An Alcoholic Anonymous is an alcoholic who through application of and adherence to rules laid down by the organization, has completely forsworn the use of any and all alcoholic beverages. The moment he wittingly drinks so much as a drop of beer, wine, spirits, or any other alcoholic drink he automatically loses all status as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous
A.A. is not interested in sobering up drunks who are not sincere in their desire to remain completely sober for all time. A.A. is not interested in alcoholics who want to sober up merely to go on another bender, sober up because of fear for their jobs, their wives, their social standing, or to clear up some trouble either real or imaginary. In other words, if a person is genuinely sincere in his desire for continued sobriety for his own good, is convinced in his heart that alcohol holds him in its power, and is willing to admit that he is an alcoholic, members of Alcoholics Anonymous will do all in their power, spend days of their time to guide him to a new, a happy, and a contented way of life.
Can you see why this sort of stuff was phased out? As much as I like it because of how raw and uncut it feels, it is cutting off tons of people who didn't take aa serious at first but later did.
I can, V. This kind of stuff is a detriment to AA. It's so harsh and condescending. Its thinking fueled by power tripping and fear. The telltale signs of this dysfunctional philosophy are always exclusion ("You are not allowed in among us.") and censorship ("We will not allow you to say THAT.").
Unfortunately, this stuff is not completely phased out. One can find the Akron pamphlets used today in Ohio...and other isolated spots across the country.
"The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking."
Thank God they let me in or I wouldn't be here today. Just celebrated three years of sobriety thanks to the fellowship of AA and the grace of my higher power.
__________________
I have a disease that is constantly trying to convince me that I don't have it.
If a desire to stop drinking was the only membership requirement, I would have been disqualified. I had gone beyond seeing cause and effect and it had not occurred to me that I would have to stop drinking for good. I am grateful for the full version of tradition 3 which says, among otherthings, that "Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism" and anyone could see that with me. That is what qualified me for membership. Tradition 5 had something to do with it to, each group having but one primary purpose to carry its message to alcoholics like me.
The traditions obviously replaced the ideas in that pamphlet and remedied those earlier mistakes some 15 years later .
The definition of alcoholic is so broad these days that some folks feel they can claim that 70% of alcoholics recover on their own without any help. They should tell that to the 70% of my rehab group who tried that, 100% of whom were dead within a year. I don't know where such numbers come from, but you would think is there were that many I would have met at least one on my journey.
Such a number might apply to sufferers of a diagnosable alcohol use disorder. I know a lot of people like that, old school mates for instance, who drank excessively for a period and then went on to better things. They were not like me. They had the power of choice and never lost it. I lost the power of choice in alcohol and never got it back. It seems the lable "alcoholic' has become something of a status symbol, claimed and jealously guarded by by a bunch of folks AA would have called hard drinkers, able to stop and stay stopped when given a good enough reason. These folks are now covered in the broader range of alcohol use disorder, and love to tell us "real", or chronic alcoholics that it is just a matter of will power and we don't need AA.
And they don't seem to like the term "real alcoholic". Neither do I really. If I could change one thing in the AA big book, I would change "real alcoholic" to "hopeless alcoholic". That was the medical opinion or diagnosis of the early AAs, hopeless alcoholics. That really is a key word. I was suffering a hopeless state of mind and body. I was without hope, I thought recovery was not possible for me. My ego ( I will only do this on my terms in my way!) was completely smashed, and I knew I lacked the power to get well.
I am told the first thing to do in evidence based research is to establish the starting parameters. Me, a hopeless alcoholic is quite different to the person who gets into trouble with booze and then stops on thier own power. I never could do that.
That was seriously endorsed by Dr. Bob? As in, the co-founder of AA? That's mind blowing. What a preposterous view of alcoholism it demonstrates. Can't believe it. It seems insane. I thought those guys understood alcoholism?
If that was truly their propaganda, it's a miracle AA ever got off the ground.
