William Duncan Silkworth Wikipedia

The Oxford Group was a Christian fellowship founded by American Christian missionary Frank Buchman. Buchman was a minister, originally Lutheran, then Evangelist, who had a conversion experience in 1908 in a chapel in Keswick, England, the revival center of the Higher Life movement. As a result of that experience, he founded a movement named A First Century Christian Fellowship in 1921. One of the key reasons for AA’s success was its emphasis on anonymity, allowing members to seek help without fear of social stigma. Meetings provided a safe space for individuals to share their struggles, support one another, and work through the Twelve Steps without judgment.

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In his experience, chronic alcoholics did not take the steps necessary to recover unless they became conscious of themselves as people with a disease.14 He emphasized a different aspect of the model in public lectures, however. Family members, friends and employers of alcoholics were encouraged to keep in mind that the condition was an illness and not a moral failing. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is one of the most influential and widely recognized recovery programs in the world. Since its founding in the 1930s, it has helped millions of people struggling with alcohol addiction find a path to sobriety. The history of Alcoholics Anonymous is a remarkable story of hope, perseverance, and community, rooted in the belief that mutual support and spiritual growth can help individuals overcome alcoholism.

Publication of Bill W.’s “Twelve Concepts for World Service”

• Concerns have been raised about its overall success rate, the perceived religious nature of its approach, and allegations of cult-like elements.
• The Al-Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength, and hope in order to solve their common problems.
• While AA may not be the right fit for everyone, its impact on the field of addiction recovery is undeniable.

He was a director with several companies in addition to Allied Chemical and Dye, including the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company, the Interlake Iron Company, and Merchant’s Bank of Providence, Rhode Island. She did this for about ten years, but found it 「too hectic」 and suffered a nervous breakdown.citation needed When she recovered, she was assigned by her religious congregation to work in the admissions office of St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio. In the 1950s, Edward R. Murrow included her in his list of the 「10 Greatest Living Americans」.

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Now in a fourth edition and known to the original members as the Big Book (not for its impact but because of the thickness of the paper used to save costs in the first printing) the text has sold over 30 million copies. In the Spring of 1935, the newly sober Wilson was on the verge of returning to drinking while on a difficult Akron business trip. Rather than drinking, he sought another alcoholic to talk with. Working through local church directories, Wilson found Henrietta Sieberling, an Oxford Group member.

His drinking damaged his marriage, and he was hospitalized for alcoholism at Towns Hospital in New York four times in 1933–1934 under the care of William Silkworth. Those who could afford psychiatrists or hospitals were subjected to a treatment with barbiturate and belladonna known as 「purge and puke」4 or were left in long-term asylum treatment. In response to changing times, AA has also adapted, offering online meetings and digital resources to reach a broader audience. This flexibility has ensured that people struggling with alcoholism can access support no matter where they are.

After talking with William history of alcoholics anonymous wikipedia D. Silkworth, however, he went to Calvary Rescue Mission and underwent a religious conversion; he was then admitted to the Charles B. Towns Hospital for Drug and Alcohol Addiction in New York City on December 11, 1934. Thacher visited him there on December 14 and essentially helped Wilson take what would become Steps Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Eight. At Northstar Recovery Center, we know that the path to recovery isn’t a one-size-fits-all. That’s why we offer a multitude of treatment tracks that clients, in partnership with their clinicians, can pursue.

The Big Book

Without children, she left Stepping Stones, the family home, gardens, archives and a writing studio (nicknamed 「Wit’s End」 and 「The Shack」) on 8.5 acres in Bedford Hills, New York that she and Bill had owned since 1941, to the nonprofit, tax-exempt privately run Stepping Stones Foundation. She served as Stepping Stones Foundation’s first president from 1979 to 1988 and led its programs to increase education, awareness and prevention of alcoholism. However, several recent rigorous reviews have found that AA is superior to many other treatments in its ability to increase abstinence, and equally effective to those treatments in mitigating other alcohol-related outcomes, including reducing healthcare costs for people with alcohol use disorders. Wilson had his last drink of alcohol on December 11, 1934, when he admitted himself, for a fourth time, to Towns Hospital in New York City under the care of Dr. William Silkworth. Considered an expert in the treatment of alcoholism, Silkworth was among the first to propose a disease rather than a moral model of alcoholism. During this hospitalization Wilson had a “spiritual experience” that he described as breaking the bond of his addiction.

• Encouraged in the example of personal evangelism, Ebby later sought out an acquaintance of his own, Bill W.
• Working together, the businessman and the doctor discovered that their capacity to keep sober had a lot to do with the help and encouragement they were able to give other alcoholics and with their own sharing of experiences, which then guided others.
• Expecting to spend a day drinking and re-living old times, Wilson was instead shocked by Thacher’s refusal to drink.
• Without children, she left Stepping Stones, the family home, gardens, archives and a writing studio (nicknamed 「Wit’s End」 and 「The Shack」) on 8.5 acres in Bedford Hills, New York that she and Bill had owned since 1941, to the nonprofit, tax-exempt privately run Stepping Stones Foundation.
• Bill and Bob realized that a key element in maintaining their sobriety was helping others who suffered from the same affliction.

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In the early 1930s, Rhode Island businessman Roland Hazard sought help for his alcoholism from Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Jung suggested that alcoholism might only be overcome through a profound spiritual experience. Following Jung’s advice, Hazard joined the Oxford Group, which emphasized confession of sins, spiritual rebirth, and surrender to God. He studied New Thought from the time of his late teens; discovering his healing powers early. He came to know the prominent New Thought writer Thomas Troward.2 Fox attended the London meeting at which the International New Thought Alliance was organized in 1914.

Alcoholics Anonymous has had a profound influence on the way addiction is understood and treated. Before AA, alcoholism was often seen as a moral failing rather than a disease. AA helped shift this perception, advocating for the idea that alcoholism is a chronic, progressive illness that requires ongoing support and treatment. William Duncan Silkworth (July 22, 1873 – March 22, 1951) was an American physician and specialist in the treatment of alcoholism.

Rowland was following the Oxford Group emphasis on personal evangelism through the example of personal change when he came in contact with an alcoholic named Ebby Thacher while Rowland and two other Oxford Group members who knew Thacher were summering in Glastenbury, Vermont, in 1934. Thacher was the son of a prominent New York family who, like many well-to-do Eastern US families of the period, summered in New England, forming lifelong associations and friendships with other 「summer people」 as well as with permanent residents of the area. Upon learning that Ebby was on the verge of commitment to the Brattleboro Retreat (the former Vermont Asylum for the Insane)11 on account of his drinking, Rowland and fellow Oxford Group members Shep (F. Shepard) Cornell and Cebra Graves sought out Ebby and shared with him their Oxford Group recovery experiences. Graves was the son of the family court magistrate in Ebby’s case, Collins Graves,12 and the Oxford Groupers were able to arrange for Ebby’s release into their care.