Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous
	The book cover of Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th edition. AA derives its name from the title of this book.
Nickname	AA
Formation	1935; 87 years ago
Founded at	Akron, Ohio
Type	Mutual-help addiction recovery twelve-step program
Headquarters	New York, New York
Membership (2020)	2,100,000
Key people	Bill Wilson, Bob Smith
Website	aa.org

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program.^[1]^[2]^[3] Following its Twelve Traditions, AA and autonomous AA groups are self-supporting through the strictly voluntary contributions from members only. The Traditions also establish AA as non-professional, non-denominational, and apolitical, with an avowed desire to stop drinking as its sole requirement for membership.^[1]^[2]^[4] Though AA has not endorsed the disease model of alcoholism, to which its program is nonetheless sympathetic, its wider acceptance is partly due to many members independently promulgating it.^[5] A recent scientific review shows that by many measures AA does as well or better than other clinical interventions or no treatment. In particular, AA produces better abstinence rates with lower medical costs.^[6]^[7]^[8] As of 2020, having spread to diverse cultures, including geopolitical areas normally resistant to grassroots movements, AA has estimated its worldwide membership to be over two million with 75% of those in the U.S. and Canada.^[9]^[10]

AA marks 1935 for its founding when Wall Street analyst and newly recovering alcoholic Bill Wilson (Bill W.), then reeling from a failed proxy fight, sought to stay sober by commiserating with detoxing surgeon Bob Smith (Dr. Bob). Wilson put to Smith that alcoholism was not a failure of will or morals, but a malady from which he had recovered as a member of the Christian revivalist Oxford Group.^[11] After leaving the Oxford Group to form a fellowship of alcoholics only, Wilson and Smith, along with other early members, wrote Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism, from which AA acquired its name. Published in 1939 and commonly called "the Big Book", it contains AA's Twelve Step recovery program.^[12] Later editions included the Twelve Traditions, first adopted in 1946 to formalize and unify the fellowship as a "benign anarchy".^[12]

The Twelve Steps are presented as a suggested self-improvement program of initially admitting powerlessness over alcohol and acknowledging its damage, the listing of and striving to correct personal failings, the making of amends for past misdeeds, and, in order to stay recovered, the pursuit of continued spiritual development while helping other alcoholics towards sobriety through the Steps. The Steps also suggest the healing aid of an unspecified God—"as we understood Him"—but are accommodating to agnostic, atheist, and other non-theist members.^[4]

The Twelve Traditions are guidelines for AA as a whole, as well as for how members and groups should interact within AA and advising on conduct as to how it might affect AA "as a whole". Besides making a self declaration of being an alcoholic the only requirement to join, the Traditions hold that dogma and hierarchies are to be avoided and that "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions"; without threat of retribution or means of enforcement, they urge members to remain anonymous in public media To keep out of public controversy, they declare that AA will have no opinions on outside issues or involvement with other causes, and that members or groups should not use AA to gain wealth, property or prestige. Within AA its groups are autonomous and self-supporting—declining outside contributions, but they are barred from lending the AA name or financial assistance or any kind of support to other entities or causes.^[13]^[14]^[15]

With AA's permission, subsequent fellowships such as Narcotics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous have adapted the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions to their addiction recovery programs.^[14]

History[edit]

Sobriety token or "chip", given for specified lengths of sobriety, on the back is the Serenity Prayer. Here green is for six months of sobriety; purple is for nine months.

AA sprang from the Oxford Group, a non-denominational, altruistic movement modeled after first-century Christianity.^[16] Some members founded the group to help in maintaining sobriety. "Grouper" Ebby Thacher and former drinking buddy approached Wilson saying that he had "got religion", was sober, and that Wilson could do the same if he set aside objections and instead formed a personal idea of God, "another power" or "higher power".^[17]^[18]

Feeling a "kinship of common suffering" and, though drunk, Wilson attended his first group gathering. Within days, Wilson admitted himself to the Charles B. Towns Hospital after drinking four beers on the way—the last alcohol he ever drank. Under the care of William Duncan Silkworth (an early benefactor of AA), Wilson's detox included the deliriant belladonna.^[19] At the hospital, a despairing Wilson experienced a bright flash of light, which he felt to be God revealing himself.^[20] Following his hospital discharge, Wilson joined the Oxford Group and recruited other alcoholics to the group. Wilson's early efforts to help others become sober were ineffective, prompting Silkworth to suggest that Wilson place less stress on religion and more on the science of treating alcoholism. Wilson's first success came during a business trip to Akron, Ohio, where he was introduced to Robert Smith, a surgeon and Oxford Group member who was unable to stay sober. After thirty days of working with Wilson, Smith drank his last drink on 10 June 1935, the date marked by AA for its anniversaries.^[21]

The first female member, Florence Rankin, joined AA in March 1937,^[22]^[23] and the first non-Protestant member, a Roman Catholic, joined in 1939.^[24] The first Black AA group was established in 1945 in Washington, D.C. by Jim S., an African-American physician from Virginia.^[25]^[26]

The Big Book, the Twelve Steps, and the Twelve Traditions[edit]

To share their method, Wilson and other members wrote the initially-titled book, Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism,^[27] from which AA drew its name. Informally known as "The Big Book" (with its first 164 pages virtually unchanged since the 1939 edition), it suggests a twelve-step program in which members admit that they are powerless over alcohol and need help from a "higher power". They seek guidance and strength through prayer and meditation from God or a Higher Power of their own understanding; take a moral inventory with care to include resentments; list and become ready to remove character defects; list and make amends to those harmed; continue to take a moral inventory, pray, meditate, and try to help other alcoholics recover. The second half of the book, "Personal Stories" (subject to additions, removal, and retitling in subsequent editions), is made of AA members' redemptive autobiographical sketches.^[28]

In 1941, interviews on American radio and favorable articles in US magazines, including a piece by Jack Alexander in The Saturday Evening Post, led to increased book sales and membership.^[29] By 1946, as the growing fellowship quarreled over structure, purpose, and authority, as well as finances and publicity, Wilson began to form and promote what became known as AA's "Twelve Traditions," which are guidelines for an altruistic, unaffiliated, non-coercive, and non-hierarchical structure that limited AA's purpose to only helping alcoholics on a non-professional level while shunning publicity. Eventually, he gained formal adoption and inclusion of the Twelve Traditions in all future editions of the Big Book.^[13] At the 1955 conference in St. Louis, Missouri, Wilson relinquished stewardship of AA to the General Service Conference,^[30] as AA grew to millions of members internationally.^[31]

Organization and finances[edit]

A regional service center for Alcoholics Anonymous

AA says it is "not organized in the formal or political sense",^[31] and Bill Wilson, borrowing the phrase from anarchist theorist Peter Kropotkin, called it a "benign anarchy".^[32] In Ireland, Shane Butler said that AA "looks like it couldn't survive as there's no leadership or top-level telling local cumanns what to do, but it has worked and proved itself extremely robust". Butler explained that "AA's 'inverted pyramid' style of governance has helped it to avoid many of the pitfalls that political and religious institutions have encountered since it was established here in 1946."^[33]

In 2018, AA counted 2,087,840 members and 120,300 AA groups worldwide.^[31] The Twelve Traditions informally guide how individual AA groups function, and the Twelve Concepts for World Service guide how the organization is structured globally.^[34]

A member who accepts a service position or an organizing role is a "trusted servant" with terms rotating and limited, typically lasting three months to two years and determined by group vote and the nature of the position. Each group is a self-governing entity with AA World Services acting only in an advisory capacity. AA is served entirely by alcoholics, except for seven "nonalcoholic friends of the fellowship" of the 21-member AA Board of Trustees.^[31]

AA groups are self-supporting, relying on voluntary donations from members to cover expenses.^[31] The AA General Service Office (GSO) limits contributions to US$3,000 a year.^[35] Above the group level, AA may hire outside professionals for services that require specialized expertise or full-time responsibilities.^[13]

Like individual groups, the GSO is self-supporting. AA receives proceeds from books and literature that constitute more than 50% of the income for its General Service Office.^[36] In keeping with AA's Seventh Tradition, the Central Office is fully self-supporting through the sale of literature and related products, and the voluntary donations of AA members and groups. It does not accept donations from people or organizations outside of AA.

