Not-God (76 page)

Also: “Quarterly Report From G.S.O.,” December 1986;
Box 4-5-9
, “Holidays, 1986” 32:6 (December 1986), 3: “Why Worry About Self-Support?”

Form letter from John B., General Manager of the A.A. General Service Office, dated “October, 1986” to district committee members — letter headed “A Call to Action for Self-Support.”

Further detail from an internal memo at the time of the Big Book copyright flap to be examined later: “[Hazelden] sales of A.A. literature are almost entirely to rehabs and are growing at a faster clip than our direct sales.”

Some details in this paragraph also derive from a visit to south Georgia in December of 1986 and conversation with John B., 22 April 1987.

89
    Joe P. (southeast regional trustee), presentation: “Trustees’ Self-Support Committee Report,” notes provided at First A.A.W.S./Intergroup Seminar, 5 September 1986, Chicago, Illinois.

90
    “The Power of the Purse,”
Box 4-5-9
31:5 (October/November 1986), 6-7. The article notes 1985 net publishing income as $1,336,000; net group services deficit as $827,000.

“An additional contribution of about $1.25
per year
per A.A. member would have completely eliminated the need for outside support or excess publishing income.”

91
    
Box 4-5-9
33:3 (June/July 1987), 4, 2.

92
    Interview of 22 April 1987;
cf
. also Advisory Action #5 of the 1987 General Service Conference, recommending that ‘Self-Support’ be a presentation/ discussion topic for the next five years, in keeping with the spirit of the Seventh Tradition.”

93
    
Cf
. above, p. 265.

94
    Wilson, “A Report on the Grapevine,” September 1960, otherwise unattributed, but apparently from a text presented to the A.A.W.S. board; Wilson (New York) to Dr. John Norris, 28 November and 28 December 1960.

95
    
Final Report of the 1975 General Service Conference
, pp. 14-15.

96
    
Final Report of the 1975 General Service Conference
, pp. 12-13.

Some of Dr. Tiebout’s articles have become classics: “Surrender
versus
Compliance in Therapy “ (September 1953) abridged his
QJSA
article of that title; “Conversion as a Psychological Phenomenon” (March and April 1954) made more widely available the piece originally published in
Pastoral Psychology
in 1951; “Why Psychiatrists Fail Alcoholics” (September 1956) and “When the Big I Becomes Nobody” (September 1965) have been generally recognized by A.A.s familiar with them to be vitally useful.

97
    
Grapevine
circulation increased through the 1970s, although not proportionally to the growth in A.A. membership. In the 1980s, circulation has been flat, showing a general downward trend to 1984, and a sharper downward trend since then; 1980 circulation, 123,120, remained the high point until late 1986, when circulation briefly peaked over 126,000 only to fall back to about 122,000 in early 1987.

98
    Advisory Action #30 on p. 4 of the mimeographed summary of “1987 General Service Conference Advisory Actions;” the final observations are based on a variety of interviews conducted between January and May of 1987.

99
    
Cf
. E. M. Jellinek,
The Disease Concept of Alcoholism
(New Haven, CT: College and University Press, 1960); H. M. Trice and P. M. Roman, “Sociopsychological Predictors of Affiliation with Alcoholics Anonymous,”
Social Psychiatry
5:51-59 (1970); a fairly complete review (to 1981) may be found in A. C. Ogburne and F. B. Glaser, “Characteristics of Affiliates of Alcoholics Anonymous: A Review of the Literature,”
JSA
42:661-675 (1981).

100
  On “the new profession” and much else,
cf
. James E. Royce,
Alcohol Problems and Alcoholism
(New York, 1981). Although some judges had recommended A.A. attendance as early as the late 1940s (according to Nell Wing, interview of 21 April 1987), A.A.’s attention was drawn to the practice especially in the early 1970s.

Cf. Box 4-5-9
18:6 (“Holiday Issue” 1973), 1: “A.A. Cooperation with Court and ASAP Programs Saves Lives.” “GSO’s Guidelines on Court Programs help, too. They were written when court ‘classes’ about A.A. started, over seven years ago. Such a class is usually held in the courtroom once a week and is run mostly by A.A. members. But those ‘sentenced’ are told they are
not
attending an A.A. meeting, just a court class about A.A. After a few weeks of this, the problem drinker can decide on his own whether or not he wants to join an A.A. group.

