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Nature Coast Journal June 2020
1 NATURE COAST JOURNAL JUNE 2020 How Alcoholics Anonymous Got Started In 1931 an American business executive, Rowland Hazard, after trying all the possibilities of medi- cine and psychiatry in the United States, sought treatment for alcoholism with the famous psychia- trist Dr. Carl Jung in Switzerland. After a year of treatment, Rowland H. the alcoholic felt confident that his compulsion to drink had been removed. However, he found himself drunk shortly after leaving the care of Dr. Jung. Back again in Switzerland Rowland H the, dejected and depressed, was told by Dr Jung, that his case was nearly hopeless (as with other alcoholics he had treated) and that his only hope (might be) a spiritual conversion with a religious group of his choice. On his return to the United States , Rowland got in contact with the Oxford Group and soon so- bered up. The Oxford Group was an Evangelical Christian Fellowship founded by American Christian mis- sionary Dr. Franklin Buchman. Buchman was a Lutheran minister who had a conversion experi- ence in 1908 in a Chapel in Keswick , England . As a result of that experience, he founded a move- ment called A First Century Christian Fellowship in 1921, which had become known as the Oxford Group by 1931. The Oxford Group’s concepts were, total surrender of un-manageability of the problem, self-examination, acknowledgment of character defects (public confession), restitution for harm done, and working with others. The Oxford Group was not confined to members of alcoholics only; a mixed bag of ‘troubled souls’ were also welcomed. A chance meeting with Ebby Thacher, another chronic alcoholic who was about to be admitted to a Lunatic Asylum; Rowland H passed on the message Dr. -
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18TH 2015 the Washingtonian Temperance Society
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18TH 2015 The Washingtonian Temperance Society The Washingtonian movement was established in the 1840s by six alcoholics and reached some 600,000 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 prohibition, political reform and the abolition of slavery Disagreements, infighting and controversies led to the complete extinction of the movement The Oxford Group Movement A religious society formed by American Christian missionary Dr. Frank Buchman. 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 Although members of the Oxford Groups helped each other with many social and psychological problems including alcoholism, the focus of the movement became fragmented as war loomed in Europe. Frank Buchman was determined to bring the message of Christianity to Hitler and Mussolini The Oxford Group evolved into the Moral Re-armament Group and in 2001 was re-named ‘The Initiatives of Change’ ‘Bill W.’ - Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous Raised in East Dorset, Vermont Alcoholic grandfather Problems over his father’s drinking Father moved away – followed by Bill W's High his mother School Picture Childhood sweetheart (Bertha Bamford) died suddenly during an operation Bill’s birthplace – East Dorset, Vermont Bill had many talents: • Constructed 1st boomerang in the USA • Taught himself Morse code and made a transmitter / receiver • Taught himself violin Bill’s birthplace – the Wilson House • Studied law, engineering and chemistry • Spoke French 1st World War – Bill W. -
Big Book Name and Date References
Big Book Name and Date References (Compiled by Tony C. and Barefoot Bill) Pg/Ch. Name Description ----- ---- ----------- Preface xi written by Dr. Silkworth The Doctor's Opinion Preface 2Ed xv Bill Wilson & Dr. Bob during a talk between a NY stockbroker & Akron physician (they first met on 5/12/35) xvi Ebby Thacher alcoholic friend in contact with Oxford Group xvi Dr. Silkworth (named) NY specialist in alcoholism xvi Bill Wilson The broker xvi Dr. Bob the Akron physician xvii Bill Dotson AA#3 (sober date was 6/26/35, Bill Wilson & Dr. Bob first visited him on 6/28/35) xvii-iii Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick (named) noted clergyman xviii Fulton Oursler (named) editor of Liberty xviii John Rockefeller Jr (named) gave dinner xviii Jack Alexander (named) wrote Saturday Evening Post article xix Traditions all Twelve Traditions mentioned xx recovery rate from 1939-1955 Of alcoholics who came to AA & really tried, 50% got sober at once & remained that way; 25% sobered up after some relapses, and among the remainder, those who stayed on with AA showed improvement Doctor's Opinion (was page 1 in the first edition of the Big Book) xxv-xxxii Dr. William D. Silkworth well known doctor (worked at Towns Hospital, N.Y.C.) xxv Bill Wilson patient he regarded as hopeless xxvii 9 years experience Dr. Silkworth had 9 years of experience with alcoholics & drug addicts when he wrote this xxvii Bill Wilson one of the leading contributors of this book xxxi Hank Parkhurst man brought in to be treated for chronic alcoholism xxxi Fitz Mayo another case, had hid in a barn Bill's Story (Bill Wilson) 1 Winchester Cathedral Bill Wilson has a spiritual experience ("Here I stood on the edge of the abyss into which thousands were falling that very day. -
