The Truth About Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), founded in 1935, is a 12-step program that is designed to help the alcoholic recover.  A.A. is based on personal experience as a means for people to help each other to stop drinking.  Over the years, A.A. has helped hundreds of thousands of alcoholics to recover and become sober.

The first step of the A.A. program is for the alcoholic to recognize and admit that he or she has a problem with alcohol.  This is the first and most important step because it means that the alcoholic has come out of the denial stage and realizes that alcohol is causing problems in his life.  A.A. is set up for the alcoholic to obtain complete abstinence from alcohol.  The program focuses on changing a person's attitude and way of life rather than simply behavior modification.  Abstinence from alcohol is a life change for the alcoholic.  The premise of the program is to work the 12 steps and if the person returns to alcohol after a time of abstinence he or she is not scolded or asked to leave the program but simply is encouraged to start over and continue working through the steps.  The 12 steps are numbered because they are designed to take in order.

There is a spiritual aspect to A.A. but members are not required to believe in anything.  Another focus of the program is for the alcoholic to make amends with people he has brought harm to by drinking and to pass along to other A.A. members what they have learned and accomplished by working through the steps of the program. 

A.A. does not have to be used as a stand-alone treatment.  It can be used with other recovery programs and even medical detoxification and rehabilitation.  There are A.A. meetings on any given night all over the world.  Anyone needing a meeting at anytime should be able to attend one, get the support, and help that he or she needs.  A.A. also has associated programs called Al-Anon and Al-Ateen that are for the spouses, children, and other family members of alcoholics. 

The 12 steps of A.A. are:

1. We admit we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives have become unmanageable.
2. We have come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. We have made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understand what this Power is.
4. We have made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. We have admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. We are entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. We have humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
8. We have made a list of all persons we had harmed and have become willing to make amends to them all.
9. We have made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. We have continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. We have sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand what this higher Power is, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we have tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Alcoholism in the News

08/20/2008
WRITERS ON THE ROCKS (New York Post)
MODERN lit just can't hold its liquor. From David Carr to Augusten Burroughs, writers today seem as committed to not drinking as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald once celebrated their alcoholism, both in real life and on the page. So has...

WRITERS ON THE ROCKS (New York Post)

08/20/2008
Alcohol dependence among women is linked to delayed childbearing (EurekAlert!)
Alcohol use can cause reproductive dysfunctions for both teenage and adult females. A new study is the first to examine alcohol's effects on childbearing onset across reproductive development. Findings show that, for women, alcoholism is linked with delayed childbearing.

Alcohol dependence among women is linked to delayed childbearing (EurekAlert!)

08/20/2008
Mother of five to be released from jail (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Robin R. Barron is set to be released from jail today after serving four months. The 37-year-old mother of five faced up to 20 years in prison this morning when she was sentenced on four felony charges of child neglect. However, Henrico County Circuit Judge George F. Tidey sentenced her to four years and suspended all of that but four months of jail time that Barron had already served.

Mother of five to be released from jail (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

08/20/2008
Cleveland councilman released from jail (The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND -- Cleveland City Councilman Zack Reed was released about 7 a.m. today from the Cleveland House of Corrections in Highland Hills. Reed was serving a 10-day sentence for his second drunken driving case in three years. He pleaded no...

Cleveland councilman released from jail (The Plain Dealer)

08/20/2008
WRITERS ON THE ROCKS (New York Post)
MODERN lit just can't hold its liquor. From David Carr to Augusten Burroughs, writers today seem as committed to not drinking as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald once celebrated their alcoholism, both in real life and on the page. So has...

WRITERS ON THE ROCKS (New York Post)

08/20/2008
Alcohol dependence among women is linked to delayed childbearing (EurekAlert!)
Alcohol use can cause reproductive dysfunctions for both teenage and adult females. A new study is the first to examine alcohol's effects on childbearing onset across reproductive development. Findings show that, for women, alcoholism is linked with delayed childbearing.

Alcohol dependence among women is linked to delayed childbearing (EurekAlert!)

08/19/2008
Budget Cuts Force Illinois Treatment Programs to Turn Away Clients (Join Together Online)
A 21 percent budget cut at the Illinois Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse is taking a heavy toll on funded service providers, many of whom are being forced to slash staff and show qualified clients the door, the Chicago Tribune reported Aug. 18.

Budget Cuts Force Illinois Treatment Programs to Turn Away Clients (Join Together Online)

08/19/2008
Penny Pritzker Shows Why She Convinced Buffett to Support Obama (Bloomberg via Yahoo! News)
Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Penny Pritzker was driving to Chicago's Midway Airport in June to meet Barack Obama when her cell phone rang.

Penny Pritzker Shows Why She Convinced Buffett to Support Obama (Bloomberg via Yahoo! News)