Alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous

FOR MANY years, individual physicians have considered alcoholism a disease and tried to convince their colleagues and the public that alcoholics require treatment rather than punishment. It was AA that proved alcoholics could recover. And when the success of AA had been demonstrated, a great deal more interest was generated on the part of the medical profession. A great step was taken toward a possible breakthrough when, in 1956, the American Medical Association officially recognized alcoholism as an illness.