Big Book Name and Date References (Compiled by Tony C
Big Book Name and Date References (Compiled by Tony C. and Barefoot Bill) Pg/Ch. Name Description ----- ---- ----------- Preface xi written by Dr. Silkworth The Doctor's Opinion Preface 2Ed xv Bill Wilson & Dr. Bob during a talk between a NY stockbroker & Akron physician (they first met on 5/12/35) xvi Ebby Thacher alcoholic friend in contact with Oxford Group xvi Dr. Silkworth (named) NY specialist in alcoholism xvi Bill Wilson The broker xvi Dr. Bob the Akron physician xvii Bill Dotson AA#3 (sober date was 6/26/35, Bill Wilson & Dr. Bob first visited him on 6/28/35) xvii-iii Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick (named) noted clergyman xviii Fulton Oursler (named) editor of Liberty xviii John Rockefeller Jr (named) gave dinner xviii Jack Alexander (named) wrote Saturday Evening Post article xix Traditions all Twelve Traditions mentioned xx recovery rate from 1939-1955 Of alcoholics who came to AA & really tried, 50% got sober at once & remained that way; 25% sobered up after some relapses, and among the remainder, those who stayed on with AA showed improvement Doctor's Opinion (was page 1 in the first edition of the Big Book) xxv-xxxii Dr. William D. Silkworth well known doctor (worked at Towns Hospital, N.Y.C.) xxv Bill Wilson patient he regarded as hopeless xxvii 9 years experience Dr. Silkworth had 9 years of experience with alcoholics & drug addicts when he wrote this xxvii Bill Wilson one of the leading contributors of this book xxxi Hank Parkhurst man brought in to be treated for chronic alcoholism xxxi Fitz Mayo another case, had hid in a barn Bill's Story (Bill Wilson) 1 Winchester Cathedral Bill Wilson has a spiritual experience ("Here I stood on the edge of the abyss into which thousands were falling that very day. -
Relationships in Recovery
RELATIONSHIPS IN RECOVERY Maintaining Connections Through Addiction, Recovery and Beyond BY THE STAFF OF SOVEREIGN HEALTH TABLE OF CONTENTS [Click on chapters to navigate to page] How to Recognize an Overdose 1 PAGE 4 How to Choose an Addiction Treatment Center PAGE 8 2 How to Manage and Defeat Cravings 3 PAGE 13 What to Do After a Relapse PAGE 17 4 How to Reconcile Damaged Relationships in Recovery 5 PAGE 21 How to Move Past Legal and Financial Problems PAGE 29 6 A Guide To Sovereign Health’s Facilities PAGE 34 A Directory of Behavioral 7 Health & Recovery Resources PAGE 39 8 2 INTRODUCTION CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY INVARIABLY LEADS TO LOSS. Material losses can usually be replaced in sustained recovery. Relationship loss or damage is a little trickier. An important part of the healing process requires honest self-examination and a look at our relationships. Chances are certain things will need to change so that old patterns of behavior don’t lead back to substance abuse. Perhaps amends need to be made. Maybe a toxic relationship needs to end. In any case, this process requires courage, acceptance and action. Relationships cannot heal by simply abstaining from alcohol or drugs. Whether you’re in recovery, or you are a parent, child, brother, sister, spouse, significant other, co-worker, boss, friend or neighbor of someone who is — reconciling relationships requires intentional effort. That’s where this book comes in. We explain why it is important to face the wreckage of the past and offer some practical tips to help. We also provide suggestions for protecting sobriety during the process and a handy directory of resources for everyone involved in the recovery process. -
Alcoholics Anonymous
Kurtz, E. and White, W. (2003). Alcoholics Anonymous. In Blocker, J. and Tyrell, I., Eds. Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History. Santa Barbara , CA: ABC-CLIO, pp. 27-31. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Ernest Kurtz, Ph.D. and William L. White, M.A. According to the presentation of itself read at the beginning of most meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous: Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and to help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. Beginnings: 1935-1950 Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) began on 12 May 1935, when a recently sobered broker's representative from New York, while visiting Akron, Ohio, experienced a craving for alcoholic refreshment and, to stave it off, sought out an alcoholic local surgeon. The visiting New Yorker was William Griffith Wilson; the surgeon was Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith. Eventually, they w ould be known as “Bill W.” and “Dr. Bob,” cofounders of Alcoholics Anonymous. But not immediately, for Dr. Smith, attending a medical convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, went on “one last toot.” Dr. Bob's sobriety date is usually given as 10 June 1935, which has become known in AA as “Founders’ Day,” despite recent evidence that Dr. -
2021-June-Tippler