In keeping with AA's Eighth Tradition, the Central Office employs special workers who are compensated financially for their services, but their services do not include traditional "12th Step" work of working with alcoholics in need.^[37] All 12th Step calls that come to the Central Office are handed to sober AA members who have volunteered to handle these calls. It also maintains service centers, which coordinate activities such as printing literature, responding to public inquiries, and organizing conferences. Other International General Service Offices (Australia, Costa Rica, Russia, etc.) are independent of AA World Services in New York.^[38]

Program[edit]

AA's program extends beyond abstaining from alcohol.^[39] Its goal is to effect enough change in the alcoholic's thinking "to bring about recovery from alcoholism"^[40] through "an entire psychic change," or spiritual awakening.^[41] A spiritual awakening is meant to be achieved by taking the Twelve Steps,^[42] and sobriety is furthered by volunteering for AA^[43] and regular AA meeting attendance^[44] or contact with AA members.^[42] Members are encouraged to find an experienced fellow alcoholic, called a sponsor, to help them understand and follow the AA program. The sponsor should preferably have experience of all twelve of the steps, be the same sex as the sponsored person, and refrain from imposing personal views on the sponsored person.^[43] Following the helper therapy principle, sponsors in AA may benefit from their relationship with their charges, as "helping behaviors" correlate with increased abstinence and lower probabilities of binge drinking.^[45]

AA's program is an inheritor of Counter-Enlightenment philosophy. AA shares the view that acceptance of one's inherent limitations is critical to finding one's proper place among other humans and God. Such ideas are described as "Counter-Enlightenment" because they are contrary to the Enlightenment's ideal that humans have the capacity to make their lives and societies a heaven on Earth using their own power and reason.^[39] After evaluating AA's literature and observing AA meetings for sixteen months, sociologists David R. Rudy and Arthur L. Greil found that for an AA member to remain sober a high level of commitment is necessary. This commitment is facilitated by a change in the member's worldview. To help members stay sober AA must, they argue, provide an all-encompassing worldview while creating and sustaining an atmosphere of transcendence in the organization. To be all-encompassing AA's ideology emphasizes tolerance rather than a narrow religious worldview that could make the organization unpalatable to potential members and thereby limit its effectiveness. AA's emphasis on the spiritual nature of its program, however, is necessary to institutionalize a feeling of transcendence. A tension results from the risk that the necessity of transcendence if taken too literally, would compromise AA's efforts to maintain a broad appeal. As this tension is an integral part of AA, Rudy and Greil argue that AA is best described as a quasi-religious organization.^[46]

Meetings[edit]

AA meetings are "quasi-ritualized therapeutic sessions run by and for, alcoholics".^[47] They are usually informal and often feature discussions with voluntary donations collected during meetings. (AA's 7th tradition encourages groups to be self-supporting, declining outside contributions).^[13] Local AA directories list weekly meetings. Those listed as "closed" are available to those with a self-professed "desire to stop drinking," which cannot be challenged by another member on any grounds.^[13] "Open" meetings are available to anyone (nonalcoholics can attend as observers).^[48] At speaker meetings (also known as gratitude meetings)^{[citation needed]}, one or more members who typically come in from a neighboring town's meeting tell their stories. At Big Book meetings, the group in attendance will take turns reading a passage from the AA Big Book and then discuss how they relate to it after. At twelve-step meetings, the group will typically break out into subgroups depending on where they are in their program and start working on the twelve steps outlined in the program.^{[citation needed]} In addition to those three most common types of meetings,^{[citation needed]} there are also other kinds of discussion meetings that tend to allocate the most time for general discussion.^[49]

Building for Spanish-speaking AA group in Westlake neighborhood, Los Angeles

AA meetings do not exclude other alcoholics, though some meetings cater to specific demographics such as gender, profession, age, sexual orientation,^[50]^[51] or culture.^[52]^[53] Meetings in the United States are held in a variety of languages including Armenian, English, Farsi, Finnish, French, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish.^[54]^[51] While AA has pamphlets that suggest meeting formats,^[55]^[56] groups have the autonomy to hold and conduct meetings as they wish "except in matters affecting other groups or AA as a whole".^[13] Different cultures affect ritual aspects of meetings, but around the world "many particularities of the AA meeting format can be observed at almost any AA gathering".^[57]

Confidentiality[edit]

In the Fifth Step, AA members typically reveal their own past misconduct to their sponsors. US courts have not extended the status of privileged communication, such as physician-patient privilege or clergy–penitent privilege, to communications between an AA member and their sponsor.^[58]^[59]

Spirituality[edit]

A study found an association between an increase in attendance at AA meetings with increased spirituality and a decrease in the frequency and intensity of alcohol use. The research also found that AA was effective at helping agnostics and atheists become sober. The authors concluded that though spirituality was an important mechanism of behavioral change for some alcoholics, it was not the only effective mechanism.^[60] Since the mid-1970s, several 'agnostic' or 'no-prayer' AA groups have begun across the U.S., Canada, and other parts of the world, which hold meetings that adhere to a tradition allowing alcoholics to freely express their doubts or disbelief that spirituality will help their recovery, and these meetings forgo the use of opening or closing prayers.^[61]^[62] There are online resources listing AA meetings for atheists and agnostics.^[63]

Disease concept of alcoholism[edit]

More informally than not, AA's membership has helped popularize the disease concept of alcoholism which had appeared in the eighteenth century.^[64] Though AA usually avoids the term disease, 1973 conference-approved literature said "we had the disease of alcoholism."^[65] Regardless of official positions, since AA's inception, most members have believed alcoholism to be a disease.^[66]

AA's Big Book calls alcoholism "an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer." Ernest Kurtz says this is "The closest the book Alcoholics Anonymous comes to a definition of alcoholism."^[66] Somewhat divergently in his introduction to The Big Book, non-member and early benefactor William Silkworth said those unable to moderate their drinking suffer from an allergy. In presenting the doctor's postulate, AA said "The doctor's theory that we have an allergy to alcohol interests us. As laymen, our opinion as to its soundness may, of course, mean little. But as ex-problem drinkers, we can say that his explanation makes good sense. It explains many things for which we cannot otherwise account."^[67] AA later acknowledged that "alcoholism is not a true allergy, the experts now inform us."^[68] Wilson explained in 1960 why AA had refrained from using the term disease:

We AAs have never called alcoholism a disease because, technically speaking, it is not a disease entity. For example, there is no such thing as heart disease. Instead, there are many separate heart ailments or combinations of them. It is something like that with alcoholism. Therefore, we did not wish to get in wrong with the medical profession by pronouncing alcoholism a disease entity. Hence, we have always called it an illness or a malady—a far safer term for us to use.^[69]

Since then medical and scientific communities have defined alcoholism as an "addictive disease" (aka Alcohol Use Disorder, Severe, Moderate, or Mild).^[70] The ten criteria are: alcoholism is a Primary Illness not caused by other illnesses nor by personality or character defects; second, an addiction gene is part of its etiology; third, alcoholism has predictable symptoms; fourth, it is progressive, becoming more severe even after long periods of abstinence; fifth, it is chronic and incurable; sixth, alcoholic drinking or other drug use persists in spite of negative consequences and efforts to quit; seventh, brain chemistry and neural functions change so alcohol is perceived as necessary for survival; eighth, it produces physical dependence and life-threatening withdrawal; ninth, it is a terminal illness; tenth, alcoholism can be treated and can be kept in remission.^[71]

Canadian and United States demographics[edit]

AA's New York General Service Office regularly surveys AA members in North America. Its 2014 survey of over 6,000 members in Canada and the United States concluded that, in North America, AA members who responded to the survey were 62% male and 38% female.^[72] The survey found that 89% of AA members were white.^[72]

Average member sobriety is slightly under 10 years with 36% sober more than ten years, 13% sober from five to ten years, 24% sober from one to five years, and 27% sober less than one year.^[72] Before coming to AA, 63% of members received some type of treatment or counseling, such as medical, psychological, or spiritual. After coming to AA, 59% received outside treatment or counseling. Of those members, 84% said that outside help played an important part in their recovery.^[72]

The same survey showed that AA received 32% of its membership from other members, another 32% from treatment facilities, 30% were self-motivated to attend AA, 12% of its membership from court-ordered attendance, and only 1% of AA members decided to join based on information obtained from the Internet. People taking the survey were allowed to select multiple answers for what motivated them to join AA.^[72]

Relationship with institutions[edit]

Hospitals[edit]

