Tagged: AA Big Book

Adopt the attitude that so far as you are concerned this will be a strictly personal matter, that his alcoholic derelictions, the treatment about to be undertaken, will never be discussed without his consent....

He (the alcoholic) can be assured you do not intend to lecture, moralize, or condemn; that if this was done formerly, it was because of misunderstanding. If possible, express a lack of hard feeling...

An alcoholic is strangely irrational. Who wouldn’t be, with such a fevered brain? Normal drinkers are not so affected, nor can they understand the aberrations of the alcoholic. Your man has probably been trying...

Because of the employee’s special ability, or of his own strong personal attachment to him, the employer has sometimes kept an alcoholic at work long beyond a reasonable period. An officer of one of...

Among many employers nowadays, we think of one member who has spent much of his life in the world of big business. He has hired and fired hundreds of men. He knows the alcoholic...

Alcohol is so sexually stimulating to some that they have over-indulged. Couples are occasionally dismayed to find that when drinking is stopped the man tends to be impotent. Unless the reason is understood, there...

We have been speaking to you of serious, sometimes tragic things. We have been dealing with alcohol in its worst aspect. But we aren’t a glum lot. If newcomers could see no joy or...

To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have. Certain drinkers, who would be greatly insulted if called alcoholics, are astonished...

There will be other profound changes in the household. Liquor incapacitated father for so many years that mother became head of the house. By force of circumstances, she was often obliged to treat father...

Sometimes, overnight as it were, he (the recovering alcoholic) is a different man. He becomes a religious enthusiast and is unable to focus on anything else. There is talk about spiritual matters morning, noon...

Having been neglected and misused in the past, they think father owes them more than they are getting. They want him to make a fuss over them. They expect him to give them the...

We families of Alcoholics Anonymous keep few skeletons in the closet. Everyone knows about the others’ alcoholic troubles. This is a condition which, in ordinary life, would produce untold grief; there might be scandalous...

Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it hasn’t done so yet. Despite...

Now and then the family will be plagued by spectres from the past, for the drinking career of almost every alcoholic has been marked by escapades, funny, humiliating, shameful or tragic. The first impulse...

All members of the family should meet upon the common ground of tolerance, understanding and love. This involves a process of deflation. The alcoholic, his wife, his children, his “in-laws,” each one is likely...

A feeling we are very likely to entertain is one of resentment that love and loyalty could not cure our partners of alcoholism. We do not like the thought that the contents of a...

The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of...

If you and your partner (the alcoholic) find a solution for the pressing problem of drink you are, of course, going to be very happy. But all problems will not be solved at once....

Frequently, you (the wife/partner) have felt obliged to tell your husband’s employer and his friends that he was sick, when as a matter of fact he was tight. Avoid answering these inquiries as much...