What Is The Secret Of Alcoholics Anonymous - Society

Alcohol is a drink designed to invigorate. But in unlimited, uncontrolled doses, this is death. Thousands of alcoholics die every day in the world. The causes of death are different for everyone: from chronic diseases of the liver, kidneys and heart to tragic situations of death due to negligence caused by alcohol intoxication. And how many people become disabled because of their own recklessness caused by alcohol?

Every day in the world there are millions of family scandals related to the use of alcohol by a loved one. Every day one of the drinking people comes to "the squirrel" and his brain refuses to obey him. A person can spend the rest of his life in a clinic for the treatment of the mentally ill.

When a drinker notices a state of constant desire to drink, when he simply cannot have a full bottle of alcohol at home, but only empty, when he begins to be afraid for himself and his loved ones, he opens the door to the society of Alcoholics Anonymous and says: “Hello I'm Sergei and I'm an alcoholic."

The Alcoholics Anonymous, or simply AA as it is now often called, was born in the United States on May 11, 1935. Bill Wilson, who quit drinking six months ago, suffering alone after Christmas, arrived in the city of Arkon on his business, as a former stockbroker, and there he met the proctologist surgeon Robert Smith, a chronic alcoholic. Smith offered him a glass, Wilson poured him coffee in response, and after a long conversation, both men noted that it was not easier to drink together. And then they decided to expand their circle and became convinced that active work with other drinkers is exorbitant, but who want to quit, creates an excellent immunity against their own disease. By the end of 1939, there were already about a hundred of them.

It was the early A. A.s who collectively authored the book Alcoholics Anonymous, in which they first published their unique experience. The title of the book became the name of the society. In the late forties, AA acquired the status of an international community. To date, more than 3.5 million people in 141 countries are starting a new sober life.

Group work is a prime example of peer-to-peer support. A. A. members learn for themselves and teach others to stay sober by admitting that they are sick

“Remaining sober, we focus on being successful in a life without alcohol, solve pressing problems, recover the losses that alcoholism has brought us, live a full and happy life. Having gained sanity, we do not apply treatment for alcoholism, we do not fight the disease - we simply live in a world where alcohol no longer guides our thoughts and actions”- this is from today's manifesto of Russian AA. It can be argued that AA is a social process in which participation provides a person with ongoing emotional support from recovering alcoholics.

Of course, the community is also helped by professionals - narcologists who know how to stop alcohol withdrawal, dietitians who make up certain nutrition programs that replenish the vitamins and minerals “washed out” by alcohol from the human body, psychotherapists and psychologists help to form motivation for treatment and refusal of alcohol help overcome psychological difficulties and family problems, relieve emotional pain.

The experience of Bill Wilson and Robert Smith was so successful that the AA program was recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in 1949, and then extrapolated to other types of addictions:

• in 1953, Narcotics Anonymous (NA) appeared;
• 1957 - Gamblers Anonymous;
• in 1982 - "Cocaine Anonymous";
• 1984 - Sexaholics Anonymous;
• in 1985 - "Nicotine users Anonymous";
• Since 1984, the ACA groups ("Adult children of alcoholics") have been working.

AA groups appeared in Russia in 1986-1987. In 1999, the Russian-speaking group AA appeared on the Internet.