Many AA meetings take place in treatment facilities. Carrying the message of AA into hospitals was how the co-founders of AA first remained sober. They discovered great value in working with alcoholics who are still suffering, and that even if the alcoholic they were working with did not stay sober, they did.^[73]^[74]^[75] Bill Wilson wrote, "Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics".^[76] Bill Wilson visited Towns Hospital in New York City in an attempt to help the alcoholics who were patients there in 1934. At St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio, Smith worked with still more alcoholics. In 1939, a New York mental institution, Rockland State Hospital, was one of the first institutions to allow AA hospital groups. Service to corrections and treatment facilities used to be combined until the General Service Conference, in 1977, voted to dissolve its Institutions Committee and form two separate committees, one for treatment facilities, and one for correctional facilities.^[77]

Prisons[edit]

In the United States and Canada, AA meetings are held in hundreds of correctional facilities. The AA General Service Office has published a workbook with detailed recommendations for methods of approaching correctional-facility officials with the intent of developing an in-prison AA program.^[78] In addition, AA publishes a variety of pamphlets specifically for the incarcerated alcoholic.^[79] Additionally, the AA General Service Office provides a pamphlet with guidelines for members working with incarcerated alcoholics.^[80]

United States court rulings[edit]

United States courts have ruled that inmates, parolees, and probationers cannot be ordered to attend AA. Though AA itself was not deemed a religion, it was ruled that it contained enough religious components (variously described in Griffin v. Coughlin below as, inter alia, "religion", "religious activity", "religious exercise") to make coerced attendance at AA meetings a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the constitution.^[81]^[82] In 2007, the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals stated that a parolee who was ordered to attend AA had standing to sue his parole office.^[83]^[84]

United States treatment industry[edit]

In 1939, High Watch Recovery Center in Kent, Connecticut, was founded by Bill Wilson and Marty Mann. Sister Francis who owned the farm tried to gift the spiritual retreat for alcoholics to Alcoholics Anonymous, however citing the sixth tradition Bill W. turned down the gift but agreed to have a separate non-profit board run the facility composed of AA members. Bill Wilson and Marty Mann served on the High Watch board of directors for many years. High Watch was the first and therefore the oldest 12-step-based treatment center in the world still operating today.

In 1949, the Hazelden treatment center was founded and staffed by AA members, and since then many alcoholic rehabilitation clinics have incorporated AA's precepts into their treatment programs.^[85] 32% of AA's membership was introduced to it through a treatment facility.^[72]

Effectiveness[edit]

There are several ways one can determine whether AA works and numerous ways of measuring if AA is successful, such as looking at abstinence, reduced drinking intensity, reduced alcohol-related consequences, alcohol addiction severity, and healthcare cost.^[6]

The effectiveness of AA (compared to other methods and treatments) has been challenged throughout the years,^[86] but recent high quality clinical meta-studies using randomized trials show that AA costs less and results in increased abstinence.^[6]^[87]

Because of the anonymous and voluntary nature of Alcoholics Anonymous ("AA") meetings, it has been difficult to perform random trials with them; the research suggests that AA can help alcoholics make positive changes.^[88]^[89]^[90]

Alcoholics Anonymous appears to be about as effective as other abstinence-based support groups.^[91]

Cochrane 2020 review[edit]

The 2020 Cochrane review of Alcoholics Anonymous shows that AA results in more alcoholics being abstinent and for longer periods of time than some other treatments, but only as well in drinks-per-day and other measures.^[6]^[92] When comparing Alcoholics Anonymous and/or Twelve Step Facilitation to other alcohol use disorder interventions, at the 12-month follow up, randomized controlled trials show a 42% abstinent rate for AA/TSF treatments, compared to 35% abstinent using non-AA interventions.^[87]^[93] A TSF treatment is a "twelve-step facilitation" treatment: A treatment which encourages a patient to attend Alcoholics Anonymous.^[94]

The study concludes that "Manualized AA/TSF interventions usually produced higher rates of continuous abstinence than the other established treatments investigated. Non-manualized AA/TSF performed as well as other established treatments [...] clinically-delivered TSF interventions designed to increase AA participation usually lead to better outcomes over the subsequent months to years in terms of producing higher rates of continuous abstinence."^[6] Here, a "manualized" treatment is one where a standard procedure was used.^[95]

While Nick Heather speculated that subjects receiving Alcoholics Anonymous-centered interventions who were not abstinent did worse than other subjects,^[96] John Kelley and Alexandra Abry clarified that not only did the subjects undergoing AA-based interventions have a higher abstinent rate, those who did not achieve abstinence did not have worse drinking outcomes.^[97]

Older studies[edit]

A 2006 study by Rudolf H. Moos and Bernice S. Moos saw a 67% success rate 16 years later for the 24.9% of alcoholics who ended up, on their own, undergoing a lot of AA treatment.^[98]^[99] The study's results may be skewed by self-selection bias.^[100]^[101]

Project MATCH was a 1990s 8-year, multi-site, $27-million investigation that studied which types of alcoholics respond best to which forms of treatment.^[102]

Brandsma 1980 showed that Alcoholics Anonymous is more effective than no treatment whatsoever.^[8]

Membership retention[edit]

In 2001–2002, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) conducted the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcoholism and Related Conditions (NESARC). Similarly structured to the NLAES, the survey conducted in-person interviews with 43,093 individuals. Respondents were asked if they had ever attended a twelve-step meeting for an alcohol problem in their lifetime (the question was not AA-specific). 1441 (3.4%) of respondents answered the question affirmatively. Answers were further broken down into three categories: disengaged, those who started attending at some point in the past but had ceased attending at some point in the past year (988); continued engagement, those who started attending at some point in the past and continued to attend during the past year (348); and newcomers, those who started attending during the past year (105).^[103] In their discussion of the findings, Kaskautas et al. (2008) state that to study disengagement, only the disengaged and continued engagement should be utilized (pg. 270).^[103]

The Sober Truth and The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous[edit]

American psychiatrist Lance Dodes, in The Sober Truth, says that research indicates that only five to eight percent of the people who go to one or more AA meetings achieve sobriety.^[104] Gabrielle Glaser used Dodes' figures to state that AA has a low success rate in a 2015 article for The Atlantic.^[105]

The 5–8% figure put forward by Dodes is controversial;^[106] other doctors say that the book uses "three separate, questionable, calculations that arrive at the 5–8% figure."^[107]^[108] Addiction specialists state that the book's conclusion that "[12-step] approaches are almost completely ineffective and even harmful in treating substance use disorders" is wrong.^[109]^[110] One review called Dodes' reasoning against AA success a "pseudostatistical polemic."^[111]

While Dodes has responded to some of the criticism in his blog,^[112] Dodes has not, as of March 2020, read the 2020 Cochrane review showing AA efficacy, but opposes the idea that a social network is needed to overcome substance abuse.^[113]

Criticism[edit]

Sexual harassment ("thirteenth-stepping")[edit]

"Thirteenth-stepping" is a pejorative term for AA members approaching new members for dates. A study in the Journal of Addiction Nursing sampled 55 women in AA and found that 35% of these women had experienced a "pass" and 29% had felt seduced at least once in AA settings. This has also happened with new male members who received guidance from older female AA members pursuing sexual company. The authors suggest that both men and women must be prepared for this behavior or find male or female-only groups.^[114] Women-only meetings are a very prevalent part of AA culture, and AA has become more welcoming for women.^[115] AA's pamphlet on sponsorship suggests that men be sponsored by men and women be sponsored by women.^[116]

Criticism of culture[edit]

Stanton Peele argued that some AA groups apply the disease model to all problem drinkers, whether or not they are "full-blown" alcoholics.^[117] Along with Nancy Shute, Peele has advocated that besides AA, other options should be readily available to those problem drinkers who can manage their drinking with the right treatment.^[118] The Big Book says "moderate drinkers" and "a certain type of hard drinker" can stop or moderate their drinking. The Big Book suggests no program for these drinkers, but instead seeks to help drinkers without "power of choice in drink."^[119]

In 1983, a review stated that the AA program's focus on admission of having a problem increases deviant stigma and strips members of their previous cultural identity, replacing it with the deviant identity.^[120] A 1985 study based on observations of AA meetings warned of detrimental iatrogenic effects of twelve-step philosophy and concluded that AA uses many methods that are also used by cults.^[121] A later review disagreed, stating that AA's program bore little resemblance to religious cult practices.^[122] In 2014, Vaillant published a paper making the case that Alcoholics Anonymous is not a cult.^[123]

Literature [edit]

Alcoholics Anonymous publishes several books, reports, pamphlets, and other media, including a periodical known as the AA Grapevine.^[124] Two books are used primarily: Alcoholics Anonymous (the "Big Book") and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, the latter explaining AA's fundamental principles in depth. The full text of each of these two books is available on the AA website at no charge.

