ARE YOU AN ALCOHOLIC?

If you believe, or know, that you have a drinking problem, the Alcoholics Anonymous program of recovery from alcoholism may be the solution. There's only one requirement for A.A. membership: a desire to stop drinking. It costs nothing to give A.A. a try.

If you are wondering whether you have a problem with alcohol, take a look at "Is AA for You? ... Twelve questions only you can answer" on this web page:

     http://www.aa.org/default/en_about_aa.cfm?pageid=4

In general, if you have lost control over your drinking, you may be an alcoholic.

The book "Alcoholics Anonymous" may also be helpful in deciding whether you are an alcoholic and whether A.A. may be for you. The entire text, including many personal stories, can be read online:

     http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/

Here is a short passage from the book that describes various types of drinkers (copyright A.A. World Services, Inc., reprinted with permission):

"Moderate drinkers have little trouble in giving up liquor entirely if they have good reason for it. They can take it or leave it alone.

"Then we have a certain type of hard drinker. He may have the habit badly enough to gradually impair him physically and mentally. It may cause him to die a few years before his time. If a sufficiently strong reason -- ill health, falling in love, change of environment, or the warning of a doctor - becomes operative, this man can also stop or moderate, although he may find it difficult and troublesome and may even need medical attention.

"But what about the real alcoholic? He may start off as a moderate drinker: he may or may not become a continuous hard drinker; but at some stage of his drinking career he begins to lose all control of his liquor consumption, once he starts to drink.

"Here is the fellow who has been puzzling you, especially in his lack of control. He does absurd, incredible, tragic things while drinking. He is a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is seldom mildly intoxicated. He is always more or less insanely drunk. His disposition while drinking resembles his normal nature but little. He may be one of the finest fellows in the world. Yet let him drink for a day, and he frequently becomes disgustingly, and even dangerously anti-social. He has a positive genius for getting tight at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when some important decision must be made or engagement kept. He is often perfectly sensible and well balanced concerning everything except liquor, but in that respect he is incredibly dishonest and selfish. He often possesses special abilities, skills, and aptitudes, and has a promising career ahead of him. He uses his gifts to build up a bright outlook for his family and himself, and then pulls the structure down on his head by a senseless series of sprees. He is the fellow who goes to bed so intoxicated he ought to sleep the clock around. Yet early next morning he searches madly for the bottle he misplaced the night before. If he can afford it, he may have liquor concealed all over the house to be certain no one gets his entire supply away from him to throw down the wastepipe. As matters grow worse, he begins to use a combination of high-powered sedative and liquor to quiet his nerves so he can go to work. Then comes the day when he simply cannot make it and gets drunk all over again. Perhaps he goes to a doctor who gives him morphine or some sedative with which to taper off. Then he begins to appear at hospitals and sanitariums.

"This is by no means a comprehensive picture of the true alcoholic, as our behavior patterns vary. But this description should identify him roughly."


WHO WE ARE

From the pamphlet "This is AA," copyright A.A. World Services, Inc., reprinted with permission:

"We in A.A. are men and women who have discovered, and admitted, that we cannot control alcohol. We have learned that we must live without it if we are to avoid disaster for ourselves and those close to us. ...

"We are not reformers, and we are not allied with any group, cause, or religious denomination. We have no wish to dry up the world. We do not recruit new members, but do welcome them. We do not impose our experience with problem drinking on others, but we do share it when we are asked to do so. ...

"Within our membership may be found men and women of all ages and many different social, economic, and cultural backgrounds. Some of us drank for many years before coming to the realization we could not handle alcohol. Others were fortunate enough to appreciate, early in life or in their drinking careers, that alcohol had become unmanageable.

"The consequences of our alcoholic drinking have also varied. A few of us had become derelicts before turning to A.A. for help. Some had lost family, possessions, and self-respect. We had been on skid row in many cities. Some of us had been hospitalized or jailed times without number. We had committed grave offenses -- against society, or families, our employers, and ourselves.

"Others among us have never been jailed or hospitalized. Nor had we lost jobs or families through drinking. But we finally came to a point where we realized that alcohol was interfering with normal living. When we discovered that we could not live without alcohol, we, too, sought help through A.A.

"All the great faiths are represented in our Fellowship, and many religious leaders have encouraged our growth. There are also atheists and agnostics among us. Belief in, or adherence to, a formal creed is not a condition of membership.

"We are united by our common problem, alcohol. Meeting and talking and helping other alcoholics together, we are somehow able to stay sober and to lose the compulsion to drink, once a dominant force in our lives.

"We do not think we are the only people who have the answer to problem drinking. We know that the A.A. program works for us, and we have seen it work for every newcomer, almost without exception, who honestly and sincerely wanted to quit drinking.

" ... It has been estimated that millions of men and women continue to suffer, perhaps unnecessarily, from this progressive illness. As members of A.A. we welcome the opportunity to share our experience in arresting this illness with anyone who seeks help. We appreciate that nothing we can say will have any real meaning until the alcoholic personally is ready to admit, as we once did, 'Alcohol has me licked, and I want help.'"


QUESTIONS?

At any time, including right now, feel free to ask questions -- on anything related to A.A.

To "talk" during the meeting, simply address your email to aaintro@e-aa.org. Everyone in the meeting (on the mailing list) will receive it.

Note that when you send an email to the list, your email address will be available to everyone on the list. If, for any reason, you are uncomfortable with that, you may still participate anonymously. Send your questions or comments directly to me at [leader's email address] and I will remove your identifying information and forward them to the meeting list.

Any personal information shared here should remain confidential and should not be disclosed outside of this meeting.