Dima bay aa biography of william

One night, Second Lieutenant Wilson attended a party in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and took what several biographers say was his first serious adult drink. Born in Brooklyn in 1873, he attended Princeton, specializing in neuropsychiatry. 119).  

The “Doctor’s Opinion” chapter represents the “medical estimate” of the “plan of recovery” outlined in Alcoholics Anonymous.  WDS begins in a short “To whom it may concern” letter that one of his patients, of the “hopeless” alcoholic type, developed some ideas about “possible means of recovery” during his fourth treatment.  Presenting this program to other alcoholics was an essential part of this new program.  In turn these alcoholics too, must then present it to other sufferers.  The success of this program, WDS writes, appears of “extreme medical importance” because this program may be a “remedy” for thousands of cases heretofore regarded as “hopeless.”

The writers of Alcoholics Anonymous interrupt then to write that there is more to follow from the physician (WDS) but they want to emphasize three of the physicians points: the physical nature of the sickness of alcoholism; their evaluation of the allergy theory “It makes good sense”; and their support for hospitalization at the front end of care so the brain can be cleared.

He was famous yet unknown – many people knew him only as “Bill W.,” in keeping with A.A.’s commitment to anonymity.

As A.A. grew, he continued to seek deeper truths about human existence. This last phase naturally involves some psychotherapy and some ‘moral psychology.’”

In acute crisis WDS says hospitalization is needed (although home treatment is possible) and the most serious problem is management of acute delirium, (i.e.

As a result, he lost his job, spent days in booze-induced blackouts, got into fights, and hid at home in frightened seclusion with a bottle of gin. 190) WDS tackles the issue of belief in a power greater than the self as the essential principle of A.A.  “Why does this moral issue and belief in a power greater than oneself appear to be the essential principle of A.A.?  First, an important comparison is to be found in the fact that all other plans involving psychoanalysis, will power, restraint, and other ingenious ideas have failed in 95 per cent of the cases.  A second is that all movements of reform minus a moral issue have passed into oblivion.

“Whatever may be the opinions one professes in the matter of philosophy—whether one is a spiritualist or a scientific materialist—one should recognize the reciprocal influence which the moral and physical exert upon each other.  Alcoholism is a mental and physical issue.  Physically a man has developed an illness.  He cannot use alcohol in moderation, at least not for a period of enduring length.  If the alcoholic starts to drink, he sooner or later develops the phenomenon of craving.  Mentally this same alcoholic develops an obsessive type of thinking which, in itself a neurosis, offers an unfavorable prognosis through former plans of treatment.  Physically science does not know why a man cannot drink in moderation.  But through moral psychology—a new interpretation of an old idea—A.A., has been able to solve his former mental obsession.  It is the vital principle of A.A., without which A.A.

would have failed even as other forms of treatment have failed.
To be sure, A.A. offers a number of highly useful tools or props.  Its group therapy is very effective.  I have seen countless demonstrations of how well your “24-hour plan” operates.  The principle of working with other alcoholics has a sound psychological basis.  All these features of the program are important.
But, in my opinion, the key principle which makes A.A.

work where other plans have proved inadequate is the way of life it proposes based upon the belief of the individual in a Power greater than himself and faith that this Power is all-sufficient to destroy the obsession which possessed him and was destroying him mentally and physically (2002, p. He died in Miami on January 24, 1971, at age 75.

By late 1934 he was scraping the bottom of the emotional barrel.

A complex series of events would follow-and gradually help him find a way out of his misery.

The first came in November 1934, when a man named Ebby Thatcher visited Bill at the Wilson residence in Brooklyn, New York. ‘He came to each new case with a wonderfully open mind.’ (1998, p.

Prohibition showed this, WDS notes, but most people drink by choice. As is the case in many remarkable lives, his suffering put him on the path to greatness. 129),” and his insightful interpretations of Bill’s spiritual experience remarking “…what Silkworth did not do (provide sedating medication, … offering words not drugs) and did not say are as important… as what he did do and say (1998,p.129, 141).”  White also references WDS supervising Bill and encouraging him to stop preaching, but rather to “start confronting the alcoholic’s ego by teaching him about alcoholism.  He reminded Bill of what Bill had learned from William James and Carl Jung: “alcoholics must be deflated before they are open to spiritual experience (1998, p.141.)”  He also comments on the tremendous numbers of alcoholics, he puts it at 50,000, WDS treated yet, “alcoholics who were cared for by Dr.

Silkworth reported that he never seemed to be in a hurry, nor did he respond to his patients with stock answers or formulas. The treatment was simple: avoid that first drink that would trigger the allergic reaction.  This explanation gave Bill extraordinary hope.  (No non-recovering person could understand this hopefulness given Bill’s history, nor the fact that there was no method proposed to accomplish this uncharacteristic behavior.)  Bill was drunk again within a month.  On his next hospitalization at Towns several months later, as we have seen, WDS was considerably less hopeful and worried about alcohol having had a permanent effect on Bill’s brain.

Case number five is the story of Bill W.

Dr Silkworth wrote two letters in support of the AA program which are included in the Big Book as “The Doctor’s Opinion,” lending medical credibility to the program. He never took another drink. delirium tremens.) He offers a symptom checklist for assessment of delerium tremens.  He notes that alcohol must not be abruptly discontinued and offers an alcohol-based titration of an ounce of alcohol per hour with clinical adjustment depending on symptoms.  Further medical aspects of withdrawal are discussed, some quite different from contemporary best practices (e.g., the emphasis on dehydrating the patient).  WDS further notes that with proper early diagnosis, however rare, the whole hospital withdrawal process would be and should be unnecessary.  This would move the patient into the second phase of early treatment that from WDS’ perspective involves dealing with the allergy itself.

