desire must come from within.
If he thinks he can do the job in some other way, or prefers some other spiritual approach, encourage him to follow his own conscience. We have no monopoly on God; we merely have an approach that worked with us. But point out that we alcoholics have much in common and that you would like, in any case, to be friendly. Let it go at that. Do not be discouraged if your prospect does not respond at once. Search out another alcoholic and try again. You are sure to find someone desperate enough to accept with eagerness what you offer. We find it a waste of time to keep chasing a man who cannot or will not work with you. If you leave such a person alone, he may soon become convinced that he cannot recover by himself. To spend too much time on any one situation is to deny some other alcoholic an opportunity to live and be happy. One of our Fellowship failed entirely with his first half dozen prospects. He often says that if he had continued to work on them, he might have deprived many others, who have since recovered, of their chance.
Suppose now you are making your second visit to a man. He has read this volume and says he is prepared to go through with the Twelve Steps of the program of recovery. Having had the experience yourself, you can give him much practical advice. Let him know you are available if he wishes to make a decision and tell his story, but do not insist upon it if he prefers to consult someone else.
He may be broke and homeless. If he is, you might try to help him about getting a job, or give him a little financial assistance. But you should not deprive your family or creditors of money they should have. Perhaps you will want to take the man into your home for a few days. But be sure you use discretion. Be certain he will be welcomed by your family, and that he is not trying to impose upon you for money, connections, or shelter. Permit that and you only harm him. You will be making it possible for him to be insincere. You may be aiding in his destruction rather than his recovery.
Never avoid these responsibilities, but be sure you are doing the right thing if you assume them. Helping others is the foundation stone of your recovery. A kindly act once in a while isn't enough. You have to act the Good Samaritan every day, if need be. It may mean the loss of many nights' sleep, great interference with your pleasures, interruptions to your business. It may mean sharing your money and your home, counseling frantic wives and relatives, innumerable trips to police courts, sanitariums, hospitals, jails and asylums. Your telephone may jangle at any time of the day or night. Your wife may sometimes say she is neglected. A drunk may smash the furniture in your home, or burn a mattress. You may have to fight with him if he is violent. Sometimes you will have to call a doctor and administer sedatives under his direction. Another time you may have to send for the police or an ambulance. Occasionally you will have to meet such conditions.
We seldom allow an alcoholic to live in our homes for long at a time. It is not good for him, and it sometimes creates serious complications in a family.
Though an alcoholic does not respond, there is no reason why you should neglect his family. You should continue to be friendly to them. The family should be offered your way of life. Should they accept and practice spiritual principles, there is a much better change that the head of the family will recover. And even though he continues to drink, the family will find life more bearable.
For the type of alcoholic who is able and willing to get well, little charity, in the ordinary sense of the word, is need or wanted. The men who cry for money and shelter before conquering alcohol, are on the wrong track. Yet we do go to great extremes to provide each other with these very things, when such action is warranted. This may seem inconsistent, but we think it is not.
It is not the matter of giving that is in question, but when and how to give. That often makes the difference between failure and success. The minute we put our work on a service plane, the alcoholic commences to rely upon our assistance rather than upon God. He clamors for this or that, claiming he cannot master alcohol until his material needs are cared for. Nonsense. Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: Job or no job — wife or no wife — we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God.
Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house.
Now, the domestic problem: There may be divorce, separation, or just strained relations. When your prospect has made such reparation as he can to his family, and has thoroughly explained to them the new principles by which he is living, he should proceed to put those principles into action at home. That is, if he is lucky enough to have a home. Though his family be at fault in many respects, he should not be concerned about that. He should concentrate on his own spiritual demonstration. Argument and fault-finding are to be avoided like the plague. In many homes this is a difficult thing to do, but it must be done if any results are to be expected. If persisted in for a few months, the effect on a man's family is sure to be great. The most incompatible people discover they have a basis upon which they can meet. Little by little the family may see their own defects and admit them. These can then be discussed in an atmosphere of helpfulness and friendliness.
After they have seen tangible results, the family will perhaps want to go along. These things will come to pass naturally and in good time provided, however, the alcoholic continues to demonstrate that he can be sober, considerate, and helpful, regardless of what anyone says or does. Of course, we all fall much below this standard many times. But we must try to repair the damage immediately lest we pay the penalty by a spree.
If there be divorce or separation, there should be no undue haste for the couple to get together. The man should be sure of his recovery. The wife should fully understand his new way of life. If their old relationship is to be resumed it must be on a better basis, since the former did not work. This means a new attitude and spirit all around. Sometimes it is to the best interests of all concerned that a couple remain apart. Obviously, no rule can be laid down. Let the alcoholic continue his program day by day. When the time for living together has come, it will be apparent to both parties.
