Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to sobriety and recovery through its spiritually inclined Twelve Steps program. Membership and participation are free, though all expenses of the fellowship are covered by member donations. Structurally guided by its Twelve Traditions, AA is set up as non-professional, non-denominational, as well as self-supporting and apolitical, with an avowed desire to stop drinking being its sole requirement for membership. AA has not endorsed the disease model of alcoholism, to which its program is nonetheless sympathetic, but its wider acceptance is partly due to many members independently promulgating it. As of 2020, having spread to diverse cultures, including geopolitical areas normally resistant to grassroots movements, AA has had an estimated worldwide membership of over two million with 75% of those in the U.S. and Canada. AA results in higher abstinence rates and lower medical costs compared to either no treatment or treatments led by medical professionals.
Twelve-step programs are mutual aid organizations for the purpose of recovery from substance addictions, behavioral addictions and compulsions. Developed in the 1930s, the first twelve-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), aided its membership to overcome alcoholism. Since that time dozens of other organizations have been derived from AA's approach to address problems as varied as drug addiction, compulsive gambling, sex and overeating. All twelve-step programs utilize a version of AA's suggested twelve steps first published in the 1939 book Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism.
Narcotics Anonymous (NA), founded in 1953, describes itself as a "nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem." Narcotics Anonymous uses a 12-step model developed for people with varied substance use disorders and is the second-largest 12-step organization.
William Griffith Wilson, also known as Bill Wilson or Bill W., was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).
The Twelve Traditions of twelve-step programs provide guidelines for relationships between the twelve-step groups, members, other groups, the global fellowship, and society at large. Questions of finance, public relations, donations, and purpose are addressed in the Traditions. They were originally written by Bill Wilson after the founding of the first twelve-step group, Alcoholics Anonymous.
Sexaholics Anonymous (SA) founded in 1979 is one of several twelve-step programs for compulsive sexual behavior based on the original twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. SA takes its place among various twelve-step groups that seek recovery from sexual addiction: Sex Addicts Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, Sexual Compulsives Anonymous and Sexual Recovery Anonymous. Collectively these groups are referred to as "S" groups since all their acronyms begin with that letter: SA, SAA, SLAA, SCA, SRA.
Cocaine Anonymous (C.A.) is a twelve-step program formed in 1982 for people who seek recovery from drug addiction. It is patterned very closely after Alcoholics Anonymous, although the two groups are unaffiliated. While many C.A. members have been addicted to cocaine, crack, speed or similar substances, C.A. accepts all who desire freedom from "cocaine and all other mind-altering substances" as members.
Pagans in Recovery (PIR) is the phrase which is frequently used to describe the collective efforts of Neopagans to achieve abstinence or the remission of compulsive/addictive behaviors through twelve-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), Narcotics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Al-Anon/Alateen, etc. These efforts generally focus on modifying or adapting the twelve steps to accommodate the Pagan world-view as well as creating Pagan-friendly twelve step meetings either as part of a pre-existing twelve-step program or as independent entities.
Marijuana Anonymous (MA) founded in 1989 is an organization and twelve-step program for people with common desire to maintain abstinence from marijuana.
Clutterers Anonymous (CLA) is a twelve-step program for people who share a common problem with accumulation of clutter. CLA says that it focuses on the underlying issues made manifest by unnecessary physical and emotional clutter, rather than hints, tips and lectures. CLA had active meetings in about 70 cities in 24 states in the US, and several in England, Germany, and Iceland, as of 2011. CLA Tradition 3 states, "The only requirement for CLA membership is a desire to stop cluttering." Clutterers Anonymous replaces "powerless over alcohol" in the First Step of the Twelve Steps originally developed by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) with "powerless over our clutter." CLA was founded in May 1989 in Simi Valley, California. Some members of CLA describe the inability to let go of objects as a consequence of spiritual emptiness.
Overeaters Anonymous (OA) is a twelve-step program founded in 1960 for people with problems related to food including, but not limited to, compulsive overeaters, those with binge eating disorder, bulimics and anorexics. Anyone with a problematic relationship with food is welcomed; OA's Third Tradition states that the only requirement for memberships is a desire to stop eating compulsively.
Al-Anon Family Groups, founded in 1951, is a "worldwide fellowship that offers a program of recovery for the families and friends of alcoholics, whether or not the alcoholic recognizes the existence of a drinking problem or seeks help." Alateen "is part of the Al-Anon fellowship designed for the younger relatives and friends of alcoholics through the teen years".
Nicotine Anonymous (NicA) is a twelve-step program founded in 1982 for people desiring to quit smoking and live free of nicotine. As of July 2017, there are over 700 face-to-face meetings in 32 countries worldwide with the majority of these meetings occurring in the United States, Iran, India, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Australia, Russia and in various online community and social media platforms.. NicA maintains that total abstinence from nicotine is necessary for recovery. NicA defines abstinence as “a state that begins when all use of nicotine ceases.
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Robert Smith, and has since grown to be worldwide.
Workaholics Anonymous (WA) is a twelve-step program founded circa 1983 for people identifying themselves as "powerless over compulsive work, worry, or activity" including, but not limited to, workaholics–including overworkers and those who suffer from unmanageable procrastination or work aversion. Anybody with a desire to stop working compulsively is welcome at a WA meeting. Unmanageability can include compulsive work in housework, hobbies, fitness, or volunteering as well as in paid work. Anyone with a problematic relationship with work is welcomed. Workaholics Anonymous is considered an effective program for those who need its help.
Willingway Hospital, located in Statesboro, Georgia, is a privately owned hospital which specializes in treating alcoholism and drug addiction. The treatment modality at Willingway Hospital is based on the principles of the twelve-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous. It is referred to by many as "The Betty Ford Center of the South."
Families Anonymous (FA) is a twelve-step program for relatives and friends of addicts. FA was founded in 1971 by a group of parents in Southern California concerned with their children's substance abuse. As of 2007 there are FA meetings in more than 20 countries and about 225 regular meetings in the United States. A survey of FA groups in Lisbon, Portugal found members were mostly female, 45–60 years old, and mothers of substance abusing children.
Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism is a 1939 basic text, describing how to recover from alcoholism. Written by William G. "Bill W." Wilson, one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and many of the first 100 members of the group, the composition process was collaborative, with drafts of the book sent back and forth between Bill W's group in New York and Dr. Bob, the other founder of A.A., in Akron, OH. It is the predecessor of the seminal "twelve-step method" widely used to treat many addictions, from alcoholism, heroin addiction and marijuana addiction to overeating, sex addiction and gambling addiction, with a strong spiritual and social emphasis.
Adult Children of Alcoholics founded circa 1973 is an organization intended to provide a forum for individuals who desire to recover from the effects of growing up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional family. ACA membership has few formal requirements. ACA does not receive any outside economic contributions and is supported by donations from its members. The organization is not related to any particular religion and has no political affiliation. Tony A. was among its co-founders and author of The Laundry List, 12 steps for adult children of alcoholics, The Problem, which are all published in his book,The Laundry List: The ACOA Experience
