Bill Wilson, Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous
Sobriety: The Road to Recovery Through Mutual Fellowship and Support
Alcoholism as an official "disease" diagnosis had not yet been accepted by the American Medical Association, and it would not have official status until the 1950s. Treatment generally consisted of "drying" someone out, stabilizing the patient medically, then discharge.
Relapse was inevitable, because no one understood how the addiction process worked in the mind, body and spirit. No one knew how to lower the risks of relapse.
If someone wanted to stay sober, he or she would just have to will it to be so. If willpower failed, the person was considered weak.
World War I and Bill Wilson
Though Bill's father drank heavily, it did not become a habit with Bill until his soldier days during World War I. After the war, he seemed destined to become a successful financier on Wall Street. However, alcohol consumption and subsequent addiction prevented him from maintaining his early accomplishments.
Now married to Lois Burnham, the couple lived upon the charity of relatives and community. Wilson had fallen into the depths of street begging.
Founding of A.A.
During Wilson's fourth admittance to, "...Manhattan's Towns Hospital in 1934, he had a spiritual awakening — a flash of white light, a liberating awareness of God — that led to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous and Wilson's revolutionary 12-step program...." [1].
Wilson had heard of England's Oxford Group, a Christian Fellowship community founded by Frank Buchman. He attended a number of these meetings. Convinced that mutual support somehow held the key to lasting sobriety, Wilson endeavored to bring this idea back to America.
Failed Business Meeting Leads to Partnership
On the evening of another spoiled business affair, Wilson was tempted to break his sobriety of five months at the bar of the Mayflower Hotel (Akron, Ohio). Instead, the idea flashed through his mind, that he might be able to maintain his own sobriety, if he could help another drunk deny the drink. That other drunk was Dr. Robert Smith.
Though there is some disagreement as to the actual date A.A. was established, it is somewhat accepted that, the day Dr. Smith took his last drink was the official starting date of A.A. This is the day when one alcoholic (upon the edge of relapse), Bill Wilson, saved the life of Dr. Smith. A.A. is probably the template for many self-help groups that subsequently followed.
Alcohol as a Sociological, Economical Phenomenon
Alcohol has been both foe and friend to humanity. For centuries it was used to relieve pain when little else was known to be available, save, perhaps, for opium, as knowledge of this substance became known to the western populace.
When the drinking waters of Western Europe became polluted, beer and wine took its place. Europeans brought this to America. In America, colonists became inventive. Fermenting apple cider became another means of producing an alcoholic beverage.
The colonial rum trade helped to provide economic gains for America and Europe. Difficult to face, perhaps, but the truth of the matter: western European countries and America were and are steeped in centuries' old traditions of producing, marketing/selling and drinking fermented beverages.
Colonial Punishment
Drunkeness in the colonial days often meant public ridicule for both men and women by hours of humiliation in the stocks, or a public whipping, or a fine, or worse--banishment from a colony. Community membership during colonial times helped to secure survival. Enduring hardships, solo, severely reduced the likelihood of survival success.
Sources
[1] Bill Wilson
Mr. Humphreys, learnhistory,org.uk., "Fun Facts, Puritans-Prohibition!", Dec. 6, 2007.
Will Bartlett, "A History of Alcohol", Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc., October 19, 1997.
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