Let no alcoholic say he cannot recover unless he has his family back. This just isn't so. In some cases the wife will never come back for one reason or another. Remind the prospect that his recovery is not dependent upon people. It is dependent upon his relationship with God. We have seen men get well whose families have not returned at all. We have seen others slip when the family came back too soon.
Both you and the new man must walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress. If you persist, remarkable things will happen. When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands were better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances!
When working with a man and his family, you should take care not to participate in their quarrels. You may spoil your chance of being helpful if you do. But urge upon a man's family that he has been a very sick person and should be treated accordingly. You should warn against arousing resentment or jealousy. You should point out that his defects of character are not going to disappear over night. Show them that he has entered upon a period of growth. Ask them to remember, when they are impatient, the blessed fact of his sobriety.
If you have been successful in solving your own domestic problems, tell the newcomer's family how that was accomplished. In this way you can set them on the right track without becoming critical of them. The story of how you and your wife settled your difficulties is worth any amount of criticism.
Assuming we are spiritually fit, we can do all sorts of things alcoholics are not supposed to do. People have said we must not go where liquor is served; we must not have it in our homes; we must shun friends who drink; we must avoid moving pictures which show drinking scenes; we must not go into bars; our friends must hide their bottles if we go to their houses; we mustn't think or be reminded about alcohol at all. Our experience shows that this is not necessarily so.
We meet these conditions every day. An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status. His only chance for sobriety would be some place like the Greenland Ice Cap, and even there an Eskimo might turn up with a bottle of scotch and ruin everything! Ask any woman who has sent her husband to distant places on the theory he would escape the alcohol problem.
In our belief any scheme of combating alcoholism which proposes to shield the sick man from temptation is doomed to failure. If the alcoholic tries to shield himself he may succeed for a time, but usually winds up with a bigger explosion than ever. We have tried these methods. These attempts to do the impossible have always failed.
So our rule is not to avoid a place where there is drinking, if we have a legitimate reason for being there. That includes bars, nightclubs, dances, receptions, weddings, even plain ordinary whoopee parties. To a person who has had experience with an alcoholic, this may seem like tempting Providence, but it isn't.
You will note that we made and important qualification. Therefore, ask yourself on each occasion, "Have I any good social, business, or personal reason for going to this place? Or am I expecting to steal a little vicarious pleasure from the atmosphere of such places?" If you answer these questions satisfactorily, you need have no apprehension. Go or stay away, whichever seems best. But be sure you are on solid spiritual ground before you start and that your motive in going is thoroughly good. Do not think of what you will get out of the occasion. Think of what you can bring to it. But if you are shaky, you had better work with another alcoholic instead!
Why sit with a long face in places where there is drinking, sighing about the good old days. If it is a happy occasion, try to increase the pleasure of those there; if a business occasion, go and attend to your business enthusiastically. If you are with a person who wants to eat in a bar, by all means go along. Let your friends know they are not to change their habits on your account. At a proper time and place explain to all your friends why alcohol disagrees with you. If you do this thoroughly, few people will ask you to drink. While you were drinking, you were withdrawing from life little by little. Now you are getting back into the social life of this world. Don't start to withdraw again just because your friends drink liquor.
Your job now is to be at the place where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others, so never hesitate to go anywhere if you can be helpful. You should not hesitate to visit the most sordid spot on earth on such an errand. Keep on the firing line of life with these motives and God will keep you unharmed.
Many of us keep liquor in our homes. We often need it to carry green recruits through a severe hangover. Some of us still serve it to our friends provided they are not alcoholic. But some of us think we should not serve liquor to anyone. We never argue this question. We feel that each family, in the light of their own circumstances, ought to decide for themselves.
We are careful never to show intolerance or hatred of drinking as an institution. Experience shows that such an attitude is not helpful to anyone. Every new alcoholic looks for this spirit among us and is immensely relieved when he finds we are not witchburners. A spirit of intolerance might repel alcoholics whose lives could have been saved, had it not been for such stupidity. We would not even do the cause of temperate drinking any good, for not one drinker in a thousand likes to be told anything about alcohol by one who hates it.
Some day we hope that Alcoholics Anonymous will help the public to a better realization of the gravity of the alcoholic problem, but we shall be of little use if our attitude is one of bitterness or hostility. Drinkers will not stand for it.
After all, our problems were of our own making. Bottles were only a symbol. Besides, we have stopped fighting anybody or anything. We have to!”




Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous) 

PS Our thanks to the US member for sending in this piece