Anonymous (2011). Alcoholics Anonymous: the story of how many thousands of men and women have recovered from alcoholism (multiple PDFs) (4th ed.). ISBN 978-1-893007-16-1. OCLC 49743393. 575 pages.
Anonymous (2002). Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (multiple PDFs). ISBN 978-0-916856-01-4. OCLC 13572433. 192 pages.
"Home Page". AA Grapevine. Alcoholics Anonymous. ISSN 0362-2584. OCLC 319167052.

AA in media[edit]

Film and television[edit]

My Name Is Bill W. – dramatized biography of co-founder Bill Wilson.^[125]^[126]
When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story – a 2010 film about the wife of founder Bill Wilson, and the beginnings of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon.^[127]^[128]
Bill W. – a 2011 biographical documentary film that tells the story of Bill Wilson using interviews, recreations, and rare archival material.^[129]^[130]
A Walk Among the Tombstones (2015), a mystery/suspense film based on Lawrence Block's books featuring Matthew Scudder, a recovering alcoholic detective whose AA membership is a central element of the plot.^[131]
When a Man Loves a Woman – a school counselor attends AA meetings in a residential treatment facility.^[132]
Clean and Sober – an addict (alcohol, cocaine) visits an AA meeting to get a sponsor.^[133]
Days of Wine and Roses – a 1962 film about a married couple struggling with alcoholism. Jack Lemmon's character attends an AA meeting in the film.^[134]
Drunks – a 1995 film starring Richard Lewis as an alcoholic who leaves an AA meeting and relapses. The film cuts back and forth between his eventual relapse and the other meeting attendees.^[135]
Come Back, Little Sheba – A 1952 film based on a play of the same title about a loveless marriage where the husband played by Burt Lancaster is an alcoholic who gets help from two members of the local AA chapter.^[136] A 1977 TV drama was also based on the play.
I'll Cry Tomorrow – A 1955 film about singer Lillian Roth played by Susan Hayward who goes to AA to help her stop drinking. The film was based on Roth's autobiography of the same name detailing her alcoholism and sobriety through AA.^[137]^[138]
You Kill Me – a 2007 crime-comedy film starring Ben Kingsley as a mob hit man with a drinking problem who is forced to accept a job at a mortuary and go to AA meetings.^[139]^[140]
Smashed – a 2012 drama film starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead. An elementary school teacher's drinking begins to interfere with her job, so she attempts to get sober in AA.^[141]
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot – a 2018 biography/comedy/drama by Gus Van Sant, based on the life of cartoonist John Callahan.^[142]
Flight — a 2012 film starring Denzel Washington as an alcoholic airline pilot. The movie includes a dramatic representation of a prison AA meeting.^[143]
In CBS' Elementary, Jonny Lee Miller plays an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes who is a recovering drug addict. Several episodes are centered around AA meetings and the process of recovery.^[144]

Notes[edit]