June 2021 Volume 57, No. 6 The Tippler Wikipedia Article 1 AA was founded in 1935 in Akron, Ohio, when one alcoholic, Bill Wilson, talked to another alcoholic, Bob Smith, about the nature of alcoholism and a possible Office Activities 2 solution. With the help of other early members, the book Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism was Akron Founder’s Day 3 written in 1939. Its title became the name of the organization and is today commonly referred to as "The Big Book". AA's initial Twelve Traditions were introduced in 1946 to help the fellowship be stable and unified while disengaged from "outside issues" Group Contributions 4 and influences. The Traditions recommend that members remain anonymous in public media, Contributions, Cont’d 5 altruistically help other alcoholics, and that AA groups avoid official affiliations with other organizations. They also advise against dogma and coercive hierarchies. Sub- Birthdays 6 sequent fellowships such as Narcotics Anonymous have adapted the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions to their respective primary purposes. AA membership has since spread internationally "across diverse cul- Calendar 7 tures holding different beliefs and values", including geopolitical areas resistant to grassroots movements. As of 2016, close to two million people worldwide are esti- Daily Reflections 8 mated to be members of AA. AA sprang from The Oxford Group, a non-denominational, altruistic move- ment modeled after first-century Christianity. Some members founded the Group to help in maintaining sobri- ety. "Grouper" Ebby Thacher was Wilson's former drinking buddy who approached Wilson saying that he had "got religion", was sober, and that Wilson could do the same if he set aside objections to religion and instead formed a personal idea of God, "another power" or "higher power". -
Ebby in Exile a Vital AA Link
Ebby in Exile A Vital AA Link By Bob S. Edwin Throckmorton Thacher (1896-1966) This is a second edition, published in 2016 ~~ Bob S. One of Ebby’s favorite drinks But, lucky for us, he gave his was Ballantine’s Ale. last ones to his neighbor. Ebby’s Influential Family Edwin Throckmorton Thacher “Ebby” was born on April 29, 1896, into a family that amassed a great fortune as a railroad wheel manufacturer. The Thacher ancestry was predominant long before Ebby’s father, George H. Thacher II, was born in 1851. Thomas Thacher, his distant grandfather, came to America, from England, during the mid-sixteen hundreds to become the first pastor of the Old South Church, in Boston. The later dynasty achieved prominence in politics, including three George H. Thacher II family members who became mayors of Albany, New York: Ebby’s older brother was John Boyd Thacher II. Mayor of Albany, New York, from 1927— 1940. Ebby’s uncle was John Boyd Thacher. Mayor of Albany, NY, from 1886—1888; then for two full years, 1896 through 1897. Ebby’s Grandfather was George Hornell Thacher (1818—1887). Mayor of Albany, New York, from 1860—1862; then from 1866—1868; and again 1870—1874. A State Park near the suburbs of Albany in Voorheesville, New York, is named after Ebby’s great uncle: John Boyd Thacher State Park. Ebby’s father also was a political figure and hobnobbed with the likes of Abraham Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln, and US President, William Howard Taft. As a youth, George was a skillful boxer, ballplayer, oarsman and swimmer. -
Alcoholics Anonymous and the Disease Concept of Alcoholism Ernest Kurtz, Ph.D.1
Alcoholics Anonymous and the Disease Concept of Alcoholism Ernest Kurtz, Ph.D.1 Given the issues and prejudices involved, it is unlikely that the question of the his- torical relationship between Alcoholics Anonymous and the disease concept of alcohol- ism will ever be definitively resolved. But this does not mean that study of the topic is useless. We can discover, organize, and evaluate presently available information with aspirations to increased clarity even if not to perfect pellucidity, hoping to approach ever greater accuracy even if -- until time-travel be perfected by omniscient observers -- we are barred from the Rankean paradise of wie es eigentlich gewesen sei. On the basic question, the data are clear: Contrary to common opinion, Alcoholics Anonymous neither originated nor promulgated what has come to be called the disease concept of alcoholism. Yet its members did have a large role in spreading and populariz- ing that understanding. How and Why and So What are the burden of this paper as a whole. As is often stated in introductions but too rarely recognized in analyses, Alcoholics Anonymous is its members. That membership tries to live their program’s Twelve Steps, guided by their fellowship’s Twelve Traditions. The Tenth of those Traditions reads: “Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.”1 The nature of alcoholism is an “outside issue.” Thus, Alcoholics Anonymous as Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on it, as most members will tell anyone who asks. But anyone who passes any time with members of Alcoholics Anonymous soon becomes aware of two other realities. -
Twelve Defining Moments in the History of Alcoholics Anonymous
