Thursday, May 12, 2016
The medical profession is sincere in its efforts to help the alcoholic. Unfortunately, however, the very nature of the ailment defies adequate diagnosis, as the causes cannot be localized or catalogued. Every alcoholic is a sick man, but the underlying cause of his sickness cannot be X-rayed because there is no one underlying cause. It is a progressive disease, and the patient himself does not know where the pain really is.
We in AA, however, know our patient as we know ourselves, for drunks are strangely alike fundamentally. We know the symptoms and the effects of the malady for we, too, have suffered it. We know our medicine for its relief, for we were cured by it ourselves.
Alcoholism may develop from any number of hidden causes. We may be very much un-alike in our behavior when drinking but, in the hangover stage, we are as alike as two peas in a pod. We know what to do in a case like that.
Hazelden Foundation
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