Book by Anonymous
(Alcoholics Anonymous, 1952)
Reviewed by Tim Montgomerie on 3 May 2002
A co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous tells how members recover and how the society functions
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The following passage - entitled 'The Versatility of Alcohol' - was written by a recovering alcoholic at the Barn Project, Kent - run by the Kenward Trust:
"Alcohol will remove stains from clothing. This is quite correct and just goes to prove the amazing versatility of alcohol.
It will also remove winter clothes, summer clothes and autumn clothes from a man, his wife and children if used in sufficient quantity.
Alcohol will also remove furniture from the house, rugs from the floor, food from the table, lining from the stomach, vision from the eyes and judgment from the mind.
Alcohol will also remove reputations, good jobs, good friends, happiness from children's hearts, sanity, freedom, man's ability to adjust and live with his fellow man, and even life itself.
As a remover of things alcohol has no equal."
This passage gives an insight into the problems of excessive addiction for an individual. The wider dangers of alcoholism are indicated by these data from the Alcohol Concern charity:
· 1 Briton in 13 is dependent on alcohol - twice as many as are hooked on all forms of drugs (including prescription drugs where the dependence level is 1 in 26).
· 40% of suicides in England and Wales had a history of alcohol abuse (Appleby 2001).
· 1 in 6 people attending accident and emergency departments have alcohol-related injuries or problems - rising to 4 in 5 during peak emergency times (HEA 1998).
· Between 60% and 70% of men who assault their partners do so under the influence of alcohol (Jacobs 1998).
· In a survey of 14-20 year-olds alcohol was identified as the main reason for the first sexual experiences of 20% of men and 13% of women (Roger Ingham 2001).
· Over 50% of male prisoners and a third of female prisoners engaged in hazardous drinking before entering prison (Singleton, Farrell and Meltzer 1999).
· 50% of the rough sleeper population are alcohol dependent (Rough Sleepers Unit 1999).
· Alcohol misuse costs the NHS £3bn per year according to the Royal College of Physicians (2001).
· In this light the work of organisations like Alcoholics Anonymous could hardly be more important.
KEY POINTS FROM BOOK
In this review the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions are not examined individually but the main relevant issues are described. For reference purposes the two sets of twelve steps and traditions are listed at the end of the review.
The need for humility in the face of alcohol addiction: Although Christian imagery and morality is evident through AA's principles and traditions - they are not explicit or attributed to Christianity. Indeed there is much concern that AA does not become associated with the "hypocrisy, bigotry and crushing self-righteousness" that clings to "so many 'believers' even in their Sunday best." In AA there is no room for smugness - the first three steps are about admitting that without the help of "a Power greater than ourselves" - "our lives are unmanageable". Humility is maintained by AA members beginning every contribution they ever make to an AA meeting by declaring that they are an alcoholic.
There is a right way to live: AA's steps strongly indicate that there is a right way to live. Belief in God -- and for an AA member God can be whatever they choose - must be about "reliance, not defiance". Other AA steps unpack what that "reliance means". The author writes: "We had always said, 'Grant me my wishes', instead of 'Thy will be done'.... It is when we try to make our will conform with God's that we begin to use it rightly." In this way the philosophy of AA is profoundly Conservative and Christian. There is a clear rejection of blaming social conditions for one's alcoholism - instead members are urged to change themselves to meet the reality of the world.
Sustainable sobriety depends upon tackling the underlying causes of alcoholism: Step Four requires the AA member to make "a searching and fearless moral inventory" of themselves. The Step argues that sustainable sobriety is only possible when the underlying causes of why the member turned to excessive drinking are addressed. The book lists those underlying causes as "the Seven Deadly Sins of pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth." The newcomer to AA is confronted with the message that "all the faulty foundation of his life will have to be torn out and built anew on bedrock".
Recovering from addiction cannot be achieved alone:: Step Five begins to introduce more fully the relation dimension of the AA model. Recovery is impossible without the help, support and guidance of friends within the AA group. Step Eight requires the member to make "a list of all persons we had harmed, and [become] willing to make amends to them all". The book continues: "While the purpose of making restitution to others is paramount, it is equally necessary that we extricate from an examination of our personal relations every bit of information about ourselves and our fundamental difficulties that we can. Since defective relations with other human beings have nearly always been the immediate cause of our woes, including our alcoholism, no field of investigation could yield more satisfying and valuable rewards than this one."
Ultimately recovery is a spiritual process dependent upon reliance on God: Other steps in the process emphasise prayer and dependence upon God. Near the end of the book is this passage: "It became clear that if we ever were to feel emotionally secure among grown-up people, we would have to put our lives on a give-and-take basis; we would have to develop the sense of being in partnership or brotherhood with all those around us. We saw that we would need to give constantly of ourselves without demands for repayment.... When we developed still more, we discovered the best possible source of emotional stability to be God Himself. We found that dependence upon His perfect justice, forgiveness and love was healthy, and that it would work where nothing else would."
Christians would recognise these principles as directly derived from biblical teaching and would therefore endorse their applicability to the human condition. Many would also protest, however, at AA's failure to acknowledge the Christian origin of the wisdom that AA represents as its own.
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The Twelve Traditions of AA
The Twelve Traditions of AA define an organisation that is open to every person - regardless of their background or depth of problem with alcohol. The Traditions hold the organisation to its anonymity and its connected refusal to endorse any campaign - however good it may appear - in order to avoid being diverted from its core 12 Steps-based group work. Their uncompromising focus on their core mission is further underlined by their unwillingness to accept any funds from outside the organisation: "Whoever pays the piper is apt to call the tune, and if the AA Foundation obtained money from outside sources, its trustees might be tempted to run things without reference to the wishes of AA as a whole. Relieved of responsibility, every alcoholic would shrug and say, 'Oh, the Foundation is wealthy - why should I bother?' The pressure of that fat treasury would surely tempt the board to invent all kinds of schemes to do good with such funds, and so divert AA from its primary purpose."
For reference
The rest of this page takes quotes directly from AA - briefly explaining and listing first 'The Twelve Steps' and then 'The Twelve Traditions'.
...The Twelve Steps...
"The relative success of the A.A. program seems to be due to the fact that an alcoholic who no longer drinks has an exceptional faculty for "reaching" and helping an uncontrolled drinker.
In simplest form, the A.A. program operates when a recovered alcoholic passes along the story of his or her own problem drinking, describes the sobriety he or she has found in A.A., and invites the newcomer to join the informal Fellowship.
The heart of the suggested program of personal recovery is contained in Twelve Steps describing the experience of the earliest members of the Society:
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.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Newcomers are not asked to accept or follow these Twelve Steps in their entirety if they feel unwilling or unable to do so.
They will usually be asked to keep an open mind, to attend meetings at which recovered alcoholics describe their personal experiences in achieving sobriety, and to read A.A. literature describing and interpreting the A.A. program."
The Twelve Traditions
"During its first decade, A.A. as a fellowship accumulated substantial experience which indicated that certain group attitudes and principles were particularly valuable in assuring survival of the informal structure of the Fellowship. In 1946, in the Fellowship's international journal, the A.A. Grapevine, these principles were reduced to writing by the founders and early members as the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. They were accepted and endorsed by the membership as a whole at the International Convention of A.A., at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1950.
1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.
2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose-to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
6. An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
While the Twelve Traditions are not specifically binding on any group or groups, an overwhelming majority of members have adopted them as the basis for A.A.'s expanding "internal" and public relationships."
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