^ Jump up to:^a ^b AA Grapevine (15 May 2013), A.A. Preamble (PDF), AA General Service Office, retrieved 13 May 2017
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Michael Gross (1 December 2010). "Alcoholics Anonymous: Still Sober After 75 Years". American Journal of Public Health. 100 (12): 2361–2363. doi:10.2105/ajph.2010.199349. PMC 2978172. PMID 21068418.
^ Mäkelä 1996, p. 3.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b "Information on AA". aa.org. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
^ https://www.williamwhitepapers.com/pr/Dr.%20Ernie%20Kurtz%20on%20AA%20%26%20the%20Disease%20Concept%2C%202002.pdf^{[bare URL PDF]}
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Kelly, John F.; Humphreys, Keith; Ferri, Marica (2020). "Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs for alcohol use disorder". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 3: CD012880. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012880.pub2. PMC 7065341. PMID 32159228.
^ Kelly, John F.; Abry, Alexandra; Ferri, Marica; Humphreys, Keith (2020). "Alcoholics Anonymous and 12-Step Facilitation Treatments for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Distillation of a 2020 Cochrane Review for Clinicians and Policy Makers". Alcohol and Alcoholism. 55 (6): 641–651. doi:10.1093/alcalc/agaa050. PMC 8060988. PMID 32628263.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Brandsma, Jeffery M; Maultsby, Maxie C; Welsh, Richard J (1980). Outpatient Treatment of Alcoholism: a review and comparative study. Baltimore, MD: University Park Press. ISBN 978-0-8391-1393-5. OCLC 5219646. Brandsma 1980 is paywalled, but is summarized in the Wikipedia
^ Tonigan, Scott J; Connors, Gerard J; Miller, William R (December 2000). "Special Populations in Alcoholics Anonymous" (PDF). Alcohol Health and Research World. 22 (4): 281–285. PMC 6761892. PMID 15706756.
^ Alcoholics Anonymous (April 2016). "Estimates of A.A. Groups and Members As of December 31, 2020" (PDF). Retrieved 17 December 2016. cf. Alcoholics Anonymous (2001). Alcoholics Anonymous (PDF) (4th ed.). Alcoholics Anonymous World Services. p. xxiii. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
^ John, Stevens. "Bill W. of Alcoholics Anonymous Dies". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b AA, "Historical Data: The Birth of A.A. and Its Growth in the U.S./Canada", aa.org, retrieved 18 April 2019
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "The Twelve Traditions". The AA Grapevine. Alcoholics Anonymous. 6 (6). November 1949. ISSN 0362-2584. OCLC 50379271.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Chappel, JN; Dupont, RL (1999). "Twelve-Step and Mutual-Help Programs for Addictive Disorders". Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 22 (2): 425–46. doi:10.1016/S0193-953X(05)70085-X. PMID 10385942.
^ "A.A. Fact File | Alcoholics Anonymous" (PDF).
^ Cheever, Susan (2004). My name is Bill: Bill Wilson: his life and the creation of Alcoholics Anonymous. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-7432-0154-4.
^ Pass It On, 1984, p 117.
^ Kurtz 1991, p. 17.
^ Pittman, Bill "AA the Way it Began" 1988, Glenn Abbey Books
^ Kurtz 1991, p. 19–20.
^ Kurtz 1991, p. 33.
^ Anonymous (1939). Alcoholics Anonymous. New York: Works Publishing Company. p. Original Manuscript p. 217.
^ Bamuhigire, Oscar Bamwebaze (2009). Healing power of self love: enhance your chances of recovery from addiction through the. [S.l.]: Iuniverse Inc. p. x. ISBN 978-1-44010-137-3.
^ Kurtz 1991, p. 47.
^ Alcoholics Anonymous (3rd ed.). New York: AA World Services. 1976. p. 483.
^ Mustikhan, Ahmar (13 April 2015). "First black AA group to celebrate 70th anniversary today in Washington DC". CNN. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
^ "Copyright of AA Book". gsowatch.aamo.info.
^ Anonymous, Alcoholics. "AA Big Book, preface" (PDF). Alcoholics Anonymous. Anonymous Press. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
^ Jack Alexander (1 March 1941). "Alcoholics Anonymous" (PDF). Saturday Evening Post (Reprinted in booklet form ed.). Alcoholics Anonymous World Services. ISBN 978-0-89638-199-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
^ Pass It On, 1984, p. 359
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "AA Fact File" (PDF). General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous. 2007.
^ Bill W. (1957). "benign+anarchy" Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age: A Brief History of A.A. Harper, and Brothers. p. 224.
^ Carroll, Steven (26 March 2010). "Group avoids politics of alcohol". The Irish Times. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
^ Wilson, Bill. "The A.A. Service Manual Combined with Twelve Concepts for World Services" (PDF). Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
^ "A.A. GSO Guidelines: Finances" (PDF). Alcoholics Anonymous General Service Office. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 June 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
^ "GSO 2007 Operating Results". Alcoholics Anonymous General Services Office. Archived from the original on 27 November 2008. Retrieved 12 December 2009. Gross Profit from Literature ≈8,6M (57%), Contributions ~$6.5M (43%)
^ "Frequently Asked Financial Questions". Fort Worth central office of Alcoholics Anonymous. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
^ "Alcoholics Anonymous : International General Service Offices". Alcoholics Anonymous website. Archived from the original on 10 October 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Humphreys, Keith; Kaskutas, Lee Ann (1995). "World Views of Alcoholics Anonymous, Women for Sobriety, and Adult Children of Alcoholics/Al-Anon Mutual Help Groups". Addiction Research & Theory. 3 (3): 231–243. doi:10.3109/16066359509005240.
^ Bill W. 2002, p. Appendix II, p. 567.
^ Alcoholics Anonymous (4th ed.). New York: AA World Services. 2002. pp. xxix. ISBN 9781893007178.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b "This is AA" (PDF). Alcoholics Anonymous Work Services, Inc. 1984. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Questions & Answers on Sponsorship
^ "A Newcomer Asks." (PDF). Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. 1980. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 March 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
^ Zemore, S. E.; Kaskutas, L. A. & Ammon, L. N. (August 2004). "In 12-step groups, helping helps the helper". Addiction. 99 (8): 1015–1023. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2004.00782.x. PMID 15265098.
^ Rudy, David R.; Greil, Arthur L. (1989). "Is Alcoholics Anonymous a Religious Organization?: Meditations on Marginality". Sociological Analysis. 50 (1): 41–51. doi:10.2307/3710917. JSTOR 3710917.
^ Leach, Barry; Norris, John L.; Dancey, Travis; Bissell, Leclair (1969). "Dimensions of Alcoholics Anonymous: 1935–1965". Substance Use & Misuse. 4 (4): 509. doi:10.3109/10826086909062033.
^ The A.A. Group 2016, p. 13.
^ Anonymous, Alcoholics. "SMF-177: Information on Alcoholics Anonymous" (PDF). Alcoholics Anonymous. AA World Services Inc. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
^ The A.A. Group 2016, p. 12.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b "Find a Meeting". Inter-Group Association of A.A. of New York. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
^ "Native American Indian General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous (NAIGSO-AA)". Retrieved 29 May 2017.
^ Cf. A.A. for the Native North American (PDF), New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 2009, retrieved 29 May 2017
^ "Alcoholics Anonymous (A. A.) Meetings in Los Angeles County, California". Alcoholics Anonymous in Staten Island, N. Y. Archived from the original on 9 June 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
^ The A.A. Group (PDF), New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 19 October 2016 [1990], retrieved 29 May 2017
^ "Suggestions For Leading Beginners Meetings" (PDF). Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
^ Mäkelä 1996, pp. 149–150.
^ Coleman, Phyllis (December 2005). "Privilege and Confidentiality in 12-Step Self-Help Programs: Believing The Promises Could Be Hazardous to an Addict's Freedom". The Journal of Legal Medicine. 26 (4): 435–474. doi:10.1080/01947640500364713. ISSN 0194-7648. OCLC 4997813. PMID 16303734. S2CID 31742544.
^ Hoffman, Jan (15 June 1994). "Faith in Confidentiality of Therapy Is Shaken". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
^ Kelly, John F. et al. Spirituality in Recovery: A Lagged Mediational Analysis of Alcoholics Anonymous' Principal Theoretical Mechanism of Behavior Change Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research Vol. 35, No. 3 March 2011 pp. 1–10
^ C., Roger (November 2011). "A History of Agnostic Groups in Alcoholics Anonymous: Part 1". Humanist Network News. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
^ Freedman, Samuel (21 February 2014). "Alcoholics Anonymous, Without the Religion". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
^ http://www.agnosticaanyc.org/worldwide.html for example is a directory of agnostic AA meetings
^ Rush, Benjamin (1805). Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits upon the Human Body and Mind. Philadelphia: Bartam.
^ Is A.A. for You? (PDF), New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 11 January 2017, retrieved 14 May 2017^{[better source needed]}
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Kurtz, Ernest (2002). "Alcoholics Anonymous and the disease concept of alcoholism" (PDF). Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. 20 (3–4): 5–39. doi:10.1300/j020v20n03_02. S2CID 144972034. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
^ Alcoholics Anonymous page xxx
^ Living Sober. 1975. p. 68.
^ Gately, Iain (2008). Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol. Penguin Group. p. 417. ISBN 9781592403035.
^ "Alcohol use disorder Diagnostic Criteria – Epocrates Online".
^ Heilig, M.; Thorsell, A.; Sommer, W. H.; Hansson, A. C.; Ramchandani, V. A.; George, D. T.; Hommer, D.; Barr, C. S. (2009). "Translating the neuroscience of alcoholism into clinical treatments: From blocking the buzz to curing the blues". Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 35 (2): 334–344. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.11.018. PMC 2891917. PMID 19941895.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Alcoholics Anonymous 2014 Membership Survey" (PDF). AA World Services. 2014.
^ Cheever, Susan (14 June 1999). "Bill W.: The Healer". Time. p. 201. Archived from the original on 6 March 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2013. by helping another alcoholic, he could save himself
^ B., Dick (1997). "Turning point". Turning Point: A History of Early A.A.'s Spiritual Roots and Successes (Volume 10 ed.). Good Book Publishing Company. p. 110. ISBN 9781885803078. Retrieved 13 May 2017. Bill went back to Towns constantly to work on alcoholics there, simply trying to help others had kept him from even thinking of drinking
^ Lois (1979). Lois remembers: memoirs of the co-founder of Al-Anon and wife of the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (illustrated, reprint ed.). Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters. p. 95. ISBN 9780910034234. Retrieved 12 June 2013. simply trying to help other had kept him from even thinking of drinking
^ Alcoholics Anonymous (3rd ed.). Alcoholics Anonymous World Services. 1976. p. 89.
^ "Treatment Committee". AA Area 62 (South Carolina). n.d. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
^ "Corrections Workbook" (PDF). New York: Alcoholics Anonymous Word Services, Inc. 1995. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
^ "Corrections Catalog". Archived from the original on 28 November 2008. Retrieved 12 December 2009. The titles include: Carrying the Message into Correctional Facilities, Where Do I Go From Here?, A.A. in Prison: Inmate to Inmate, A.A. in Correctional Facilities, It Sure Beats Sitting in a Cell, Memo to an Inmate Who May be an Alcoholic, A Message to Corrections Administrators
^ "AA Guidelines from GSO: Cooperating with Court, DWI and Similar Programs" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 November 2008. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
^ Judge Levine (11 June 1996). "In the Matter of David Griffin, Appellant, v. Thomas A. Coughlin III, As Commissioner of the New York State Department of Correctional Services, et al., Respondents". Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
^ Honeymar (1997). "Alcoholics Anonymous As a Condition of Drunk Driving Probation: When Does It Amount to Establishment of Religion". Columbia Law Review. 97 (2): 437–472. doi:10.2307/1123367. JSTOR 1123367.
^ Egelko, Bob (8 September 2007). "Appeals court says requirement to attend AA unconstitutional". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2007.
^ Inouye v. Kemna, 504 F.3d 705, 714 n.9 (9th Cir. 2007) ("[T]he AA/NA program involved here has such substantial religious components that governmentally compelled participation in it violated the Establishment Clause.").
^ Robertson 1988, p. 220.
^ Ferri, Marcia; Amato, Laura; Davoli, Marina (19 July 2006). "Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step programmes for alcohol dependence". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (3): CD005032. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD005032.pub2. PMID 16856072. no experimental studies unequivocally demonstrated the effectiveness of AA or [12-step] approaches for reducing alcohol dependence or problems
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Becker, Deborah. "New Review Finds Alcoholics Anonymous Is Effective, But Not For Everyone". NPR.
^ "Frequently Asked Questions: Searching for Alcohol Treatment". NIAAA. 29 November 2018. the free and flexible support provided by mutual help groups can help people make and sustain beneficial changes and thus promote recovery
^ https://addiction.surgeongeneral.gov/sites/default/files/chapter-5-recovery.pdf Page 5-2
^ Recovery: The Many Paths to Wellness. US Department of Health and Human Services. November 2016.
^
Zemore, Sarah E; Lui, Camillia; Mericle, Amy; Hemberg, Jordana; Kaskutas, Lee Ann (2018). "A longitudinal study of the comparative efficacy of Women for Sobriety, LifeRing, SMART Recovery, and 12-step groups for those with AUD". Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. 88: 18–26. doi:10.1016/j.jsat.2018.02.004. PMC 5884451. PMID 29606223.
- Lay summary in: German Lopez (5 March 2018). "Alcoholics Anonymous works for some people. A new study suggests the alternatives do too". Vox.
^ Frakt, Austin; Carroll, Aaron. "Alcoholics Anonymous vs. Other Approaches: The Evidence Is Now In". The New York Times.
^ Lopez, German (11 March 2020). "A new, big review of the evidence found that Alcoholics Anonymous works — for some". Vox.
^ "12-Step Facilitation Therapy (Alcohol, Stimulants, Opiates)". National Institute on Drug Abuse.
^ "manualized therapy". American Psychological Association.
^ Heather, Nick (2020). "Let's not turn back the clock: Comments on Kelly et al., "Alcoholics Anonymous and 12-Step Facilitation Treatments for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Distillation of a 2020 Cochrane Review for Clinicians and Policy Makers"". Alcohol and Alcoholism. 56 (4): 377–379. doi:10.1093/alcalc/agaa137. PMID 33316028. those more strongly committed to total abstinence after receiving AA/TSF were likely to experience more protracted 'slips' if they did for any reason drink
^ Kelly, John F.; Abry, Alexandra W. (2021). "Leave the Past Behind by Recognizing the Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of 12-Step Facilitation and Alcoholics Anonymous". Alcohol and Alcoholism. 56 (4): 380–382. doi:10.1093/alcalc/agab010. PMC 8243271. PMID 33616171. while more individuals in AA/TSF achieved continuous abstinence, those who were not completely abstinent did not drink more heavily, drink more frequently or experience more alcohol-related consequences
^ Moos, Rudolf H.; Moos, BS (June 2006). "Participation in Treatment and Alcoholics Anonymous: A 16-Year Follow-Up of Initially Untreated Individuals". Journal of Clinical Psychology. 62 (6): 735–750. doi:10.1002/jclp.20259. PMC 2220012. PMID 16538654.
^ Humphreys; Blodgett; Wagner (2014). "Estimating the efficacy of Alcoholics Anonymous without self-selection bias: an instrumental variables re-analysis of randomized clinical trials". Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 38 (11): 2688–94. doi:10.1111/acer.12557. PMC 4285560. PMID 25421504.
^ Kaskutas, Lee Ann (2009). "Alcoholics Anonymous Effectiveness: Faith Meets Science". Journal of Addictive Diseases. 28 (2): 145–157. doi:10.1080/10550880902772464. PMC 2746426. PMID 19340677.
^ Szalavitz, Maia (2016). Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction. the research that does show AA to be effective is overwhelmingly flawed by what is known as selection bias.
^ Keith Humphreys. "Here's proof that Alcoholics Anonymous is just as effective as professional psychotherapies". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2018. AA skeptics were confident that by putting AA up against the best professional psychotherapies in a highly rigorous study, Project MATCH would prove beyond doubt that the 12-steps were mumbo jumbo. The skeptics were humbled: Twelve-step facilitation was as effective as the best psychotherapies professionals had developed.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Kaskutas, Lee Ann; Ye, Yu; Greenfield, Thomas K.; Witbrodt, Jane; Bond, Jason (30 June 2008). Epidemiology or Alcoholics Anonymous Participation. Recent Developments in Alcoholism. Vol. 18. pp. 261–282. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-77725-2_15. ISBN 978-0-387-77724-5. PMID 19115774.
^ Lance Dodes, M.D.; Zachary Dodes (2014). The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry. ISBN 978-0-8070-3315-9. University of California professor Herbert Fingarette cited two [...] statistics: at eighteen months, 25 percent of people still attended AA, and of those who did attend, 22 percent consistently maintained sobriety. [Reference: H. Fingarette, Heavy Drinking: The Myth of Alcoholism as a Disease (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988)] Taken together, these numbers show that about 5.5 percent of all those who started with AA became sober members.
^ Glaser, Gabrielle. "The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous". The Atlantic. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
^ Singal, Jesse (17 March 2015). "Why Alcoholics Anonymous Works". The Cut. Retrieved 25 December 2017. [Lance Dodes] has estimated, as Glaser puts it, that "AA's actual success rate [is] somewhere between 5 and 8 percent," but this is a very controversial figure among addiction researchers.
^ Beresford, Thomas (2016), Alcoholics Anonymous and The Atlantic: A Call For Better Science, National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, archived from the original on 15 July 2019, retrieved 16 July 2019, [Herbert Fingarette used] two publications from the Rand Corporation [...] At 4-year follow-up the Rand group identified patients with at least one year abstinence who had been regular members of AA 18 months after the start of treatment: 42% of the regular AA members were abstinent, not the "calculated" 5.5% figure.
^ Emrick, Chad; Beresford, Thomas (2016). "Contemporary Negative Assessments of Alcoholics Anonymous: A Response". Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. 34 (4): 463–471. doi:10.1080/07347324.2016.1217713. S2CID 151393200.
^ Kelly, John F.; Beresin, Gene (7 April 2014). "In Defense of 12 Steps: What Science Really Tells Us about Addiction". WBUR's Common Health: Reform and Reality. Archived from the original on 11 April 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
^ Humphreys, Keith; Moos, Rudolf (May 2001). "Can encouraging substance abuse patients to participate in self-help groups reduce demand for health care? A quasi-experimental study". Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 25 (5): 711–716. doi:10.1111/j.1530-0277.2001.tb02271.x. PMID 11371720. 12-step patients had higher rates of abstinence at follow-up (45.7% versus 36.2% for patients from CB [cognitive-behavioral] programs, p < 0.001)
^ Roth, Jeffrey D; Khantzian, Edward J (2015). "Book Review: The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science behind 12-step Programs and the Rehab Industry". Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. 63: 197–202. doi:10.1177/0003065114565235. S2CID 145764030.
^ Dodes, Lance. "A Poor Critique".
^ Becker, Deborah. "AA Keeps People From Drinking Alcohol Longer Than Other Tools, Cochrane Review Finds". WBUR-FM. Dodes hadn't yet read the new Cochrane Review, but said in an interview that he is opposed to the fundamental idea of AA -- that fellowship and social connections are needed to deal with substance use disorders
^ Bogart, Cathy J.; Bogart, Cathy J. (2003). "'13th-Stepping:' Why Alcoholics Anonymous Is Not Always a Safe Place for Women". Journal of Addictions Nursing: A Journal for the Prevention and Management of Addictions. 14 (1): 43–47. doi:10.1080/10884600305373. ISSN 1548-7148. OCLC 34618968. S2CID 144935254.
^ Sanders, Jolene M. (2010). "Acknowledging Gender in Women-Only Meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous". Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery. 5: 17–33. doi:10.1080/15560350903543766. S2CID 144776540. AA has evolved in a dialectical fashion to become more accommodating to women
^ Questions and Answers on Sponsorship, page 10. 2005.
^ Peele 1999.
^ Shute, Nancy (September 1997). "The drinking dilemma: by calling abstinence the only cure, we ensure that the nation's $100 billion alcohol problem won't be solved". U.S. News & World Report. 123 (9): 54–64.
^ Alcoholics Anonymous page 20-1,24
^ Levinson, D (1983). Galanter, Marc (ed.). "Current status of the field: An anthropological perspective on the behavior modification treatment of alcoholism". Recent Developments in Alcoholism. New York: Plenum Press. 1: 55–261. doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-3617-4_14. ISBN 978-1-4613-3619-8. ISSN 0738-422X. PMID 6680227.
^ Alexander, F; Rollins, M (1985). "Alcoholics Anonymous: the unseen cult" (PDF). California Sociologist. Los Angeles: California State University. 17 (1): 33–48. ISSN 0162-8712. OCLC 4025459. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 December 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
^ Right, KB (1997). "Shared Ideology in Alcoholics Anonymous: A Grounded Theory Approach". Journal of Health Communication. 2 (2): 83–99. doi:10.1080/108107397127806. PMID 10977242.
^ Vaillant, George (2014). "Positive Emotions and the Success of Alcoholics Anonymous". Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. 32 (2–3): 214–224. doi:10.1080/07347324.2014.907032. S2CID 144153785. What differentiates AA from universities, religions, and, of course, cults, is that AA, by experimentation during its first few years and perhaps guided by the outcomes of the alcoholics whom it was trying to heal, evolved along the lines of biological spirituality, not superstitious religion or institutional greed.
^ A WorldCat search for materials authored by Alcoholics Anonymous and more specific divisions of the organization (AA Grapevine, World Services, General Service Conference, World Service Meeting) yields well over 500 results.
^ Turner, Adrian. "Review: My Name Is Bill W". Radio Times. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
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^ Dawn, Randee (14 October 2010). "When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story – TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter. US. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
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^ Urycki, Mark (27 March 2012). "Bill W. documentary at CIFF". Kent, Ohio: WKSU. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
^ Linden, Sheri (18 May 2012). "'Bill W.' cuts through the anonymity". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Retrieved 22 May 2012. Laudatory but never simplistic, "Bill W." is a thoroughly engrossing portrait of Wilson, his times and the visionary fellowship that is his legacy.
^ Macnab, Geoffrey (18 September 2015). "A Walk Among The Tombstones, film review: Neeson could sleepwalk down these mean streets". The Independent. UK. Archived from the original on 18 September 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
^ Maslin, Janet (29 April 1994). "Review/Film: When a Man Loves a Woman; A Woman Under the Influence". The New York Times. US. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
^ Ebert, Roger (10 August 1988). "Review: Clean and Sober". Chicago Sun-Times/rogerebert.com. US. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
^ Crowther, Bosley (18 January 1963). "Movie Review: Days of Wine and Roses". The New York Times. US. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
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References[edit]

