A drunk by any other name

[Andruschak]

Why are we considered “recovering” rather then ex-alcoholics?

Actually, some of us (me for example) use “recovered”.

But way before that, most alcoholics died. We were considered sinners, bad people who needed to use willpower to become good people. Some denominations gave us exorcisms. The Catholic Church had us make pledges, under pain of sin. The small percentage who stayed stopped were called “reformed” alcoholics.

In 1935 AA got underway, and in 1939 the book Alcoholics Anonymous was published. They question came up as to what to call themselves. “Reformed” went out the window. Alcoholism was an illness. We were not bad people trying to become good, but sick people trying to become well. “Ex-alcoholic” was rejected as it implied that we were somehow cured. Not the case

The word finally chosen was “recovered”, and this was the case for the next 40 years.

By 1979, however, Alcoholism treatment had become Big Business. It got even bigger when drug addiction was claimed to be the same thing as alcoholism, lumped together as “chemical dependency”. The Chemical Dependency Industry decreed that the word “recovered” was totally wrong, and the proper term was “recovering”.

With more and more drug addicts coming into AA, sometimes calling themselves “dual-addicted”, the term “recovering” has pretty much pushed out the term “recovered”. A few oldtimers like me continue to use the word “recovered”, but we are now very much a minority.

The Catholic Church no longer requires me to TAKE THE PLEDGE. I now can ask for, and receive, the Sacrament Of The Annointing Of The Sick.

Posted for information only.

 

[emily47017]

a friend who was an alchoholic for about 15 years went to a residential treatment center – a 10-day aversion therapy program. all the folks there were encouraged to see themselves as “recovered”.

she’s been drinking nothing stronger than perrier since then.

 

[jblair]

** “**** B.,” (which you can Google) the most prolific AA history writer, has addressed the "recovering " vs “recovered” issue in articles and books. You will also note in the book, Alcoholics Anonymous**, the subtitle uses the word “recovered.”

 

[jblair]

My previous message should have begun: **** B…

 

[jblair]

**This website should help to answer your question: **www.********b.com/

 

[jblair]

It appears that a Catholic Answers Forum “censor” doesn’t like the website address I was trying to type. Please try the following: aa-history.com/

 

[Nordar]

I am an old timer AA 36 yrs sober and I have never used the word “recovered”.nor has any old timers that I know ever used it. Alcoholism is a Disease you cannot recover from it. You are always just one drink away from your next drunk. You stay sober one day at a time I will always be “Recovering” the day I tell myself I am recovered I am in trouble…If I were to pick up a drink tomorrow I would be in the throws of Alcoholism within days, Recovered, I don’t think so!

 

[Andruschak]

I am an old timer AA 36 yrs sober and I have never used the word “recovered”.nor has any old timers that I know ever used it. Alcoholism is a Disease you cannot recover from it. You are always just one drink away from your next drunk. You stay sober one day at a time I will always be “Recovering” the day I tell myself I am recovered I am in trouble…If I were to pick up a drink tomorrow I would be in the throws of Alcoholism within days, Recovered, I don’t think so!

So what do you do when you read the book ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS and come across that word “recovered”?

 

[Bennie_P]

**Not everybody buys into the disease concept, some people may be more prone to alcoholism then others, but calling it a disease is a threat to a person’s ability to overcome it’s affects and gives one a reason not to seek sobriety. **

Alcoholism: A disease of speculation

baldwinresearch.com/alcoholism.cfm

“In 1976, the writer Ivan Illich warned in the book, Limits to Medicine, that ‘the medical establishment has become a major threat to health’. At the time, he was dismissed as a maverick, but a quarter of a century later, even the medical establishment is prepared to admit that he may well be right. (Anthony Browne, April 14, 2002, the Observer)”
History and science have shown us that the existence of the disease of alcoholism is pure speculation. Just saying alcoholism is a disease, doesn’t make it true. Nevertheless, medical professionals and American culture lovingly embraced the disease concept and quickly applied it to every possible deviant behavior from alcohol abuse to compulsive lecturing. The disease concept was a panacea for many failing medical institutions adding billions of dollars to the industry and leading to a prompt evolution of pop-psychology. **Research has shown that alcoholism is a choice, not a disease, and stripping alcohol abusers of their choice, by applying the disease concept, is a threat to the health of the individual. **
The disease concept oozes into every crevice of our society perpetuating harmful misinformation that hurts the very people it was intended to help.

I have had past problems with drinking, but I choose not to be a drunk. It is not something I have to think about everyday, I accepted the fact I don’t drink, it isn’t even a consideration. Some people choose to be active drunks, others choose not to be drunks.

 

[blessedtoo]

********Not everybody buys into the disease concept, some people may be more prone to alcoholism then others, but calling it a disease is a threat to a person’s ability to overcome it’s affects and gives one a reason not to seek sobriety. ********

Bennie, please, stop with the tiny fonts!!! Some of us are old and can’t read too good!

Alcoholism: A disease of speculation

baldwinresearch.com/alcoholism.cfm

I have had past problems with drinking, but I choose not to be a drunk. It is not something I have to think about everyday, I accepted the fact I don’t drink, it isn’t even a consideration. Some people choose to be active drunks, others choose not to be drunks.

Very interesting article. As an ex-drunk, I tend to agree with this assessment. I absolutely agree that the “disease concept” has infiltrated our society to such an extent that we even hear things like viewing porn being referred to as an addiction by our own Church. To me, addiction has always inherently included some type of physical dependence on a substance. One is unable to stop using without risking serious bodily harm. Back in the stone age, when I was first rehabbed, the heroin addicts and drunks were the only patients and they were treated medically for their withdrawl symptoms. I don’t understand how a person can be addicted to something that, when stopped, causes no adverse physical response.

