General Service Office of AA (INDIA)  
  Location / Meetings  
 
Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
  
     
   
     
Is A.A. for Me?  
 

12 Questions only you can answer -

Only you can decide whether you want to give A.A. a try-whether you think it can help you.
We who are in A.A. came because we finally gave up trying to control our drinking. We still hated to admit that we could never drink safely. Then we heard from other A.A. members that we were sick. (We thought so for years!) We found out that many people suffered from the same feelings of guilt and loneliness and hopelessness that we did. We found out that we had these feelings because we had the disease of alcoholism. We decided to try and face up to what alcohol had done to us. Here are some of the questions we tried to answer honestly. If we answered YES to four or more questions, we were in deep trouble with our drinking. See how you do. Remember, there is no disgrace in facing up to the fact that you have a problem.

 
     
  Answer YES or NO to the following questions.  
     
 
1.  
Have you ever decided to stop drinking for a week or so, but only lasted for a couple of days?
Most of us in A.A. made all kinds of promises to ourselves and to our families. We could not keep them. Then we came to A.A. A.A. said: "Just try not to drink today." (If you do not drink today, you cannot get drunk today.) Yes / No
   
2.  
Do you wish people would mind their own business about your drinking-- stop telling you what to do?
In A.A. we do not tell anyone to do anything. We just talk about our own drinking, the trouble we got into, and how we stopped. We will be glad to help you, if you want us to. Yes/ No
   
3.  
Have you ever switched from one kind of drink to another in the hope that this would keep you from getting drunk?
We tried all kinds of ways. We made our drinks weak. Or just drank beer. Or we did not drink cocktails. Or only drank on weekends. You name it, we tried it. But if we drank anything with alcohol in it, we usually got drunk eventually. Yes / No
   
4.  
Have you had to have an eye-opener upon awakening during the past year?
Do you need a drink to get started, or to stop shaking? This is a pretty sure sign that you are not drinking "socially." Yes / No
   
5.  
Do you envy people who can drink without getting into trouble?
At one time or another, most of us have wondered why we were not like most people, who really can take it or leave it. Yes / No
   
6.   Have you had problems connected with drinking during the past year?
Be honest! Doctors say that if you have a problem with alcohol and keep on drinking, it will get worse -- never better. Eventually, you will die, or end up in an institution for the rest of your life. The only hope is to stop drinking. Yes / No
     
7.   Has your drinking caused trouble at home?
Before we came into A.A., most of us said that it was the people or problems at home that made us drink. We could not see that our drinking just made everything worse. It never solved problems anywhere or anytime. Yes / No
     
8.   Do you ever try to get "extra" drinks at a party because you do not get enough?
Most of us used to have a "few" before we started out if we thought it was going to be that kind of party. And if drinks were not served fast enough, we would go some place else to get more. Yes / No
     
9.   Do you tell yourself you can stop drinking any time you want to, even though you keep getting drunk when you don't mean to?
Many of us kidded ourselves into thinking that we drank because we wanted to. After we came into A.A., we found out that once we started to drink, we couldn't stop. Yes/ No
     

10.

   Have you missed days of work or school because of drinking?
Many of us admit now that we "called in sick" lots of times when the truth was that we were hung-over or on a drunk. Yes /No
     
11.   Do you have "blackouts"?
A "blackout" is when we have been drinking hours or days which we cannot remember. When we came to A.A., we found out that this is a pretty sure sign of alcoholic drinking. Yes/ No
     
12.   Have you ever felt that your life would be better if you did not drink?
Many of us started to drink because drinking made life seem better, at least for a while. By the time we got into A.A., we felt trapped. We were drinking to live and living to drink. We were sick and tired of being sick and tired. Yes/ No
     
 
  WHAT'S YOUR SCORE?
  
     
 

Did you answer YES four or more times? If so, you are probably in trouble with alcohol. Why do we say this? Because thousands of people in A.A. have said so for many years. They found out the truth about themselves - the hard way.

But again, only you can decide whether you think A.A. is for you. Try to keep an open mind on the subject. If the answer is YES, we will be glad to show you how we stopped drinking ourselves..