“Ralph F., Lincoln, Nebraska, says his community was one of the first to get an ASAP grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. ‘With our large open meetings, no problem. Court referrals come, are interested or not, as you would expect. In fact, they have stirred us old A.A.s up toward the effort to provide interesting, informative meetings that are meaningful to all’” (p. 2).

101
  
Cf
. suggestions in “Public Information — Cooperation with the Professional Community Bulletin,” Fall 1981.

102
  
Final Report of the 1982 General Service Conference
, pp. 33-34; on the topic of women as “minority” in this sense,
cf
. above, p. 165, note #29.

103
  
Box 4-5-9
32:2 (April/May 1986).

104
  
Cf
. Gerald King, Mary Altpeter, and Marie Spada, “Alcoholism and the Elderly: A Training Model,”
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly
3:3 (Fall 1986), 81-94.

105
  
Cf
. A. C. Ogburne and F. B. Glaser, “Characteristics of Affiliates of Alcoholics Anonymous: A Review of the Literature,"
JSA
42:661-675 (1981), especially 667-669.

106
  
Cf
. Bruce Holley Johnson,
The Alcoholism Movement in America: A Study in Cultural Innovation
, unpublished dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: University Microfilms #74-5603, pp. 370-371; the final sentence is based on impressions gained and the history told when I visited such settings in various cities.

107
  
Box 4-5-9
31:4 (August/September 1986), 10.

108
  
Final Report of the 1979 General Service Conference
, p. 17; more widely,
cf
. also Advisory Action #57 of the 1987 General Service Conference, which recommended: “The 1986 Conference Action regarding the directories not listing ‘Double-Trouble groups be reaffirmed,’ i.e. ‘Double-Trouble groups not be listed in the A.A. Directories’; … (Double-Trouble groups are defined as groups with outside affiliation).” Consensus at the 1976 General Service Conference had opined that, for an A.A. member, marijuana use was not a slip but was “dangerous for an alcoholic, because it could lead to a slip.”

109
  
Cf. Final Report of the 1972 General Service Conference
, p. 13: “A long-time and continuing problem for many A.A. groups is that of the drug user attending A.A. meetings, participating in them, and in some cases holding office. A show of hands indicated that more than one-half the delegates are concerned with this problem in their areas.”

110
  Page 5, #31 and #32 of the mimeographed preliminary list of Advisory Actions:

THIS IS A CLOSED MEETING OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

This is a closed meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. In support of A.A.’s singleness of purpose, attendance at closed meetings is limited to persons who have a desire to stop drinking. If you think you have a problem with alcohol, you are welcome to attend this meeting. We ask that when discussing problems, we confine ourselves to those problems as they relate to alcoholism.

THIS IS AN OPEN MEETING OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

This is an
open
meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. We are glad you are all here — especially newcomers. In keeping with our singleness of purpose and our Third Tradition which states that “The only requirement of A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking,” we ask that all who participate confine their discussion to their problems with alcohol.

111
  The most recent list of “Fellowship’s Modeled on A.A.” available through the A.A.W.S. office in mid-1987 listed a total of 83 such groups, noting that there were doubtless many others. Those appearing on the list probably contacted A.A. seeking permission to adapt the Steps — a courtesy not always paid, especially when the Steps are adopted without adaptation.

112
  
Box 4-5-9
17:5 (October/November 1972), 4: “What is an A.A. Group?”

“Staff members here at GSO have pooled their thoughts on this subject, and we have agreed on six points that describe what an A.A. group is. They are:

1. All members of a group are alcoholics.
   
2. As a group they are fully self-supporting.
   
3. A group’s primary purpose is to help alcoholics recover through the suggested Twelve Steps.
   
4. As a group they have no outside affiliation.
   
5. As a group they have no opinion on outside issues.
   
6. As a group their public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion, and they need always maintain their personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, television and film.”
   

The 1980 revision of the pamphlet, “The A.A. Group,” p. 32, notes: “The group conscience of A.A. in the U.S. and Canada seems to have agreed upon six points that define an A.A. group.” This list omits the words “need always” in #6 and the word “suggested” in #3, and adds to #1, “and all alcoholics are eligible for membership.” On the use of the word “suggested,”
cf
. below, p. 302, and note #162.

