Medical View, AA/Addiction Why Me

From the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous (3rd Edition, Pg. 571)

Since Dr. Silkworth's 1st endorsement of A.A., medical societies & physicians throughout the world have set their approval upon us. Following are excerpts from the comments of doctors present at the

annual meeting (1944) of the Medical Society of the State of New York where a paper on A.A. was read:

Dr. Foster Kennedy, neurologist: "This organization of Alcoholics Anonymous calls on 2 of the greatest reservoirs of power known to man, religion & that instinct for association with one's fellows… the 'herd instinct.' I think our profession must take appreciative cognizance of this great therapeutic weapon. If we do not do so, we shall stand convicted of emotional sterility & of having lost the faith that moves mountains, without which medicine can do little."

Dr. G. Kirby Collier, psychiatrist: "I have felt that A.A. is a group unto themselves & their best results can be had under their own guidance, as a result of their philosophy. Any therapeutic or philosophic

procedure which can prove a recovery rate of 50 to 60% must merit our consideration."

Dr. Harry M. Tiebout, psychiatrist: "As a psychiatrist, I have thought a great deal about the relationship of my specialty to A.A. & I have come to the conclusion that our particular function can very often lie in preparing the way for the patient to accept any sort of treatment or outside help. I now conceive the psychiatrist's job to be the task of breaking down the patient's inner resistance so that which is inside him will flower, as under the activity of the A.A. program."

Dr. W. W. Bauer, broadcasting under the auspices of The American Medical Association in 1946, over the NBC network, said, in part: "Alcoholics Anonymous are no crusaders; not a temperance society. They know that they must never drink. They help others with similar problems… In this atmosphere the alcoholic often overcomes his excessive concentration upon himself. Learning to depend upon a higher power & absorb himself in his work with other alcoholics, he remains sober day by day. The days add up into weeks, the weeks into months & years."

Dr. John F. Stouffer, Chief Psychiatrist, Philadelphia General Hospital, citing his experience with A.A., said: "The alcoholics we get here at Philadelphia General are mostly those who cannot afford private treatment, & A.A. is by far the greatest thing we have been able to offer them. Even among those who occasionally land back in here again, we observe a profound change in personality. You would hardly recognize them."

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