WDS notes “the proper treatment is one which will desensitize the cells, restore them to normal, and add to their defensive mechanism by activating them and re-energizing them.”  In this area WDS was influenced by his brief studies in Leipzig  with Bechhold (2002, p.21) who advanced a colloid theory of cellular change that WDS appeared to think could reverse the allergy process.  He had continued to study colloidal biology and colloid medication such as colloid gold and colloid iodine complex.  Based on current research these preparations were placebos and it was the rest, proper diet, and compassionate care alcoholics were receiving in the hospital environment that led to a restoration of physical health subsequent to detoxification.

It is in the third phase of early treatment, WDS labels this a “psychotherapeutic and moral psychological approach,” that one observes the roots of contemporary approaches to alcoholism.  WDS says that once an individual has been moved through the acute phase of treatment (“detoxicated”) and restored to relative health (“re-normalized”) one discovers that most of these individuals “…are as normal as the rest of us except they have become allergic to alcohol.”  The first step then is to give the patient “…an intelligent conception of their “anaphylactic condition.”

“Our approach is somewhat as follows:  We endeavor to impress upon the patient that his condition is physical and not mental as regards the drug; that the reasons he gives for drinking (social and financial problems, escape from a feeling of inferiority, etc) are but alibis.  He has a medical problem to face, that a law of nature is working inexorably in his case as in a diabetic.  We define allergy and interpret its characteristics, until we are sure he has grasped the fundamental nature of his case.  He can then appreciate that only by entirely avoiding the toxic factor, alcohol, can he avoid an, ‘attack’ of alcoholism.
 If we can bring our “detoxicated” and cell normalized patient, who has lost his craving for alcohol, to this viewpoint, he will be in a position to make a decision to forego its use.  Without quibbling over words, we wish to differentiate between a decision and a resolution, or declaration, of which the alcoholic has probably made many.  A resolution is an expression of a momentary emotional desire to reform.  Its influence lasts only until he has an impulse to take a drink.  A decision, on the other hand, is the expression of mental conviction, based on an intelligent conception of his condition.  After a resolution the individual must fight constantly with himself; the old environmental forces are still arrayed against him, and finally he succumbs to his old means of escape.  However, if he has made a decision, through understanding of facts appealing to his intelligence, he has changed his entire attitude.  He can go back to his former environment, mix with his drinking friends (without concern, because his craving has been counteracted), and meet his worries and disappointments as a normal person; he is free from all emotional restrictions that formerly activated him to drink.  No will power is needed because he is not tempted to drink.
We have seen this reasoning operate successfully in many cases, even as we have seen many failures following what we term resolutions or declarations.

132).  The paper describes six cases in which an infusion of combretum sundiacum and the daily amount of opium used by the addicted patient was administered and gradually tapered, over 10-21 days.   The results of this un-blinded clinical study (N=6) concluded that five of the six participants were successfully detoxified on the regimen, with one relapsing quite quickly “ for reasons not clear to me.”  From his observations WDS stated, “…that there may be present in this remedy an active ingredient, anti-opium in its properties (p.

 
WDS rhetorically asks why after all the approaches over all of the years by all of the well-meaning physicians, family members, clergy, and others does this method work?  He offers four reasons why the fellowship’s methods “cut deeper”:

“1.  Because of their alcoholic experiences and successful recoveries they secure a high degree of confidence from their prospects.
2.  Because of this initial confidence, identical experience, and the fact that the discussion is pitched on moral and religious grounds, the patient tells his story and makes his self-appraisal with extreme thoroughness and honesty.  He stops living alone and finds himself within reach of a fellowship with whom he can discuss his problems as they arise.
3.  Because of the ex-alcoholic brotherhood, the patient, too, is able to save other alcoholics from destruction.  At one and the same time, the patient acquires an ideal, a hobby, a strenuous avocation, and a social life which he enjoys among other ex-alcoholics and their families.  These factors make powerfully for extraversion.
4.  Because of object aplenty in whom to vest his confidence, the patient can turn to the individuals to whom he first gave his confidence, the ex-alcoholic group as a whole, or the Deity.  It is paramount to note that the religious factor is all important from the beginning.  Newcomers have been unable to stay sober when they have tried the program minus the Deity (2002, p.

(See William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience).  Then too, the patient’s hope is renewed and his imagination is fired by the idea of membership in a group of ex-alcoholics where he will be enabled to save the lives and homes of those who have suffered as he has suffered.
5.    The fellowship is entirely indifferent concerning the individual manner of spiritual approach so long as the patient is willing to turn his life and his problems over to the care and direction of the Creator.  The patient may picture the deity any way he likes.  No effort whatever is made to convert him to some particular faith or creed.  Many creeds are represented among the group and the greatest harmony prevails.  It is emphasized that the fellowship is non-sectarian and that the patient is entirely free to follow his own inclination.  Not a trace of aggressive evangelism is exhibited.
6.    If the patient indicates a willingness to go on, a suggestion is made that he do certain things which are obviously good psychology, good morals, and good religion regardless of creed:
a.    That he make a moral appraisal of himself, and confidentially discuss his findings with a competent person whom he trusts.
b.    That he try to adjust bad personal relationships, setting right, so far as possible, such wrongs as he may have done in the past.
c.    That he commit himself daily, or hourly if need be, to God’s care and direction, asking for strength.
d.    That, if possible, he attend weekly meetings of the fellowship and actively lend a hand with alcoholic newcomers (2002, p.