District 57 of Area 59 in Alcoholics Anonymous

A

AA Clubs:
Facilities available for AA group meetings.

AA General Service Board (a.k.a. the Trustees)
A board composed of fourteen AA trustees and seven nonalcoholic trustees that serves to safeguard AA's Traditions and funds. The board has the responsibility of overseeing the General Service Office (GSO), AA World Services, Inc., and The AA Grapevine, Inc.

AA General Service Conference:
A conference linking the AA groups to the General Service Office and Board. It serves as the group conscience for AA as a whole. Although the conference only meets for six days a year, the 135 conference members are active in conference affairs throughout the year. Conference members are elected as representatives from each of ninety-one area assemblies. The assemblies themselves are elected by General Service Representatives (GSRs) from all AA groups.

AA General Service Office (GSO):
The 'main library' of AA's shared knowledge and experience. It helps AA fulfill its primary purpose by:

1) providing service, information, and AA experience to groups worldwide;
2) publishing and distributing AA books, flyers, fact sheets and pamphlets;
3) supporting the activities of the General Service Board;
4) carrying forward recommendations of the General Service Conference;
5) dealing with the general public.

AA General Service Representative (GSR)
A person who serves as an individual group's link to the General Service Conference. Sometimes called 'the guardians of the Traditions', GSR's are elected form each AA group to represent the group conscience at district meetings and serve on area committees. Delegates from these area committees are then elected to serve as members of the General Service Conference.

A.A. Grapevine, The:
The monthly periodical for AA members available by subscription. 'The Grapevine', as it is usually called, consists of a monthly calendar of AA events, regular features, and special articles on issues and topics of interest to AA members. It is sometimes called 'our meeting in print'.

AA Group:
Any two or more alcoholics gathered together for the purpose of sobriety provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.

AA Preamble:
A statement which briefly explains the purpose of AA. The preamble is read at the beginning of most AA meetings. It is based on a portion of the foreword to the first edition of the Big Book.

AA World Services, Inc.:
AA World Services, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation which manages the AA General Service Office, publishes all AA literature and serves groups in foreign countries that do not have national headquarters of their own.

AA's Primary Purpose:
To stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

A Vision for You:
The title of chapter 11 of the Big Book. This phrase is often used to refer to the last three paragraphs of chapter 11 and is sometimes read at AA meetings.

ABC's, The:
From a portion of Chapter 5 of the Big Book. These are three basic concepts for AA's to master before progressing to Step Three:

a) that we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives;

b) that probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism;

c) that God could and would if He were sought.

Abstinence:
Not drinking any alcohol at all. Abstinence, AAs believe, is the only treatment for the disease of alcoholism.

Acceptance:
One of AA's primary principles. AA members strive to accept the things in life which we can not change, including our own alcoholism and inability to drink normally.

Alcoholic Grandiosity:
This phrase refers to an alcoholic's insistence on having his or her own way regardless of the will of the Higher Power or the demands of reality. It is self-will run riot.

Alcoholic Insanity:
An untrue belief held by some alcoholics that they can control their drinking or that somehow, someday that will be able to drink normally.

Alcoholism:
While there is no formal 'AA definition' of alcoholism, most of us agree that, for us, it could be described as a physical compulsion, coupled with a mental obsession. We mean that we had a distinct physical desire to consume alcohol beyond our capacity to control it, and in defiance of all the rules of common sense. We not only had an abnormal craving for alcohol, but we frequently yielded to it at the worst possible times. We did not know when (or how) to stop drinking.

The American Medical Association formally recognized alcoholism as a disease in 1972. In 1956, it had classified alcoholism as a 'treatable illness.' Alcoholism results from a genetic predisposition working in combination with psychological and environmental factors. There is no cure. Abstinence is the only treatment.

Definition of Alcoholism
Approved by the Boards of Directors of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (February 3, 1990) and the American Society of Addiction Medicine (February 25, 1990).

