STRUCTURE
Alcoholics Anonymous is dedicated to helping men and women quit drinking and stay sober. It has no fees or dues and receives no support other than contributions made by meeting attendees. It is not aligned with any religious or political organization and does not publicly endorse or oppose any cause.
AA was founded in Akron, Ohio, in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith. It has grown into a worldwide organization with 100,000 individual groups and more than two million members. Each group is an independent, self-supporting entity with no ties to a formal hierarchy.
METHOD
AA offers open meetings for anyone to learn about the organization, and closed meetings for admitted alcoholics to meet with others to share experiences. Each member is assigned a sponsor, a same-sex individual more experienced with AA. New members are encouraged to attend meetings with their sponsors every day for 90 days to confirm commitment to getting sober. Meetings are anonymous. No one keeps attendance and members introduce themselves using only first names.
Members follow the guiding principles: the Twelve Steps. Summarized, these outline a process of:
- admitting you cannot control your addiction;
- recognizing a higher power that can give you strength;
- examining past errors with help of a sponsor;
- making amends for these errors;
- learning to live a new life with a new code of behavior; and
- helping others who suffer from the same addiction.
AA thus provides anonymity, a path to follow, and a supportive community in which to do so. The Twelve-Step Program has become the model for support groups of all kinds addressing problems of narcotics, gambling, overeating, hoarding, overspending and many others.
EFFECTIVENESS
Despite worldwide acceptance of Alcoholics Anonymous, only 5% of alcoholics remain sober after three years of attending AA meetings. Why would someone with such a severe problem seek help from an organization with a 95% failure rate? Why does a pretty farm girl from Cedar Rapids get on a bus to Hollywood with hopes of becoming a star? Because there’s a chance of success, however slim. The low success rate is not a judgment of the organization, rather it reveals two things: 1) this is not an easy road, and 2) by the time a person admits there’s a problem, it’s already often too late.
OBJECTIONS
Many people object to the program’s religious nature. Concepts of God and higher power are a personal matter of belief or non-belief and having to accept such an idea to achieve success turns some people away. The founders sought to address this by defining higher power as whatever it may mean to each individual. Even so, the religious aspect is sufficiently strong such that courts and correctional agencies are barred from requiring AA participation.
More problematic is the step a person must take to join the program: abandoning personal responsibility. A person must admit he or she has no control over the addiction and that only outside intervention can help. “I’m helpless; someone do this for me” is an admission not easily made. Joining AA before addiction reaches this stage could improve chances of recovery.