Does AA Have a Future?

In 1968, fresh out of medical school and residency, I was assigned to work with a group of alcoholics whom no one had been able to help. Having no experience with alcoholism, I tried the usual tools of the psychiatric trade, to no avail. I had heard about AA, and out of sheer frustration--people were dying, and nobody was getting better--I called the local central office. That first experience was not a complete success. The two men who came to talk with my group members didn't spend much time telling me about the program, and all the alcoholics in my group thought AA would be fine for someone else. They worked hard to persuade me that more Librium was a much better bet!