AA Author Dick B. Comments on Clean and Sober "AA Success Rates" Article

I am an author and historian and have been continuously sober and very active in AA for 28 years. I have been researching and writing (46 titles and 1700 articles) on Alcoholics Anonymous and Christian Recovery for 25 plus years. And I am as aware as anyone of the relapses and recidivism that accompany alcoholism and drug addiction. Anyone who has attended thousands of meetings as I have and sponsored at least 100 men as I have knows that the A.A. of today is nothing like the A.A. founded in 1935. Today, you merely have to have a desire to stop drinking and can believe in anything you wish or in nothing at all. I have no quarrel with failure statistics because so many in prisons, in probation or parole status, in treatment programs, and in counseling do not make it without one or more serious relapses. However, old school A.A. — with the experience of the first three AAs and the Christian Fellowship program of Akron Group Number One–had four simple rules: (1) Admit that you have the problem, concede that you want to quit permanently, discipline yourself to go to any lengths to succeed, and seek hospitalization or medical advice at the outset to prevent seizures, DT’s, and prolonged withdrawal. (2) Immediately seek God’s help and keep seeking that help until cured. (3) Grow in understanding of God, His Son, and the Bible the way early AAs did–studying the Bible, praying, reading Christian literature, and observing Quiet Time. (4) Determine to help others get straightened out by the same means. See Dick B., “Stick with the Winners!” I applaud your factual comparisons, and I would like to see you recognize the real status of A.A. then and now. God Bless, Dick B.