Alcoholics Anonymous

The solution – early attempts The Washingtonian Society • Alcoholism was not accepted as a disease by the American Medical Association until 1956. It was then characterised as an incurable, progressive and fatal disease which needed to be treated by people with medical and psychiatric expertise. Before 1956 alcoholics were not allowed to be treated in US hospitals unless they were admitted with recognised illnesses such as gastric disorders. Before this time there were movements which tried to help alcoholics, the first recognised movement being the Washingtonian Society • The Washingtonian movement was established in the 1840s and reached some 250,000 in membership. It was mainly a religious movement designed to tackle members’ problems such as alcoholism. It was popular and successful until the movement involved itself in other issues such as the abolition of slavery The Oxford Group Movement • A religious society formed in the early 1900s. Some problem drinkers found sobriety through contact with other members and by practising the Four Absolutes – absolute love, absolute purity, absolute honesty and absolute unselfishness • The Oxford Group evolved into the Moral Re-armament Group as the 2nd World War loomed. Involvement in these issues led to the declining effectiveness of both the Washingtonian Society and the Oxford Group Movement in the field of alcoholism William Griffith Wilson 1895 - 1971 • ‘Bill W.’ - co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous • Raised in East Dorset, Vermont • Alcoholic grandfather – heavy drinking father • Father moved away – followed by his mother • Childhood sweetheart (Bertha Bamford) died suddenly during an operation • Bill is determined to succeed. Teaches himself Morse code and builds a transmitter/receiver • Defied the odds to make boomerang which worked Bill W at High School • Taught himself to play the violin • Studied law, chemistry and engineering • Avoids alcohol until he is 22 years old • Joins the army and prepares for war in Europe • Feeling awkward at an army social event in New Bedford, Bill is given a ‘Bronx cocktail’ • Bill relaxes and socialises easily with army officers • ‘I had found the elixir of life’ Bill in the army 1918 - Bill W. visits Winchester Cathedral during WW1 Bill arrives in England to prepare for war in France and visits Winchester Cathedral ‘Much moved, I wandered outside. My attention was caught by a doggerel on an old tombstone’ The name Thetcher gets Bill’s attention – it reminds him of his old school friend (Ebby Thacher). The gravestone carries an ominous warning - and is later featured in Bill’s Story in the Big Book Lois Wilson 1891 - 1988 • Co-founder of Al-Anon family groups • Born in Brooklyn Heights, NY – daughter of a prominent surgeon and gynaecologist • Met Bill in 1914 during a holiday in her family’s summer home at Emerald Lake – in East Dorset, Vermont • Bill & Lois married on January 24th 1918 in Brooklyn – just before Bill set sail for Europe with the army • Suffered for many years through Bill’s drinking. Unable to have children. Bill suspects that they are not allowed to adopt children due to his drinking • It was to be many years before Bill and Lois had their own home. Lois worked in Macy’s department store in New York as Bill’s condition worsened • Lois and her friend Anne B. founded Al-Anon in 1951 Lois with Bill in 1918 Bill’s drinking life (1918 – 1934) • Returns from WW1 exhilarated by the opportunities in his life to come • Very successful during the 1920s but spends more and more time in the bars and speak-easies around Wall Street • Lois has several miscarriages and can’t have children • Bill starts to drink alcoholically from 1928 onwards • The Wall Street crash leaves Bill $60,000 in debt. Brief employment opportunities come and go but he has no secure work. He and his wife Lois move into her father’s house in Brooklyn • Bill signs a contract which guarantees that he won’t drink during a consultancy project in New Jersey. When the project nears completion, Bill is persuaded by his work colleagues to try a glass of cider called ‘Jersey Lightning’. Bill then disappears and loses the contract • Bill’s brother-in-law (Leonard Strong) pays for Bill to be treated for alcoholism at the Charlie Towns hospital on the upper west side in New York Dr. William Duncan Silkworth 1873-1951 • Psychologist at Towns Hospital NYC specialising in alcoholism. Treated thousands of alcoholics • Originally a neurologist with a private practice, Dr. Silkworth lost everything in the Wall St. crash. • Later wrote ‘The Doctor’s Opinion’ – a vital part of the Big Book as the author offers medical expertise • Treated Bill 4 times and told him about the disease concept (the mental obsession combined with the physical