Alcoholism is a primary, chronic disease with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. The disease is often progressive and fatal. It is characterized by continuous or periodic: impaired control over drinking, preoccupation with the drug alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences, and distortions in thinking, most notably denial.
Primary refers to the nature of alcoholism as a disease entity in addition to and separate from other path physiologic states which may be associated with it. Primary suggests that alcoholism, as an addiction, is not a symptom of an underlying disease state.
Disease means an involuntary disability. It represents the sum of the abnormal phenomena displayed by a group of individuals. These phenomena are associated with a specified common set of characteristics by which these individuals differ from the norm, and which places them at a disadvantage.
Often progressive and fatal means that the disease persists over time and that physical, emotional, and social changes are often cumulative and may progress as drinking continues.
Alcoholism causes premature death through overdose, organic complications involving the brain, liver, heart and many other organs, and by contributing to suicide, homicide, motor vehicle crashes, and other traumatic events.
Impaired control means the inability to limit alcohol use or to consistently limit on any drinking occasion the duration of the episode, the quantity consumed, and/or the behavioral consequences of drinking.
Preoccupation in association with alcohol use indicates excessive, focused attention given to the drug alcohol, its effects, and/or its use. The relative value thus assigned to alcohol by the individual often leads to a diversion of energies away from important life concerns.
Adverse consequences are alcohol-related problems or impairments in such areas as: physical health (e.g., alcohol withdrawal syndromes, liver disease, gastritis, anemia, neurological disorders); psychological functioning (e.g., impairments in cognition, changes in mood and behavior); interpersonal functioning (e.g., marital problems and child abuse, impaired social relationships); occupational functioning (e.g., scholastic or job problems); and legal, financial, or spiritual problems.
Denial is used here not only in the psychoanalytic sense of a single psychological defense mechanism disavowing the significance of events, but more broadly to include a range of psychological maneuvers designed to reduce awareness of the fact that alcohol use is the cause of an individual's problems rather than a solution to those problems. Denial becomes an integral part of the disease and a major obstacle to recovery.

Alcoholism as a Progressive Disease:
The term 'progressive' is used to describe alcoholism because, as a rule, it only gets worse over time.

Alcoholism as a Threefold Illness:
The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous describes alcoholism as a disease of the body, mind and spirit.

Alcoholism Cure:
There is no known cure for alcoholism. There is one known recognized time-proven treatment; abstinence. Abstinence is made possible one day at a time through membership in AA.

Amends:
Doing what we can to repair the damage that our past behavior has caused. Making amends is an essential part of Twelve Step recovery. In accordance with AA's Ninth Step and Tenth Step, we make direct amends to people we have harmed in the past and to those we continue to harm.

An Easier, Softer Way:
This phrase is taken from chapter 5 of the Big Book, 'We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not.' Some AA members attempt to find an easier, softer way to recover from alcoholism than having to work the Twelve Steps.

Anger, Justifiable:
Anger that we feel justified in holding on to because of the circumstances. According to the Big Book, there is no justification for remaining angry about anything. Often we 'justify' the anger so we don't have to look at ourselves and our own part in creating it. The Twelve and Twelve reminds us, 'It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us. If somebody hurts us and we are sore, we are in the wrong also. But are there no exceptions to this rule' What about 'justifiable' anger? If somebody cheats us, aren't we entitled to be mad' Can't we be properly angry with self-righteous folk? For us of AA, these are dangerous exceptions. We have found that justified anger ought to be left to those better qualified to handle it. Anger, though inevitable on occasion, should be felt and then released as soon as possible lest it turn into a resentment. When someone offends, we should say to ourselves 'this is a sick person, too. How can I be helpful?'

Anniversary (a.k.a. Birthday):
The anniversary of the date on which an AA member stopped drinking. The term 'anniversary' is generally used in the East and Midwest, and the term 'birthday' is used in the West and Southwest to mean the same thing.

Anonymity:
The AA concept of anonymity is expressed in this saying, 'Who you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here, let it stay here.' Anonymity is so important to AA that the word 'Anonymous' is part of its name. To break anonymity is to reveal one?s own membership or someone else's membership in AA or to repeat something that was said by someone in an AA meeting. There are only four reasons for breaking you own anonymity: 1) to help yourself stay sober; 2) to help someone else stay sober; 3) someone in your life has a need to know; 4) to avoid telling a lie.

Antabuse:
An oral prescription drug that makes a person violently ill if he drinks alcohol. Antabuse is the brand name for disulfiram.