Page 56 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM 35
cal fraternity. So we shall describe some of the mental
states that precede a relapse into drinking, for ob-
viously this is the crux of the problem.
What sort of thinking dominates an alcoholic who
repeats time after time the desperate experiment of
the first drink? Friends who have reasoned with him
after a spree which has brought him to the point of
divorce or bankruptcy are mystified when he walks
directly into a saloon. Why does he? Of what is he
thinking?
Our first example is a friend we shall call Jim. This
man has a charming wife and family. He inherited a
lucrative automobile agency. He had a commendable
World War record. He is a good salesman. Every-
body likes him. He is an intelligent man, normal so far
as we can see, except for a nervous disposition. He did
no drinking until he was thirty-five. In a few years he
became so violent when intoxicated that he had to be
committed. On leaving the asylum he came into con-
tact with us.
We told him what we knew of alcoholism and the
answer we had found. He made a beginning. His
family was re-assembled, and he began to work as a
salesman for the business he had lost through drink-
ing. All went well for a time, but he failed to enlarge
his spiritual life. To his consternation, he found him-
self drunk half a dozen times in rapid succession. On
each of these occasions we worked with him, review-
ing carefully what had happened. He agreed he was
a real alcoholic and in a serious condition. He knew
he faced another trip to the asylum if he kept on.
Moreover, he would lose his family for whom he had
a deep affection.