Relapses: Their Causes and Preventions

AS SOON as people hear that a person has become associated with AA they assume that all will be clear sailing. Those who have relapses, or "slips," are considered to be weak-willed, will never make the grade, and are therefore not worth the bother. This is far from the case. A large percentage of those who have relapses make the grade on the second or third try. To say that one who slips is of necessity a moral weakling is to violate our initial premise that alcoholism is a disease. To carry this fallacious line of reasoning to its logical conclusion you would have to hold that a person who has a second attack of pneumonia or pleurisy is morally responsible for his condition. In any number of illnesses, relapses are anticipated in a given percentage of cases.