Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) initially grew slowly through personal contact and word of mouth in Akron/Cleveland, Ohio, and in New York City. With the publication in 1939 of the "Big Book" (Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism), an article in the Saturday Evening Post by Jack Alexander in 1941, and endorsement by influential people, membership reached 100,000 by 1950. Membership climbed to a million by the late 1970s and stands at more than 2 million today. These figures are estimates--probably conservative--since the organization maintains no official membership list or files.

The AA program has spawned satellite, copycat, and spin-off organizations. Al-Anon and Alateen, both satellite organizations founded in the 1950s, focus their attention on family and friends. Copycat organizations include Narcotics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous, founded in the 1950s, and Co- Dependents Anonymous, founded in the late 1970s.

More recently formed and less well-known groups include Debtors Anonymous, Spenders Anonymous, Emotions Anonymous, and Sexual Compulsives Anonymous. Spin-off organizations take selected aspects of AA ideology and practice and specifically reject others. For example, Rational Recovery and Secular Organization for Sobriety, founded in the 1980s, and the Society of Links in Sweden, founded in the 1940s, reject the spiritual and religious implications of AA while accepting repentance, restitution, and transcendence.

Anecdotal and popular data abound, but definitive empirical data remain limited. The 1990 U.S. National Alcohol Survey indicates that 13 percent of adults ages 18 and older, approximately 24 million, reported having attended a twelve-step meeting. While many of these were seeking help, some were likely supporting family members and others attending as part of an educational experience or requirement. The 2000 National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey (NLAES) found that of individuals who had sought help because of drinking, nearly 76 percent also reported having attended a twelve-step meeting. Research generally shows that these programs are as effective as, and sometimes more so than, professional treatment. Twelve-step programs have other advantages. Among others, they are anonymous, usually free and voluntary, with the added benefit of 24-hour-a-day guidance and support as needed from group members and a personal sponsor.

From a humble beginning, two men, Bill Wilson and the aforementioned Robert Smith, became the founding fathers of the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous and began a revolution in alcoholic recovery, which, in turn, has been applied to many walks of life. As a consequence, AA principles and philosophy have gained widespread, if not universal, acceptance, and their program of recovery has been adapted for usage in nearly every category within the world of addiction treatment.

References:

1) Alcoholics Anonymous. 2006. Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism. 5th ed. New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services.

2) Humphreys, Keith. 2004. Circles of Recovery: Self-Help Organizations for Addictions. New York: Cambridge University Press.

3) Room, Robin. 1993. "'Healing Ourselves and Our Planet': The Emergence and Nature of a Generalized Twelve-Step Consciousness." Contemporary Drug Problems 19:717-40.

4) Rudy, David R. 1986. Becoming Alcoholic: Alcoholics Anonymous and the Reality of Alcoholism. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

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