A.A. does not promise to solve your life's problems. But we can show you how we are learning to live without drinking "one day at a time." We stay away from that "first drink." If there is no first one, there cannot be a tenth one. And when we got rid of alcohol, we found that life became much more manageable.

  
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  ABOUT US  
     
 
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international fellowship of men and women who once had a drinking problem. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, nondenominational, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or educational requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem.
 
     
  WHAT DOES A.A. DO?  
     
 
  1. A.A. members share their experience with anyone seeking help with a drinking problem; they give person-to-person service or "sponsorship" to the alcoholic coming to A.A. from any source.
  2. The A.A. programme, set forth in our Twelve Steps, offers the alcoholic a way to develop a satisfying life without alcohol.
  3. This programme is discussed at A.A. group meetings.
    • Open speaker meetings-open to alcoholics and non alcoholics. (Attendance at an open A.A. meeting is the best way to learn what A.A. is, what it does, and what it does not do.) At speaker meetings, A.A. members "tell their stories." They describe their experiences with alcohol, how they came to A.A., and how their lives have changed as a result of A.A.
    • Open discussion meetings-one member speaks briefly about his or her drinking experience, and then leads a discussion on A.A. recovery or any drinking-related problem anyone brings up.(Closed meetings are for A.A.s or anyone who may have a drinking problem.)
    • Closed discussion meetings-conducted just as open discussions are, but for alcoholics or prospective A.A.s only.
    • Step meetings (usually closed)-discussion of one of the Twelve Steps.
    • A.A. members also take meetings into correctional and treatment facilities.
    • A.A. members may be asked to conduct the informational meetings about A.A. as a part of A.S.A.P. (Alcohol Safety Action Project) and D.W.I. (Driving While Intoxicated) programme. These meetings about A.A. are not regular A.A. group meetings.
  
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  WHAT A.A. DOES NOT DO ?  
     
 
  1. Furnish initial motivation for alcoholics to recover
  2. Solicit members
  3. Engage in or sponsor research
  4. Keep attendance records or case histories
  5. Join "councils" of social agencies
  6. Follow up or try to control its members
  7. Make medical or psychological diagnoses or prognoses
  8. Provide drying-out or nursing services, hospitalization, drugs, or any medical or psychiatric treatment
  9. Offer religious services
  10. Engage in education about alcohol
  11. Provide housing, food, clothing, jobs, money, or any other welfare or social services
  12. Provide domestic or vocational counselling
  13. Accept any money for its services, or any contributions from non-A.A. sources
  14. Provide letters of reference to parole boards, lawyers, court officials, social agencies, employers, etc.
 
     
  CONCLUSION:  
     
 
The primary purpose of A.A. is to carry our message of recovery to the alcoholic seeking help. Almost every alcoholism treatment tries to help the alcoholic maintain sobriety. Regardless of the road we follow, we all head for the same destination, recovery of the alcoholic person. Together, we can do what none of us could accomplish alone. We can serve as a source of personal experience and be an ongoing support system for recovering alcoholics.
  
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  12 seteps of AA  
     
 

The relative success of the A.A. programme seems to be due to the fact that an alcoholic who no longer drinks has an exceptional faculty for "reaching" and helping an uncontrolled drinker.

In simplest form, the A.A. programme operates when a recovered alcoholic passes along the story of his or her own problem drinking, describes the sobriety he or she has found in A.A., and invites the newcomer to join the informal Fellowship.

The heart of the suggested programme of personal recovery is contained in Twelve Steps describing the experience of the earliest members of the Society:

  1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
  2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
  4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
  5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
  6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
  7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
  8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
  9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
  10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
  11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
  12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Newcomers are not asked to accept or follow these Twelve Steps in their entirety if they feel unwilling or unable to do so.

They will usually be asked to keep an open mind, to attend meetings at which recovered alcoholics describe their personal experiences in achieving sobriety, and to read A.A. literature describing and interpreting the A.A. programme.