Bill W. (1955). "Alcoholics Anonymous: the story of how many thousands of men and women have recovered from alcoholism" (2nd ed.). New York City: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services. OCLC 269381.
Bill W. (2002). Alcoholics Anonymous: the story of how many thousands of men and women have recovered from alcoholism (4th ed.). New York City: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services. ISBN 978-1-893007-16-1. OCLC 408888189.
Edwards, Griffith (April 2002). Alcohol: The World's Favorite Drug (1st ed.). Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-0-312-28387-2. OCLC 48176740.
Mäkelä, Klaus; et al. (1996). Alcoholics Anonymous as a mutual-help movement: a study in eight societies. World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-15000-6. OCLC 33242907.
Mitchel, Dale (2002). Silkworth: the little doctor who loved drunks. Center City, Minn: Hazelden. ISBN 978-1-56838-794-9. OCLC 51063745.
Pass It on: The Story of Bill Wilson and how the A.A. Message Reached the World. New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services. December 1984. ISBN 978-0-916856-12-0. OCLC 12308065.
Peele, Stanton (1999). The Diseasing of America: how we allowed recovery zealots and the treatment industry to convince us we are out of control. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 978-0-7879-4643-2. OCLC 39605271.
Questions & Answers on Sponsorship (PDF), Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc, 16 June 2016, archived (PDF) from the original on 25 March 2009, retrieved 13 May 2017
Robertson, Nan (1988). Getting Better: Inside Alcoholics Anonymous. New York: Morrow. ISBN 978-0-688-06869-1. LCCN 87031153. OCLC 17260252. OL 4127115W.
Vaillant, George E. (1995). The Natural History of Alcoholism Revisited. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-60377-6. OCLC 31605790.
Wilcox, D.M. (1998). Alcoholic thinking: Language, culture, and belief in Alcoholics Anonymous. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-96049-0.
Kurtz, Ernest (1991). Not-God: a history of Alcoholics Anonymous. Center City, Minn: Hazelden Pittman. ISBN 978-0894860652.

