Is the answer psychological?
Then he had gone to Europe, placing himself in the care of a celebrated physician (the psychiatrist, Dr. Jung) who prescribed for him. Though experience had made him skeptical, he finished his treatment with unusual confidence. His physical and mental condition were unusually good. Above all, he believed he had acquired such a profound knowledge of the inner workings of his mind and its hidden springs that relapse was unthinkable. Nevertheless, he was drunk in a short time. More baffling still, he could give himself no satisfactory explanation for his fall. (Page 26, Big Book)
Is the answer medical?
Faced with this problem, if a doctor is honest with himself, he must sometimes feel his own inadequacy. Although he gives all that is in him, it often is not enough. One feels that something more than human power is needed to produce the essential psychic change. Though the aggregate of recoveries resulting from psychiatric effort is considerable, we physicians must admit we have made little impression upon the problem as a whole. Many types do not respond to the ordinary psychological approach. (The Doctor’s Opinion, Big Book)
What is the answer?
We doctors have realized for a long time that some form of moral psychology was of urgent importance to alcoholics, but its application presented difficulties beyond our conception. What with our ultra-modern standards, our scientific approach to everything, we are perhaps not well equipped to apply the powers of good that lie outside our synthetic knowledge. (The Doctor’s Opinion, Big Book)
The answer: bolt-on, or a new contract?
I saw that my friend was much more than inwardly reorganized. He was on a different footing. His roots grasped a new soil. (Page 11, Big Book)
Are there as many ways to work the programme as there are members of AA?
Certainly, I heard countless references to Dr Bob’s injunction “Keep it simple,” but obviously failed to understand what it meant. Doggedly, greedily, I pursued the many inviting “advanced approaches,” only to find that more knowledge often meant less understanding. What really changes us is persistent effort in tailoring ourselves to the demands of the program, and this begins with rigorous honesty. There are, I find, many musts in AA. Nowhere does the Big Book suggest the beguiling fallacy that this is “an individual program” for each of us to adjust to his own particular whims. (Paul Martin, AA member)
What does this ‘new soil’ produce? The psychic change—the spiritual awakening
On the other hand—and strange as this may seem to those who do not understand—once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he despaired of ever solving them, suddenly finds himself easily able to control his desire for alcohol, the only effort necessary being that required to follow a few simple rules. (The Doctor’s Opinion, Big Book)
The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God’s universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves. (Page 25, Big Book)
Exceptions to cases such as yours have been occurring since early times. Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are called vital spiritual experiences. To me these occurrences are phenomena. They appear to be in the nature of huge emotional displacements and rearrangements. Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of the lives of these men are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate them. (Page 27, Big Book)
How does one start?
Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it—then you are ready to take certain steps. At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely. (Page 58, Big Book)
What are the components of the solution?
Though he could not accept all the tenets of the Oxford Groups, he was convinced of the need for moral inventory, confession of personality defects, restitution to those harmed, helpfulness to others, and the necessity of belief in and dependence upon God. (Foreword to the Second Edition, Big Book)
What does the required relationship with God look like?
If a repetition is to be prevented, place the problem, along with everything else, in God’s hands. (Page 120, Big Book)
Instead of regarding ourselves as intelligent agents, spearheads of God’s ever advancing Creation, we agnostics and atheists chose to believe that our human intelligence was the last word, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and end of all. Rather vain of us, wasn’t it? (Page 49, Big Book)
What does ‘spiritual’ mean?
For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die. Then faith would be dead indeed. With us it is just like that. (Page 12, Big Book)
Both saw that they must keep spiritually active. One day they called up the head nurse of a local hospital. They explained their need and inquired if she had a first-class alcoholic prospect. (Page 156, Big Book)
What is my relationship to others in recovery?
In the course of his third treatment he acquired certain ideas concerning a possible means of recovery. As part of his rehabilitation he commenced to present his conceptions to other alcoholics, impressing upon them that they must do likewise with still others. This has become the basis of a rapidly growing fellowship of these men and their families. This man and over one hundred others appear to have recovered. (The Doctor’s Opinion, Big Book)
Though we work out our solution on the spiritual as well as an altruistic plane … (The Doctor’s Opinion, Big Book)
Isn’t this a bit much?
No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection. (Page 60, Big Book)
Can recovery be stored up?
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities. “How can I best serve Thee—Thy will (not mine) be done.” These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. (Page 85, Big Book)
What does recovery look like in the long term?
Others may idle in a retrogressive groove without too much danger, but retrogression can spell death for us. However, this isn’t as rough as it sounds, as we do become grateful for the necessity that makes us toe the line, and we find that we are compensated for a consistent effort by the countless dividends we receive. (Page 275, Big Book)
It wasn’t until sixteen years after I sobered up on the AA program that I discovered the benefits of working all the Steps, again and again. Until that time, I had rocking-chair sobriety: a great deal of motion, without going anywhere; a lot of activity, but not much action. I can’t expect to live on the food I ate ten years ago, or on last year’s water or last month’s air. I need to eat, drink water, and breathe regularly in order to live. The exercise I took five years ago doesn’t make me healthy today. The same holds true for the Steps. (Paul Martin, AA member)
Again and again, I’ve met AA members who suffered from depression, anxiety, fear, hostility, and other symptoms because they had failed to use the Twelve Steps. This includes AAs with years of sobriety. Once these AAs began to work the Steps, their symptoms vanished. An AA member who suffers from such symptoms or can’t stay sober needs a sponsor, not a therapist. He needs a sponsor who will work with him just as carefully and thoughtfully as Dr Bob worked with Earl. (Paul Martin, AA member)
The answer is not to hide behind a pill or deny the voice of the conscience, but to clean up and shape up. (Paul Martin, AA member)