Disease is something that I feel needs to be proven scientifically. I know there have been studies done to identify an “alcoholic gene”, but I think this research has been greatly exaggerated. The most they have concluded is that there are differences in the brains of alcoholics. How do we know this is something genetic or something that has resulted from years of alcohol abuse?

For me, it never mattered why I drank. Learning about my so called “disease” didn’t keep me sober either. The only thing that has done that is grace. I know if I drink today I will disrupt my relationship with God. And I don’t want anything to get in the way of that!

 

[Bennie_P]

Bennie, please, stop with the tiny fonts!!! Some of us are old and can’t read too good!

I don’t understand on my computer the fonts are 2 1/2 times larger then normal and you can’t blame me for the aging problem maybe you are spending too much time in the sun

 

[blessedtoo]

I don’t understand on my computer the fonts are 2 1/2 times larger then normal and you can’t blame me for the aging problem maybe you are spending too much time in the sun

Not possible. I live in Seattle!

 

[jblair]

**Perhaps this link will help distinguish between the words “recovered” and “recovering.” The key, of course, is not to pick up that first drink.
**ppgaadallas.org/ppgaa6%20Articles/Recovered%20vs%20Recovering%20(2).doc.

 

[estesbob]

I am an old timer AA 36 yrs sober and I have never used the word “recovered”.nor has any old timers that I know ever used it. Alcoholism is a Disease you cannot recover from it. You are always just one drink away from your next drunk. You stay sober one day at a time I will always be “Recovering” the day I tell myself I am recovered I am in trouble…If I were to pick up a drink tomorrow I would be in the throws of Alcoholism within days, Recovered, I don’t think so!

Well this old timer (22 years) who never uses the term “recovered” nor have I ever heard it used by any of my AA aquaintances. I am just a drink away from being a plain old everyday drunk again.

While on the subject another thing I HATE is when someone tells me they are proud of me they are for keeping sober all theses years, PROUD?? Proud of me because i dont throw up on people anymore and/or put their lives in danger everytime I get behind the wheel of my car? I am sober through the grace of God. The moment i forget that is the moment i get drunk again.

 

[jblair]

**One question is whether one uses the Big Book as the primary recovery source or what is heard around the tables.
The following is the frequency of words used in the first 164 pages of the BB regarding this discussion:

**Recover 6, 19, 26, 27, 29, 30, 39, 45, 58, 89,92, 96, 97,99,126, 133, 135, 142, 143, 146,149, 158, 162, 164
Recovers, 30, 149
Recovered xiii, xxiii, xxix, 17, 20, 29, 44, 45, 90, 96, 113, 132, 133, 146,
Recoveries, 113
Recovering, 104, 122
Recovery, 30, 31, 36, 59, 72, 73, 90, 94, 96, 97, 99, 113, 120, 125, 127, 139, 143, 145, 147, 153,

Whereas the word “recovering” is heard by far more frequently than the word "recovered, the word “recovering” is only used twice in the BB.

 

[estesbob]

One question is whether one uses the Big Book as the primary recovery source or what is heard around the tables.
The following is the frequency of words used in the first 164 pages of the BB regarding this discussion:

Recover 6, 19, 26, 27, 29, 30, 39, 45, 58, 89,92, 96, 97,99,126, 133, 135, 142, 143, 146,149, 158, 162, 164
Recovers, 30, 149
Recovered xiii, xxiii, xxix, 17, 20, 29, 44, 45, 90, 96, 113, 132, 133, 146,
Recoveries, 113
Recovering, 104, 122
Recovery, 30, 31, 36, 59, 72, 73, 90, 94, 96, 97, 99, 113, 120, 125, 127, 139, 143, 145, 147, 153,

Whereas the word “recovering” is heard by far more frequently than the word "recovered, the word “recovering” is only used twice in the BB.

Looks like we are descending into “Sola Bigbooka”. I can only relate my experiences of going to meetings. The word recovered is almost never used. Recovering is the common usage.

 

[jblair]

Looks like we are descending into “Sola Bigbooka”. I can only relate my experiences of going to meetings. The word recovered is almost never used. Recovering is the common usage.

I agree that the word “recovering” is by far more commonly heard at meetings than in is the word “recovered.” But a lot of words are said and heard at meetings that are not necessarily AA based or from the program of action to stay sober. Simply going to meetings alone is unlikely to keep one sober unless the steps are worked. Working the steps are key.

 

[Nordar]

I agree that the word “recovering” is by far more commonly heard at meetings than in is the word “recovered.” But a lot of words are said and heard at meetings that are not necessarily AA based or from the program of action to stay sober. Simply going to meetings alone is unlikely to keep one sober unless the steps are worked. Working the steps are key.

No kidding! Although what that little bit of wisdom had to do with the difference between
Recoved or recovering I don’t know!

 

[Nordar]

Well this old timer (22 years) who never uses the term “recovered” nor have I ever heard it used by any of my AA aquaintances. I am just a drink away from being a plain old everyday drunk again.

While on the subject another thing I HATE is when someone tells me they are proud of me they are for keeping sober all theses years, PROUD?? Proud of me because i dont throw up on people anymore and/or put their lives in danger everytime I get behind the wheel of my car? I am sober through the grace of God. The moment i forget that is the moment i get drunk again.

Yep I hear you! and I agree, 100%

 

[Lux_et_Tenebrae]

I have some friends who are in the program, and the phrase I hear most often is “in recovery”.

Lux