A BRIEF HISTORY OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
Alcoholics Anonymous began in 1935 in Akron, Ohio, as a result of a meeting between Bill W., a New York stockbroker, and Dr. Bob S., a surgeon. They were both alcoholics considered irrecoverable.
Before they met, they had both had contact with the Oxford groups, a society made up of non-alcoholic people who sought to apply universal spiritual values to their daily lives. Bill W. had managed to get sober a few months before as a result of the power of these spiritual values and the help of his old friend Ebby T., who for the same reason had managed to stop drinking and remained sober by working with other alcoholics. Although he hadn't managed to get any of these alcoholics to stop drinking, he had found that he strengthened his own sobriety whenever he tried to help others.
Dr. Bob, however, despite his contact with the Oxford groups, couldn't stop drinking. But when he met Bill, it had an immediate effect: this time he was face to face with a fellow alcoholic who had managed to stop drinking and who explained to him that alcoholism was a mental, emotional and physical illness. Bill repeated what Dr. William D. Silkworth had told him at Towns Hospital in New York, where he had been admitted several times. Despite being a doctor, Dr. Bob didn't know that alcoholism was a disease, but Bill's arguments convinced him, and he quickly achieved sobriety, never drinking again. The date of the beginning of his sobriety, June 10th, was adopted by the fellowship as " A.A. Founder’s Day".
The two began working with inpatient alcoholics at Akron City Hospital and soon a patient achieved sobriety. Although the name Alcoholics Anonymous did not yet exist, these three men were the core of the first A.A. group. In the fall of 1935, the second group started in New York and the third started in Cleveland in 1939. It took more than four years before it was possible to count the first 100 sober alcoholics in these founding groups.
At the beginning of 1939, the Fellowship published its basic text, contained in the book "Alcoholics Anonymous". This book sets out the philosophy and methods of A.A., the essence of which can be found in the now well-known Twelve Steps of recovery. The book also included the life stories of 30 recovering alcoholics.
As a result of various articles published in the press, by the end of 1939 there were already 2,000 members of A.A. and, by the end of 1941, the number had risen to more than 6,000, divided into huge groups that were being set up all over the United States. The growth of A.A. in the following years was unimaginable, as the movement spread across the American continent and beyond, with around 100,000 recovering alcoholics around the world in the 1950s. Despite this growth, there was a great deal of concern about the future of the movement, given the lack of basic lines of action to keep the members together. By 1946, however, it was possible to draw solid conclusions about the kind of attitudes, practices and workings that would best serve A.A.'s purpose. These principles that emerged from the groups' significant challenges were compiled into what are today the "Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous" and were adopted by the elected representatives (delegates) of the members at the 1st International Convention of A.A. held in Cleveland in 1950.
Dr. Bob, who had helped more than 5,000 alcoholics at Akron Hospital, died on November 16, 1950.
Bill W. dedicated himself until his death (January 24, 1971) to organizing a service structure that would last beyond the lifetime of A.A.'s founders, while at the same time, based on their collective experience, writing essential works of A.A. literature that continue to serve members and the fellowship. Today it is estimated that there are more than 2,000,000 recovering alcoholics in A.A. in around 180 countries.
If it weren't for the help of friends, Alcoholics Anonymous might never have existed. And without a number of well-meaning people who dedicated their time and effort, namely people from the fields of medicine, religion and the media, A.A. would not have grown and prospered. The Fellowship records its constant gratitude here.
Since those early days, A.A. has become truly global. This has shown that the A.A. way of life today goes beyond most barriers of race, creed and language.
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History of a.a. in portugal
The origins of A.A. in Portugal are rather vague, as the first members left no written accounts or testimonies about that period. It is known, however, that before April 1974 there were already A.A. members in Portugal.
Alcoholics Anonymous seems to have been introduced to Portugal by an Englishman living in Lisbon who had got to know A.A. during a detox in his home country. On his return to Portugal, he passed on the message of recovery to an old "drinking" friend, the architect Guilherme S., to whom he told how he had met A.A. and how he had stopped drinking. Guili, as the architect was known, also stopped drinking and the two of them started meeting regularly, sometimes at each other's houses. They soon started helping other alcoholics, which led to the spread, albeit on a small scale, of the A.A. recovery program in Portugal.
Although in its early stages, A.A. had already taken root, especially in Lisbon. Consulting all available sources, we can present the following chronology:
1956
In 1956, the total number of A.A. members were known to be 2.
1957-1972
From 1957 to 1972, the number of members was between 2 and 12, in English speaking groups distributed between Lisbon and the Lajes Base.
1972
From 1972 to 1977 there were some isolated members and the so-called "Lisbon International Group" of Corpo Santo had already been created.
In 1972, an Englishman called Reg W. came to Portugal from Brazil and began holding regular meetings in the Corpo Santo room in Lisbon. It is believed that this was the first official A.A. group in our country and that it was called the Lisbon International Group. Reg was thus the true founder of the Corpo Santo Group, although he was practically an isolated member for many years.
1975
In 1975, an A.A. member from the United States called Ed L. came to Portugal and immediately started spreading the A.A. message in hospitals (particularly in the Casa de Saúde do Telhal), voluntary associations and to some doctors. Through Dr. Aires Gameiro, a priest psychologist at the Casa de Saúde do Telhal, he began holding meetings there for inpatients. This was how the first Portuguese-speaking A.A. members began to appear, although none of them had achieved sobriety. The meetings were conducted in English, and Ed translated its content into Portuguese.
