alcoholics anonymous

Despite recent progress in the medical understanding of addictive disease, the amateur self-help group known as Alcoholics Anonymous, and its affiliate, Narcotics Anonymous, are still regarded by many experts as an essential mode of treatment for recovering addicts. One of the oldest approaches to alcoholism, the movement arose in 1935 when an Ohio alcoholic named Bill Wilson teamed up with a physician to form the amateur self-help program better known as A.A. The groups now accept anyone who is dependent on any addictive drug.

Bill W. created a twelve-step program of mental, physical, and spiritual recovery. A.A. is an association of peers seeking to combat what its founders referred to as “an allergy of the body and an obsession of the mind.” However, coffee and cigarettes  have traditionally been tolerated at meetings. Twelve-Step blogs are numerous and easily found, including These Rooms and the Recovery Blog.

A.A. is not a medical treatment, and it is not a formal psychiatric program. It is based on the concept of “hitting bottom,” which may come in the form of a wrecked car, a wrecked marriage, a jail term, or simply the the burden of drug-seeking behavior and its consequences.

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “alcoholics anonymous”

• So close – Yet so far …

  
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• South Africa: The alcohol campaign is a good start, but ...

  
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• Once in Doubt, Credit for Prayer Won’t Change

  
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  The theologian Reinhold Niebuhr is widely credited as the author of the Serenity Prayer.
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• Constitutionally Incapable of being Honest with Themselves, They are not at Fault

  
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• I Didn’t Quit Drinking to Get High On Hope and Change

  
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• Dysfunction Fantasies

  
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• AA Voices From the Past MP3 Tracks

  
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• 15 Points for an Alcoholic to Consider

  
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• US: Studies redefine concept of alcoholism

  
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• US: NIAAA Official Says Alcoholism Isnt Usually a Chronic, Relapsing Disease

  
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• Canada: Alcoholism affects families

  
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• Dysfunctional Elitism…

  
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• People in recovery learn it’s not ‘all about me’

  
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• Chalk Talk by Father Martin

  
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• 12-Step Speaker Tape Links

  
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