External links[edit]

German Lopez (2 January 2018). "Why some people swear by Alcoholics Anonymous — and others despise it".
Scott Alexander (24 October 2014). "Alcoholics Anonymous: Much More Than You Wanted To Know". Archived from the original on 24 June 2020.
Official website
A History of Agnostic Groups in AA
Reproduction of the 1938 Original Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous

[Preamble-1] Jump up to:^a ^b AA Grapevine (15 May 2013), A.A. Preamble (PDF), AA General Service Office, retrieved 13 May 2017

[Michael_Gross_2361–2363-2] Jump up to:^a ^b Michael Gross (1 December 2010). "Alcoholics Anonymous: Still Sober After 75 Years". American Journal of Public Health. 100 (12): 2361–2363. doi:10.2105/ajph.2010.199349. PMC 2978172. PMID 21068418.

[FOOTNOTEMäkelä19963-3] Mäkelä 1996, p. 3.

[What_Is_AA?-4] Jump up to:^a ^b "Information on AA". aa.org. Retrieved 18 April 2019.

[5] ttps://www.williamwhitepapers.com/pr/Dr.%20Ernie%20Kurtz%20on%20AA%20%26%20the%20Disease%20Concept%2C%202002.pdf^{[bare URL PDF]}

[Cochrane2020-6] Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Kelly, John F.; Humphreys, Keith; Ferri, Marica (2020). "Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs for alcohol use disorder". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 3: CD012880. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012880.pub2. PMC 7065341. PMID 32159228.

[Cochrane2020distilled-7] Kelly, John F.; Abry, Alexandra; Ferri, Marica; Humphreys, Keith (2020). "Alcoholics Anonymous and 12-Step Facilitation Treatments for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Distillation of a 2020 Cochrane Review for Clinicians and Policy Makers". Alcohol and Alcoholism. 55 (6): 641–651. doi:10.1093/alcalc/agaa050. PMC 8060988. PMID 32628263.

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[Pass_It_On,_p_117-17] Pass It On, 1984, p 117.

[FOOTNOTEKurtz199117-18] Kurtz 1991, p. 17.

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[FOOTNOTEKurtz199119–20-20] Kurtz 1991, p. 19–20.

[FOOTNOTEKurtz199133-21] Kurtz 1991, p. 33.

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[63] ttp://www.agnosticaanyc.org/worldwide.html for example is a directory of agnostic AA meetings

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[68] Living Sober. 1975. p. 68.

[69] Gately, Iain (2008). Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol. Penguin Group. p. 417. ISBN 9781592403035.

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[lois-75] Lois (1979). Lois remembers: memoirs of the co-founder of Al-Anon and wife of the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (illustrated, reprint ed.). Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters. p. 95. ISBN 9780910034234. Retrieved 12 June 2013. simply trying to help other had kept him from even thinking of drinking

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[77] "Treatment Committee". AA Area 62 (South Carolina). n.d. Retrieved 17 December 2016.

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[HONEYMAR1997-82] Honeymar (1997). "Alcoholics Anonymous As a Condition of Drunk Driving Probation: When Does It Amount to Establishment of Religion". Columbia Law Review. 97 (2): 437–472. doi:10.2307/1123367. JSTOR 1123367.

[EGELKO2007-83] Egelko, Bob (8 September 2007). "Appeals court says requirement to attend AA unconstitutional". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2007.

[Inouye-v-Kemna-84] Inouye v. Kemna, 504 F.3d 705, 714 n.9 (9th Cir. 2007) ("[T]he AA/NA program involved here has such substantial religious components that governmentally compelled participation in it violated the Establishment Clause.").

[FOOTNOTERobertson1988220-85] Robertson 1988, p. 220.

[Cochrane2006-86] Ferri, Marcia; Amato, Laura; Davoli, Marina (19 July 2006). "Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step programmes for alcohol dependence". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (3): CD005032. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD005032.pub2. PMID 16856072. no experimental studies unequivocally demonstrated the effectiveness of AA or [12-step] approaches for reducing alcohol dependence or problems

[NPRCochrane2020-87] Jump up to:^a ^b Becker, Deborah. "New Review Finds Alcoholics Anonymous Is Effective, But Not For Everyone". NPR.

[NIAAA2019-88] "Frequently Asked Questions: Searching for Alcohol Treatment". NIAAA. 29 November 2018. the free and flexible support provided by mutual help groups can help people make and sustain beneficial changes and thus promote recovery

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[90] Recovery: The Many Paths to Wellness. US Department of Health and Human Services. November 2016.

[Zemore2018-91] Zemore, Sarah E; Lui, Camillia; Mericle, Amy; Hemberg, Jordana; Kaskutas, Lee Ann (2018). "A longitudinal study of the comparative efficacy of Women for Sobriety, LifeRing, SMART Recovery, and 12-step groups for those with AUD". Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. 88: 18–26. doi:10.1016/j.jsat.2018.02.004. PMC 5884451. PMID 29606223.
Lay summary in: German Lopez (5 March 2018). "Alcoholics Anonymous works for some people. A new study suggests the alternatives do too". Vox.

[92] Lay summary in: German Lopez (5 March 2018). "Alcoholics Anonymous works for some people. A new study suggests the alternatives do too". Vox.

[NYTCochrane2020-92] Frakt, Austin; Carroll, Aaron. "Alcoholics Anonymous vs. Other Approaches: The Evidence Is Now In". The New York Times.

[VoxCochrane2020-93] Lopez, German (11 March 2020). "A new, big review of the evidence found that Alcoholics Anonymous works — for some". Vox.

[TSF-94] "12-Step Facilitation Therapy (Alcohol, Stimulants, Opiates)". National Institute on Drug Abuse.

[manualized-95] "manualized therapy". American Psychological Association.

