001 - THE DOCTOR'S OPINION
If you are working with someone who is unsure, read to page 58 with them, and then decide if they would like to keep going.
Identify and underline with a newcommer what they relate to in the first 60 pages. That will outline the ABC's and develop a relationship of truth.
Reading pages 0 > 60: highlight what you did, what you relate to, any questions you have, and then once you get to page 60 - make a decision. Are you in or out?
If science is your thing, and you think you can find reslove from the medical industry or scientific exploration, then this should interest you. Note that it hasnt been updated for a reason, not because medical technology hasent progressed but because it remains true to this day.
of the plan of recovery described in this book.This is our text book that outlines the plan for us to recover. We study it just like someone would study a science book.
Convincing testimony must surely come from medical men who have had experience with the sufferings of our members and have witnessed our return to health. A well-known doctor, chief physician at a nationally prominent hospital specializing in alcoholic and drug addictionNot just a doctor, a head physician with a big reputation, at a medical facility that's well known to the entire country, and he has devoted his life to learning, studying and treating alcoholism and drug abuse.
, gave Alcoholics Anonymous this letter:To Whom It May Concern:
I have specialized in the treatment of alcoholism for many years.
In late 1934 I attended a patient who, though he had been a competent businessman of good earning capacity, was an alcoholic of a type I had come to regard as hopeless.
That's the doctors opinion of Bill Willson... hopeless.
In the course of his third treatment
This indicates relapse
he acquired certain ideas concerning a possible means of recovery. As part of his rehabilitation he commenced to present his conceptions to other alcoholics, impressing upon them that they must do likewise with still others. This has become the basis of a rapidly growing fellowship of these men and their families. This man and over one hundred others appear to have recovered.I personally know scores of cases who were of the type with whom other methods had failed completely.
Hopeless, like he mentioned in regards to Bill Wilson.
These facts appear to be of extreme medical importance
Its the doctors opinion that what Bill Wilson is writing about in this book is of extreme medical importance
; because of the extraordinary possibilities of rapid growth inherent in this group they may mark a new epoch in the annals of alcoholism. These men may well have a remedy for thousands of such situations.He's basically saying, if the person is alcoholic and hopeless like Bill Wilson, then this book and the fellowship will have the answer - not the medical community.
You may rely absolutely on anything they say about themselves.
Strong words coming from a well-known doctor, chief physician at a nationally prominent hospital specializing in alcoholic and drug addiction...
Very truly yours,
William D. Silkworth, M.D.