compulsion) • Bill is struck by Dr. Silkworth’s expertise in Dr William Silkworth alcoholism and his kindness • Bill understands the disease concept but has no knowledge of the spiritual malady • Armed with a ‘full knowledge of his condition’, Bill stays dry until Armistice Day 1934. The barman at a golf club on Staten Island offers Bill a drink on the house to honour the fallen comrades in WW1. Bill takes a drink and begins his final descent. Lois at her father’s home in Clinton Street Rowland Hazard Prominent businessman and former Rhode Island State Senator. Suffered from alcoholism. He sought help from the famous Swiss psychiatrist Dr. Carl Jung. Underwent treatment for a year. He then drank again and was bewildered by the experience. Jung pronounces Rowland a chronic alcoholic with a hopeless condition. Offers some consolation – very occasionally alcoholics of Rowland’s type undergo a ‘vital spiritual experience’. Rowland’s only hope is to broaden his spiritual life. He returns to Ebby Thacher America and joins the Oxford Groups – a religious society offering help to its members through prayer and fellowship At his Oxford group meetings, Rowland hears about the plight of Ebby Thacher, an Oxford Group member facing difficulties with his drinking. Rowland decides to improve his own spiritual condition by helping Ebby. Dr. Carl Jung Edwin Throckmorton Thacher 1896 - 1966 • Known as Ebby - a schoolboy friend of Bill’s and later a drinking buddy • Ebby was institutionalised several times and was often banned from clubs, bars and even towns • Ebby faced jail for 6 months when he was caught shooting at pigeons in his backyard after several warnings about his drunkenness • His membership of the Oxford Groups saves Ebby from prison – a fellow member (Rowland Hazard) vouches for him in court and promises to be responsible for him • Ebby moves to New York where he attends the Oxford Group meetings in Dr. Sam Shoemaker’s Calvary Church on E21st street Ebby hears about the plight of Bill W. and decides to take the same action as Rowland Hazard – to improve his own spiritual condition by helping somebody else Ebby T. Visits Bill W. Ebby visited Bill in late November 1934 as he’d heard that his friend was suffering. Bill was surprised to see his old drinking buddy sober. Ebby refuses a drink offered by Bill and says ‘I’ve got religion.’ He explains his experiences in the Oxford Groups and tells Bill: ‘You can define your own concept of a Higher Power’ The kitchen table where Ebby chatted with Bill W. Ebby didn’t have Bill’s understanding of the physical allergy and soon started to drink again. However, he passed on a vital piece of information to Bill – that faith in a Higher Power could relieve him of his alcoholism Bill W. entered Towns Hospital for the last time on December 11th 1934. As he experienced alcohol withdrawal and delirium tremens, his friend Ebby visited him and discussed the Oxford Group ideas for recovery. This was essentially 6 steps at the time. Bill worked these steps with Ebby the night before his spiritual awakening Bill’s Spiritual Experience Bill expressed deep remorse for his actions and for the harm done to his wife, Lois. In desperation he prayed that he would do anything, anything at all for help. ‘If there be a God, let Him show Himself! Suddenly, my room blazed with an indescribably white light. I was seized with an ecstasy beyond description. In my mind I stood upon a mountain, where a great wind blew. A wind, not of air, but of spirit. It blew clean through me. Then came the blazing thought – “You are a free man”. So this is the God of the preachers!’. Bill W. never took another drink. For the next 5 months Bill W. tried to pass the message of his spiritual experience to drunks in New York. Dr. Silkworth told him to stop preaching about God to drunks – ‘talk drunk to a drunk’! He was exasperated by his failure to get people sober and complained to Lois that he had tried to help at least 50 drunks and had failed. Crucially, Lois replied: ‘But you haven’t had a drink Bill – you haven’t had a drink’ Bill W.’s trip to Akron Bill is 5 months sober and visits Akron Ohio on a business trip. The business venture fails and Bill faces a lonely weekend in the Mayflower Hotel. The cosy hotel bar beckons him but Bill remembers Lois’s words. Bill had remained sober by trying to help other alcoholics. Bill feels the need to drink. He looks through the hotel church directory and finds a strange name which catches his attention – Reverend Walter Tunks (Tunks is a word used in The Mayflower hotel Akron Bill’s home state of Vermont). Bill calls Rev. Tunks and receives a list of telephone numbers. After many failed calls he finally makes contact with Henrietta Seiberling of the powerful Goodyear tyre company.

Load more