Lets Ask Bill W.

• Am I an alcoholic?
  If you repeatedly drink more than you intend or want to, or if you get into trouble when you drink you may be an alcoholic.
  Only you can decide. No one in A.A. will tell you whether you are or not.
• What can I do if I am worried about my drinking?
  Seek help. Alcoholics Anonymous can help.
• What is Alcoholics Anonymous?
  We are a Fellowship of men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking and have found ourselves in various sorts of trouble as a result of drink. We attempt—most of us successfully—to create a satisfactory way of life without alcohol. For this we find we need the help and support of other alcoholics in A.A.
• If I go to an A.A. meeting, does that commit me to anything?
  No. A.A. keeps no membership files, or attendance records. You need disclose nothing about yourself. No one will bother you if you don’t want to come back.
• What happens if I meet people I know in A.A?
  They will be there for the same reason you are there. They will not disclose your identity to outsiders. At A.A. you retain as much anonymity as you wish. That is one of the reasons we call ourselves Alcoholics Anonymous.
• What happens at an A.A. meeting?
  An A.A. meeting may take one of several forms, but at any meeting you will find alcoholics talking about what drink did to their lives and personalities, what actions they took to deal with this, and how they are living their lives today.
• How can this help me with my drink problem?
  We in A.A. know what it is like to be addicted to alcohol, and to be unable to keep promises made to others and ourselves that we will stop drinking. We are not professional therapists. Our only qualification for helping others to recover from alcoholism is that we have recovered ourselves, but problem drinkers coming to us know that recovery is possible because they see people who have done it.
• Why do A.A.s keep on going to meetings after they are cured?
  We in the fellowship of A.A. believe there is no such thing as a cure for alcoholism. We can never return to normal drinking, and our ability to stay away from alcohol depends on maintaining our physical, mental, and spiritual health. This we can achieve by going to meetings regularly and putting into practice what we learn there. In addition, we find it helps us to stay sober if we help other alcoholics.
• How do I join A.A.?
  You are an A.A. member if and when you say so. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking, and many of us were not very wholehearted about that when we first approached A.A.
• How much does A.A. membership cost?
  There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership. An A.A. group will usually have a collection during the meeting to cover running expenses, such as rent, coffee, etc., and to this all members are free to contribute as much or as little as they wish.
• Is A.A. a religious organization?
  No. Nor is it allied to any religious organization.
• There’s a lot of talk about God, though, isn’t there?
  The majority of A.A. members believe that we have found the solution to our drinking problem not through individual willpower, but through a power greater than ourselves. However, everyone defines this power as he or she wishes. Many people call it God, others think it is the collective therapy of A.A, still others don’t believe in it at all. There is room in A.A. for people of all shades of belief and nonbelief.
• Can I bring my family to an A.A. meeting?
  Family members or close friends are welcome at “Open” A.A. meetings. Discuss this with your local contact.
• What advice do you give new members?
  In our experience, the people who recover in A.A. are those who:
  (1) stay away from the first drink;
  (2) attend A.A. meetings regularly;
  (3) seek out the people in A.A. who have successfully stayed sober for some time;
  (4) try to put into practice the A.A. program of recovery.
• How can I contact A.A.?
  Look for Alcoholics Anonymous in your local telephone directory. In many places a local A.A number is also included in the useful numbers section. These telephones are manned by volunteers who will be happy to answer your questions, or put you in touch with those who can.

Is AA for You?

15 Points

How it Works

Now that you've stopped

Young people in AA

AA for the woman

Letter to a woman alcoholic

Problems other than alcohol

Do you think you're different

A members eye view

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Lets Ask Bill W.

These excerpts from various talks and articles by and on Bill W. reveal a wealth

  1. - The Disease Concept - How do you justify calling alcoholism an illness, and not a moral responsibility?
  2. - Mental Obsession - What is meant by mental obsession and the obsessional character of alcoholism?
  3. - How Does AA Work? - Just how does A.A. work?
  4. - A Continued Existence - How can A.A. best assure its continued existence?
  5. - Early AA 12th Step - When you first sobered up how did you approach alcoholics and did you change that approach?
  6. - What Happened to Ebby? - What happened to your sponsor, Ebby?
  7. - Oxford Group Info - What did A.A. learn from the Oxford Group and why did they leave them?
  8. - Agnostics & God - What about the alcoholic who says that he cannot possibly believe in God?
  9. - Medicine, Religion & AA - How do medicine and religion differ in their approach to the alcoholic?
10. - Origins of the Traditions - What were the conditions that led to the Twelve Traditions?
11. - Still More Traditions Info - Have the Traditions been widely accepted?
12. - General Service Conference - What will the General Service Conference do?
13. - AA & Other Agencies - Could you explain AA's tradition concerning other agencies in the field of alcoholism.
14. - The 12 Concepts - What purposes do the Twelve Concepts for World Services serve?
15. - Remembering AA's Early Friends - Bill never tired of telling the story of A.A.s' beginning and giving thanks for our many early friends. This is       how he told it to the General Service Conference in 1952.
16. - Are Alcoholics "Different?" - Do alcoholics as a class differ from other people?
17. - Is It All Bill W's Experience? - Is A.A. based totally on your own experiences?
18. - "A Rapid Growth Problem?" - Wouldn't too rapid growth be bad, both for the new alcoholics and for Alcoholics Anonymous itself?
19. - Bill W's Spiritual Experience - Could you describe your spiritual experience for us and your understanding of what happened?
20. - Early AA - Could you tell us about the early days and the meetings in your home on Clinton Street?
21. - Meet AA #3 - How did you meet A.A. No.3, Bill D.?
22. - More Big Book Info - Was the writing of the Big Book a difficult job?
23. - St. Ignatius & The Steps - Can the Twelve Steps be compared to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius?
24. - Father Dowling's Influence - How did you meet Father Ed Dowling?
25. - More on the Traditions - What are the ideas embodied in the Twelve Traditions?
26. - GSO Financing - How will the proposed General Service Conference be financed?
27. - AA Government? - Why shouldn't the General Service Conference be a government for Alcoholics Anonymous?
28. - Drug Addicts & AA - How many drug addicts are there in A.A. and in the organization similar to A.A. which operates among drug addicts?
29. - Right of Appeal - What purpose does the right of appeal serve?
30. - Are Alcoholics "Neurotic?" - Are alcoholics neurotic?
31. - What is Alcoholism? - What is alcoholism?
32. - Is AA a Religion? - Is Alcoholics Anonymous a new religion? A competitor of the Church?
33. - What Is AA's Success Rate? - What is the success rate of Alcoholics Anonymous?
34. - Carl Jung's Contribution - What contribution did Dr. Carl Jung make to A.A.?
35. - Ebby's Message to Bill - What effect did Ebby's message have on you?
36. - Clergy & AA - Why do clergymen so often fail with alcoholics, when A.A. so often succeeds? Is it possible that the grace of A.A. is superior to that of the Church?
37. - AA and the Community - What is AA's relationship with the community?
38. - Short GSO History - Why the General Service Conference?
39. - The Rockefeller Connection - How did the connection between the Rockefeller's and Alcoholics Anonymous develop?
40. - The Three Legacies - What do the Three Legacies of AA represent?
41. - Drunks in AA Meetings? - If an alcoholic comes to an A.A. meeting under the influence of alcohol, how do you treat him or handle him during the meeting?