ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUSFollowing is the definition of A.A. appearing in the Fellowship's basic
literature and cited frequently at meetings of A.A. groups: Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their
experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common
problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There
are no dues or fees for A.A. membership; we are self-supporting through our own
contributions. A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics,
organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy;
neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober
and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. Alcoholics Anonymous can also be defined as an informal society of more than
2,000,000 recovered alcoholics in the United States, Canada, and other
countries. These men and women meet in local groups, which range in size from a
handful in some localities to many hundreds in larger communities. Currently, women make up 35 percent of the total membership. The twelve steps of Alcoholics AnonymousThe relative success of the A.A. program seems to be due to the fact that an
alcoholic who no longer drinks has an exceptional faculty for
"reaching" and helping an uncontrolled drinker. In simplest form, the A.A. program operates when a recovered alcoholic
passes along the story of his or her own problem drinking, describes the
sobriety he or she has found in A.A., and invites the newcomer to join the
informal Fellowship. The heart of the suggested program of personal recovery is contained in
Twelve Steps describing the experience of the earliest members of the Society: - We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become
unmanageable.
- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to
sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as
we understood Him.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature
of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends
to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so
would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly
admitted it.
- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with
God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the
power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to
carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our
affairs.
Newcomers are not asked to accept or follow these Twelve Steps in their
entirety if they feel unwilling or unable to do so. They will usually be asked to keep an open mind, to attend meetings at which
recovered alcoholics describe their personal experiences in achieving sobriety,
and to read A.A. literature describing and interpreting the A.A. program. A.A. members will usually emphasize to newcomers that only problem drinkers
themselves, individually, can determine whether or not they are in fact
alcoholics. At the same time, it will be pointed out that all available medical
testimony indicates that alcoholism is a progressive illness, that it cannot be
cured in the ordinary sense of the term, but that it can be arrested through
total abstinence from alcohol in any form.
Alcoholics Anonymous
Head Office
P O Box 1
Stonebow House
York
YO1 2NJ  01904 644026
 01904 629091
 http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk
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