1978
In 1978, Ed passed on the A.A. message to a Portuguese man, Jorge L., who stopped drinking and began to accompany him on visits to Telhal Hospital. The first Portuguese members of the International Group of Corpo Santo began to appear.
In October 1978, Alcoholics Anonymous Lisbon attended the VI Congress of Social Psychiatry with an A.A. literature and information stand, with the presence of four A.A. members. Ed L. gave his testimony about the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program.
Shortly after the congress, Norman, another member living in Porto, founded the Porto A.A. Group with Argentil S. in 1978.
Meanwhile, in Portimão, in the Algarve, there had already been an English-speaking A.A. group since at least 1977. This group tried unsuccessfully to bring the A.A. message to Portuguese alcoholics in the south.
Ed L. left Portugal, but Jorge L. continued to visit the Casa de Saúde do Telhal, sharing his experience of recovery with the inpatients, whose work was always supported by Dr. Aires Gameiro and Dr. Pistachini Galvão. The former spoke about A.A.'s Twelve-Step program in group sessions and encouraged patients to read A.A. literature.
1979
In June 1979, the Corpo Santo A.A. Group was officially created with meetings held on Mondays and Thursdays at 9pm.
In November 1979, at the A.A. First Ibero-American Meeting, Brazil decided to sponsor the movement in Portugal, sending notices for the following meetings (in 1981 and 1983 respectively) to two fellows from Portugal and maintaining correspondence with them. This support consisted essentially on sending free literature to start up new groups and exempting orders of literature from Portugal from paying postage.
1984
In 1984, the Corpo Santo A.A. Group was given a new lease of life with new members brought in by family members or by referrals from doctors, friends of A.A., including Dr. Leitão de Barros, psychologists Dr. Aires Gameiro and Dr. Margarida Cordo and, since 1985/86, Dr. Joaquim M. Carrilho.
1989
In 1989, the first rough structure of A.A. services was created in Portugal, integrating the existing groups from Lisbon and the surrounding area. The integration of these groups into a common structure, through the existing Intergroup representatives, was intended to ensure basic A.A. services, namely literature, telephone, and hospitals. One of the first concerns was the translation into European Portuguese of the A.A. Literature approved at the conference, as many A.A. members found it difficult to identify with certain Brazilian expressions. It was soon realized that the basis of recovery had to be based on the A.A. Recovery Program as described in the literature, and so we began translating the basic leaflets and, later, the basic text of "Alcoholics Anonymous", which was edited and published for the first time in Portugal in 1994.
The experience of the Lisbon Intergroup created a clear awareness that the service structure, no matter how basic, had to be extended to the other Groups in the north of Portugal, otherwise it would be the Lisbon Groups that would make the decisions for A.A. as a whole at national level.
1990-1995
In 1992, the idea of bringing together and sharing the experiences of all the A.A. groups in Portugal paved the way for the first nationwide convention, under the theme "Unity for growth", which, for the first time, was attended by members of the then existing groups in the country. Shortly afterwards, in 1993, the Northern Intergroup was created along the same lines as the Lisbon one. After the experiences of the Lisbon and Oporto intergroups, the first four A.A. conventions in Portugal (two in the Lisbon district and two in the North) and a number of meetings and service forums that strengthened the common unity and sharing of experiences between all the groups, the existing Alcoholics Anonymous groups in Portugal decided to create an Assembly of Representatives that functioned in 1994 and 1995.
In the meantime, Alcoholics Anonymous in Portugal was formally invited to take part in the European Service Meeting, although it did not yet have the means to be self-sufficient. Two European delegates from Portugal became regular members of this 1989 meeting, even though two A.A. members had already taken part in the First European Service Meeting in 1981, albeit without continuity. The principle of self-sufficiency has been respected since 1999.
At the same time, two A.A. members from Portugal were invited by Alcoholics Anonymous Spain to participate regularly as observers at their General Services Conference, which greatly contributed to opening up perspectives in terms of what would soon become the A.A. Service structure in Portugal. This contact also gave rise to Portugal's formal request for sponsorship from Spain.
1995
In October 1995, with the sponsorship of Alcoholics Anonymous from Spain, the Assembly of Representatives decided to become a General Service Assembly, thus beginning to have a common and permanent structure of General Services of Alcoholics Anonymous in Portugal, adopting the first Regulations and establishing the General Service Board.
1997
Convinced of the benefits of fully institutionalizing such a general service structure, in light of and respecting the Traditions of A.A., as well as matured by their own experience and strengthened by the example followed in other countries, the General Services Representatives of the 45 existing Alcoholics Anonymous Groups in Portugal, meeting in an Assembly in Colares on October 5, 1997, decided to establish the Conference of General Services of Alcoholics Anonymous of Portugal, thus proceeding to the definitive legalization of the structure that serves the A.A. Fellowship in Portugal, which is guided by the general principles contained in the Constitutive Charter of the Conference of General Service of Alcoholics Anonymous of Portugal.
1999
From April 30 to May 2, 1999, the 1st Conference of General Services of Alcoholics Anonymous of Portugal was held in Colares, under the theme "Serving Together to Grow".