Published in revised form in: White, W. & Kurtz. E. (2008). Twelve defining moments in the history of Alcoholics Anonymous. In Galanter, M. & Kaskutas, L. (Eds.) Recent Developments in Alcoholism, 18:37-57, New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation. Twelve Defining Moments in the History of Alcoholics Anonymous William L. White, MA and Ernest Kurtz, PhD Abstract Misconceptions about Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) abound in spite of (or because of) the thousands of theses, dissertations, books, professional and popular articles, and Internet commentaries that have been written about AA. One of the most pervasive characterizations of AA is that it is a “treatment” for alcoholism—a characterization that distorts the meaning of both mutual aid and alcoholism treatment. This article describes 12 character defining moments in the history of AA that highlight the differences between AA and alcoholism treatment. Introduction There is a long history of recovery mutual aid groups that pre-date the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous—Native American recovery “circles”; the Washingtonians; Fraternal Temperance Societies; Ribbon Reform Clubs; institutional support groups such as the Ollapod Club, the Godwin Association, and the Keeley Leagues; and early faith-based recovery fellowships such as the Drunkards Club and the United Order of Ex-Boozers (White, 2001). There is a similarly rich history of modern adaptations and alternatives to Alcoholics Anonymous that include an ever-growing list of Twelve Step fellowships, as well as explicitly religious (e.g., Alcoholics Victorious, Overcomers Outreach, Liontamers Anonymous, Celebrate Recovery and Ladies Victorious) and secular (e.g., Women for Sobriety, Moderation Management, Secular Organizations for Sobriety, Rational Recovery, LifeRing Secular Recovery) frameworks for addiction recovery (Kurtz & Kurtz, 2007). -
Tri-County Central Office News There Is a Lesson in Everyone’S Story—Can You Hear It…
Tri-County Central Office News There is a lesson in everyone’s story—can you hear it…. A Monthly Newsletter of the Tri-County Central Office, Inc. March 2012 8019 North Himes Avenue Ste. 104 , Tampa, Florida 33614-2763 Phone: 813- 933-9123 E-Mail: [email protected] Web Site: www.aatampa-area.org Ebby T. The Man Who Carried The Message To Bill W. In 1960, at the Long Beach, California Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson wrote this dedication in an AA book that he gave to Ebby Thacher. "Dear Ebby, No day passes that I do not remember that you brought me the message that saved me - and only God knows how many more. In affection, Bill" It was Ebby who found relief from his alcoholism in the simple spiritual practices of the Oxford Group which was an attempt to return to First Century Christianity - before it was complicated and distorted by religious doctrines, dogma and opinions. The program offered by Ebby to Bill involved taking a personal moral inventory, admitting to another person the wrongs we had done, making things right by amends and restitution, and a genuine effort to be of real service to others. In order to obtain the power to overcome these problems, Ebby had been encouraged to call on God, as he understood God, for help. Bill was deeply impressed by Ebby's words, but was even more affected by Ebby's example of action. Here was someone who drank like Bill drank - and yet Ebby was sober, due to a simple religious idea and a practical program of action. -
Big Book Annotation
Big Book Annotation ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Fourth Edition Lesser-known details from our “basic text” Preface, Forwards, The Doctor’s Opinion, The First 164 Pages, and Personal Stories By Tim B. Revised July 2021 PREFACE- Nov / 2001 (p-xi) Page-xi, 2nd paragraph- “…basic text…” In the context of codified concepts to be used as a reference book. Page-xi, 2nd paragraph- “…the first portion of this volume, describing the A.A. recovery program, has been left largely untouched…” This is referring to the first 164 pages in which only minor changes have occurred since publication of the First Edition in 1939. Not all 4th editions contain the qualification, “largely”. It was added in 2006. I am working from a Fifteenth Printing, 2009. FOREWARD TO FIRST EDITION- April / 1939 (p-xiii) Page-xiii, 1st paragraph- “…one hundred men and women…” At the time of the manuscript going to print several women were sober. Of the total members counted, approximately 40 achieved permanent sobriety. FOREWARD TO SECOND EDITION- 1955 (p-xv) Page-xv, 3rd paragraph- “…New York stockbroker and an Akron physician.” Referring to both Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith. Page-xvi, 1st line- “…an alcoholic friend…” Edwin (Ebby) Thacher. Page-xvi, 2nd line- “…Oxford Groups of that day.” The Oxford Group was an international non-denominational Christian religious movement. Founded by Frank Buchman and assisted in America by Rev. Sam Shoemaker. Rev. Shoemaker was Rector of Calvary Church, NYC. Frank Buchman (Lutheran) Sam Shoemaker (Episcopalian) Page-xvii, 1st paragraph- “Their very first case…” Eddie Reilly was most likely their first and Dr.