Is A.A. a cure?

[jimbo]

Before the 1st Edition of the BB was published with the brightly
colored " circus" a not often seen dust jacket was produced.
This dust jacket was dark blue and had a stick outline of a running
man.
The title was Alcoholics Anonymous but halfway down the cover
was the text "A New Approach To A Cure.
The 1st Ed also had the term "ex-alcoholic" which was changed
to ex-problem drinker in the 2nd Ed.
Dr. Bob'story was never changed and he describes Bill W. as a man
cured by spiritual principles.
Makes one wonder!

[Dexter]

-----------------------------

Certainly this points out the nature and difficulty of alcoholism
treatment. As we don't seem to have settled on the actual *cause*
of /alcoholism/ yet, or even whether or not it is a disease in the
strict medical definition of the word, despite all our current medical
knowledge, we are still working out treatment strategies to this day.
We see this in the range of treatment regimens, from strictly medical
to strictly religious with various combinations in between and varying
levels of success with each modality.

I think this reflects the psychological aspect of alcoholism. While
medicine can describe the physical effects of long term excessive
alcohol consumption on the human body, medicine struggles with
the psychological aspects of alcohol dependence, it's cause and
treatment, I think, because the field of psychology is not as
amenable to hard science techniques of study.

What does a cure even look like? I'm no expert so I couldn't
possibly say. I don't claim to have been cured of alcoholism.
For me, I can only say that the effects of excessive alcohol
consumption on my life have been eliminated with the complete
abstinence of alcohol consumption. And for some reason, I no
longer have the urge to drink. In meetings I heard a
number of people describe their alcoholism as "arrested"
and that the symptoms would return if they started drinking
again. That's a view I subscribe to.

I was also told that there would be people in my life who
would try to subvert or sabotage my recovery and to watch
out for them. I have no one in my life who does that to me
but such people do exist. One don't have to look far to
find one such person around here.

[jimbo]

I suspect the word "cure" was used to describe a release
from the mental obsession.

[tedw]

I am cured of Alcoholism , Thank God. No human power could relieve our alcholism but God could and would.

[tedw]

On Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 7:32:22 AM UTC-7, jimbo wrote:

There are some troubling things in the First Edition. There is even a Christian Testimony "Smile with me at me" by Harold S. This gives the impression that Christian teaching may be true. His story even points to something Evil as being at the root of his problem. Dangerous stuff to some.

One wonders how Harold S would feel about the story "Tightrope" in the First Edition.

[Dexter]

jimbo wrote:

> On Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 11:58:53 AM UTC-4, Dexter wrote:
> > jimbo wrote:
> >
> > > Before the 1st Edition of the BB was published with the brightly
> > > colored " circus" a not often seen dust jacket was produced.
> > > This dust jacket was dark blue and had a stick outline of a running
> > > man.
> > > The title was Alcoholics Anonymous but halfway down the cover
> > > was the text "A New Approach To A Cure.
> > > The 1st Ed also had the term "ex-alcoholic" which was changed
> > > to ex-problem drinker in the 2nd Ed.
> > > Dr. Bob'story was never changed and he describes Bill W. as a man
> > > cured by spiritual principles.
> > > Makes one wonder!
> > -----------------------------
> >
> > Certainly this points out the nature and difficulty of alcoholism

> > treatment. As we don't seem to have settled on the actual cause
> > of alcoholism yet, or even whether or not it is a disease in the

-----------------------------

That's not entirely reasonable, particularly given the time and
circumstances under which the BB was written, an by whom.
Bill was a salesman and his writing had the ferver of the
recently converted. There's more than a bit of hyperbole
in the text. Some have difficulty seeing that and distinguishing
it from reality.

C'est la vie.

[Robert Dye]

Yabbut that one could be explained by mental illness, demons, or outright mental defect.

How I feel on any given day affects what I would hazard as a guess.

[Robert Dye]

It's been decades and we still argue over language. Sickness, illness, or disease.

Small wonder the language used was evolving even back in the 30s and 40s.

[Dexter]

-----------------------------

Sheesh, meant to write "that's not entirely *unreasonable* ..."