AA and the disease
concept of alcoholism
Although the idea of
“illness” helped many early
and later members of
Alcoholics Anonymous
(A.A.) to understand their
alcoholism, Alcoholics
Anonymous neither
originated nor promulgated
the disease concept of
alcoholism. The main
contribution of A.A. in this
area was the broadening
of the extant concept to
one of ” threefold” malady
[Spiritual, mental and
physical], with an emphasis
on “the spiritual.”
Examining the political and
medical contexts of the
time as well as A.A.
literature shed light on the
culture’;s changing
understanding of
alcoholism in the second
half of the twentieth
century. Given the issues
and prejudices involved, it
is
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