113
  
Final Report of the 1974 General Service Conference
, pp. 12-13, 28;
Final Report of the 1977 General Service Conference
, pp. 23, 25;
Final Report of the 1979 General Service Conference
, p. 17;
Final Report of the 1981 General Service Conference
, p. 25.

Cf
. also
Box 4-5-9
17:4 (August/September 1972), 1: “Which Serves Alcoholics Better — Special ‘Group,’ or ‘Meeting’?” The difference between groups and meetings is treated on page 2.

114
  A 1987 General Service Conference Advisory Action (#40) asked the following change in “The A.A. Group” pamphlet: “The phrase on page 33 that reads: ‘On the other hand, specialized
groups
— men’s, women’s, gay’s
[sic]
… ’ be changed to read ‘On the other hand, specialized
gatherings
— men’s, women’s, gay’s …’ because although the intent was to use the word group in a generic sense, its use confuses the issue about the difference between a meeting and a group.” Given the context of the 1974 and 1977 discussions, it is unclear on what the 1987 delegates based their interpretation of “intent.”

115
  “Around A.A.,”
AAGV
, January 1971;
Final Report of the 1972 General Service Conference
, pp. 12-13;
cf
also
Box 4-5-9
33:2 (April/May 1987), 7-8, where this point and reasoning were reaffirmed.

116
  
Cf
. Joan Jackson, “The Adjustment of the Family to the Crisis of Alcoholism,”
QJAS
15:562-586 (1954), which remains the classic; a most useful review of the changes over time on this topic may be found in Royce,
Alcohol Problems and Alcoholism
,
Chapter Eight
.

117
  
Cf
. Timmen Cermak,
Diagnosing and Treating Codependence
(Minneapolis: Johnson Institute, 1986); also Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse, lecture at Fairbanks Hospital, Indianapolis, IN, 19 February 1987.

118
  
Cf
. Ernest Kurtz, “Alcoholics Anonymous: A Phenomenon in American Religious History,” in Peter Freese, ed.,
Religion and Philosophy in the United States of America:
Proceedings of the German-American Conference at Paderborn, July 29-August 1, 1986 (Essen: Verlag Die Blaue Eule, 1987), vol. 2, pp. 447-462; also Robert N. Bellah et al.,
Habits of the Heart
(Berkeley: Univ. of California, 1985).

119
  Margaret Bean, “Alcoholics Anonymous,”
Psychiatric Annals
5:16-64 (1975); Margaret H. Bean, Edward J. Khantzian, John E. Mack, George E. Vaillant, Norman E. Zinberg,
Dynamic Approaches to the Understanding and Treatment of Alcoholism
(New York, 1981); George E. Vaillant,
The Natural History of Alcoholism
(Cambridge, 1983); for Tournier,
cf
. above, pp. 272-273.

120
  
Final Report of the 1971 General Service Conference
, pp. 11, 23;
Final Report of the 1974 General Service Conference
, p. 23.

121
  
Final Report of the 1977 General Service Conference
, pp. 44, 6; according to Nell Wing, interview of 21 April 1987, the idea of “cooperation without affiliation” was rooted in the N.C.E.A flap and its outcome, thus going back to the period between 1946 and 1949.

122
  Names are listed in an A.A.W.S. press release dated 16 June 1980. Note that the number of non-A.A. participants was not significantly greater than in 1975 or 1985, when twenty-one appeared: the point is the emphasis, which was greater even than the
Box 4-5-9
19:3 (June/July 1974), General Service Conference Issue that headlined: “Conference Favors Renewed A.A. Cooperation With All Others Who Help Alcoholics.” The coverage focused on non-alcoholics, featuring pictures of Dr. Silkworth, Sam Shoemaker, and Sister Ignatia, as well as of Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith.

123
  
Box 4-5-9
25:4 (August/September 1980);
cf
. also J.G., “Super Meeting,”
AAGV
37:5 (October 1980), 18-23; Bill Pittman, “Sobriety Celebrations,”
Alcoholism/the National Magazine
5:5 (May/June 1985), 27.