[96] Heather, Nick (2020). "Let's not turn back the clock: Comments on Kelly et al., "Alcoholics Anonymous and 12-Step Facilitation Treatments for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Distillation of a 2020 Cochrane Review for Clinicians and Policy Makers"". Alcohol and Alcoholism. 56 (4): 377–379. doi:10.1093/alcalc/agaa137. PMID 33316028. those more strongly committed to total abstinence after receiving AA/TSF were likely to experience more protracted 'slips' if they did for any reason drink

[97] Kelly, John F.; Abry, Alexandra W. (2021). "Leave the Past Behind by Recognizing the Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of 12-Step Facilitation and Alcoholics Anonymous". Alcohol and Alcoholism. 56 (4): 380–382. doi:10.1093/alcalc/agab010. PMC 8243271. PMID 33616171. while more individuals in AA/TSF achieved continuous abstinence, those who were not completely abstinent did not drink more heavily, drink more frequently or experience more alcohol-related consequences

[PMC2220012-98] Moos, Rudolf H.; Moos, BS (June 2006). "Participation in Treatment and Alcoholics Anonymous: A 16-Year Follow-Up of Initially Untreated Individuals". Journal of Clinical Psychology. 62 (6): 735–750. doi:10.1002/jclp.20259. PMC 2220012. PMID 16538654.

[PMC4285560-99] Humphreys; Blodgett; Wagner (2014). "Estimating the efficacy of Alcoholics Anonymous without self-selection bias: an instrumental variables re-analysis of randomized clinical trials". Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 38 (11): 2688–94. doi:10.1111/acer.12557. PMC 4285560. PMID 25421504.

[PMC2746426-100] Kaskutas, Lee Ann (2009). "Alcoholics Anonymous Effectiveness: Faith Meets Science". Journal of Addictive Diseases. 28 (2): 145–157. doi:10.1080/10550880902772464. PMC 2746426. PMID 19340677.

[UnbrokenBrain-101] Szalavitz, Maia (2016). Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction. the research that does show AA to be effective is overwhelmingly flawed by what is known as selection bias.

[102] Keith Humphreys. "Here's proof that Alcoholics Anonymous is just as effective as professional psychotherapies". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2018. AA skeptics were confident that by putting AA up against the best professional psychotherapies in a highly rigorous study, Project MATCH would prove beyond doubt that the 12-steps were mumbo jumbo. The skeptics were humbled: Twelve-step facilitation was as effective as the best psychotherapies professionals had developed.

[A._Kaskutas,_Y_2008-103] Jump up to:^a ^b Kaskutas, Lee Ann; Ye, Yu; Greenfield, Thomas K.; Witbrodt, Jane; Bond, Jason (30 June 2008). Epidemiology or Alcoholics Anonymous Participation. Recent Developments in Alcoholism. Vol. 18. pp. 261–282. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-77725-2_15. ISBN 978-0-387-77724-5. PMID 19115774.

[Dodes-104] Lance Dodes, M.D.; Zachary Dodes (2014). The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry. ISBN 978-0-8070-3315-9. University of California professor Herbert Fingarette cited two [...] statistics: at eighteen months, 25 percent of people still attended AA, and of those who did attend, 22 percent consistently maintained sobriety. [Reference: H. Fingarette, Heavy Drinking: The Myth of Alcoholism as a Disease (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988)] Taken together, these numbers show that about 5.5 percent of all those who started with AA became sober members.

[105] Glaser, Gabrielle. "The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous". The Atlantic. Retrieved 15 April 2016.

[Singal-106] Singal, Jesse (17 March 2015). "Why Alcoholics Anonymous Works". The Cut. Retrieved 25 December 2017. [Lance Dodes] has estimated, as Glaser puts it, that "AA's actual success rate [is] somewhere between 5 and 8 percent," but this is a very controversial figure among addiction researchers.

[Beresford-107] Beresford, Thomas (2016), Alcoholics Anonymous and The Atlantic: A Call For Better Science, National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, archived from the original on 15 July 2019, retrieved 16 July 2019, [Herbert Fingarette used] two publications from the Rand Corporation [...] At 4-year follow-up the Rand group identified patients with at least one year abstinence who had been regular members of AA 18 months after the start of treatment: 42% of the regular AA members were abstinent, not the "calculated" 5.5% figure.

[Emrick2016-108] Emrick, Chad; Beresford, Thomas (2016). "Contemporary Negative Assessments of Alcoholics Anonymous: A Response". Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. 34 (4): 463–471. doi:10.1080/07347324.2016.1217713. S2CID 151393200.

[KellyBeresin2014-109] Kelly, John F.; Beresin, Gene (7 April 2014). "In Defense of 12 Steps: What Science Really Tells Us about Addiction". WBUR's Common Health: Reform and Reality. Archived from the original on 11 April 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2018.

[HUMPHREYS2001-110] Humphreys, Keith; Moos, Rudolf (May 2001). "Can encouraging substance abuse patients to participate in self-help groups reduce demand for health care? A quasi-experimental study". Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 25 (5): 711–716. doi:10.1111/j.1530-0277.2001.tb02271.x. PMID 11371720. 12-step patients had higher rates of abstinence at follow-up (45.7% versus 36.2% for patients from CB [cognitive-behavioral] programs, p < 0.001)

[111] Roth, Jeffrey D; Khantzian, Edward J (2015). "Book Review: The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science behind 12-step Programs and the Rehab Industry". Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. 63: 197–202. doi:10.1177/0003065114565235. S2CID 145764030.

[112] Dodes, Lance. "A Poor Critique".

[WburCochrane2020-113] Becker, Deborah. "AA Keeps People From Drinking Alcohol Longer Than Other Tools, Cochrane Review Finds". WBUR-FM. Dodes hadn't yet read the new Cochrane Review, but said in an interview that he is opposed to the fundamental idea of AA -- that fellowship and social connections are needed to deal with substance use disorders

[BOGART2003-114] Bogart, Cathy J.; Bogart, Cathy J. (2003). "'13th-Stepping:' Why Alcoholics Anonymous Is Not Always a Safe Place for Women". Journal of Addictions Nursing: A Journal for the Prevention and Management of Addictions. 14 (1): 43–47. doi:10.1080/10884600305373. ISSN 1548-7148. OCLC 34618968. S2CID 144935254.

[115] Sanders, Jolene M. (2010). "Acknowledging Gender in Women-Only Meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous". Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery. 5: 17–33. doi:10.1080/15560350903543766. S2CID 144776540. AA has evolved in a dialectical fashion to become more accommodating to women

[116] Questions and Answers on Sponsorship, page 10. 2005.

[FOOTNOTEPeele1999-117] Peele 1999.

[SHUTE1997-118] Shute, Nancy (September 1997). "The drinking dilemma: by calling abstinence the only cure, we ensure that the nation's $100 billion alcohol problem won't be solved". U.S. News & World Report. 123 (9): 54–64.

[119] Alcoholics Anonymous page 20-1,24

[LEVINSON1983-120] Levinson, D (1983). Galanter, Marc (ed.). "Current status of the field: An anthropological perspective on the behavior modification treatment of alcoholism". Recent Developments in Alcoholism. New York: Plenum Press. 1: 55–261. doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-3617-4_14. ISBN 978-1-4613-3619-8. ISSN 0738-422X. PMID 6680227.

[ALEXANDER1984-121] Alexander, F; Rollins, M (1985). "Alcoholics Anonymous: the unseen cult" (PDF). California Sociologist. Los Angeles: California State University. 17 (1): 33–48. ISSN 0162-8712. OCLC 4025459. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 December 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2009.

[WRIGHT1997-122] Right, KB (1997). "Shared Ideology in Alcoholics Anonymous: A Grounded Theory Approach". Journal of Health Communication. 2 (2): 83–99. doi:10.1080/108107397127806. PMID 10977242.

[Vaillant2014-123] Vaillant, George (2014). "Positive Emotions and the Success of Alcoholics Anonymous". Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. 32 (2–3): 214–224. doi:10.1080/07347324.2014.907032. S2CID 144153785. What differentiates AA from universities, religions, and, of course, cults, is that AA, by experimentation during its first few years and perhaps guided by the outcomes of the alcoholics whom it was trying to heal, evolved along the lines of biological spirituality, not superstitious religion or institutional greed.

[AASEARCHRESULTS-124] A WorldCat search for materials authored by Alcoholics Anonymous and more specific divisions of the organization (AA Grapevine, World Services, General Service Conference, World Service Meeting) yields well over 500 results.

[RT-NameBillW-125] Turner, Adrian. "Review: My Name Is Bill W". Radio Times. Retrieved 9 June 2017.

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A Mysticism for Our Time - Friends Journal

2022/07/15

Oxford Textbook of Spirituality in Healthcare - Oxford Medicine

2022/07/14

Thomas Merton - Spiritual Direction and Meditation

2022/06/28