 
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  12 Traditions of AA  
     
 
During its first decade, A.A. as a fellowship accumulated substantial experience which indicated that certain group attitudes and principles were particularly valuable in assuring survival of the informal structure of the Fellowship. In 1946, in the Fellowship's international journal, the A.A. Grapevine, these principles were reduced to writing by the founders and early members as the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. They were accepted and endorsed by the membership as a whole at the International Convention of A.A., at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1950.
  1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.
  2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
  3. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.
  4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.
  5. Each group has but one primary purpose-to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
  6. An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
  7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
  8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
  9. A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
  10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
  11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio,T.V.and films.
  12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
While the Twelve Traditions are not specifically binding on any group or groups, an overwhelming majority of members have adopted them as the basis for A.A.'s expanding "internal" and public relationships.
 
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  PR Policy  
     
 

In all public relationships, A.A.'s sole objective is to help the still-suffering alcoholic. Always mindful of the importance of personal anonymity, we believe this can be done by making known to him, and to those who may be interested in his problem, our own experience as individuals and as a fellowship in learning to live without alcohol.

We believe that our experience should be made available freely to all who express sincere interest. We believe further that all our efforts in this field should always reflect our gratitude for the gift of sobriety and our awareness that many outside A.A. are equally concerned with the serious problem of alcoholism.

This statement reflects a long-standing A.A. tradition of not seeking publicity for promotional purposes, but of always being willing to cooperate with representatives of all media who seek information about the recovery program or about the structure of the Fellowship.

In India, information and public relations matters affecting the Fellowship of A.A. as a whole are the concern of the General Service Board (India) & the Public Information Committee of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Reporters are welcome at A.A. open meetings, dinners, regional get-togethers, or similar gatherings of recovered alcoholics. The only restriction is a request not to disclose the name of any A.A. member. (For obvious reasons, photographs cannot be taken at A.A. meetings.)

  
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  Messages  
     
  Messages to Teenagers  
     
 

How to tell when drinking is becoming a problem ?

ALCOHOLISM:
Alcoholism is a rough word to deal with.Yet nobody is too young (or too old) to have trouble with booze. That's because alcoholism is an illness. It can hit anyone. Young, old. Rich, poor. Black, white. And it doesn't matter how long you've been drinking or what you've been drinking. It's what drinking does to you that counts.
To help you decide whether you might have a problem with your own drinking, we've prepared these 12 questions. The answers are nobody's business but your own.
If you can answer yes to any one of these questions, maybe it's time you took a serious look at what your drinking might be doing to you. And, if you do need help or if you'd just like to talk to someone about your drinking, call us.

We're in the phone book under Alcoholics Anonymous.

A Simple 12-Question Quiz designed To Help You Decide

  1. Do you drink because you have problems? To relax?
  2. Do you drink when you get mad at other people, your friends or parents?
  3. Do you prefer to drink alone, rather than with others?
  4. Are your grades starting to slip? Are you goofing off on your job?
  5. Did you ever try to stop drinking or drink less - and fail?
  6. Have you begun to drink in the morning, before school or work?
  7. Do you gulp your drinks?
  8. Do you ever have loss of memory due to your drinking?
  9. Do you lie about your drinking?
  10. Do you ever get into trouble when you're drinking?
  11. Do you get drunk when you drink, even when you don't mean to?
  12. Do you think it's cool to be able to hold your liquor?
 
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  Anonimity Letter to Media  
     
 

Managing Editors; News Reporters and Photo Directors; Radio and Television Editors and Producers; Television Talk Show Hosts

* only by first name
* using no recognizable picture.

Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our Fellowship and assures our members that their recovery will be private. Often, the active alcoholic will avoid any source of help which might reveal his or her identity.

Alcoholics Anonymous is not affiliated to any other organization, although many have adapted A.A.'s Twelve Steps for their own use. A.A. is self-supporting, declining any outside contributions; and we are non-professional, offering only the voluntary support of one alcoholic helping another.

Throughout the world, favourable media coverage has been a principal means of bringing alcoholics into our Fellowship. You have helped make this possible, and for that we thank you.

  
     
   
     
  FAQ  
     
 
This article is intended for people approaching Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) for the first time. In it we have tried to answer the questions most frequently in the minds of newcomers-the questions which were in our minds when we first approached the Fellowship.

AM I AN ALCOHOLIC?
If you repeatedly drink more than you intend or want to, if you get into trouble, or if you have memory lapses when you drink, you may be an alcoholic.Only you can decide. No one in A.A. will tell you whether you are or not.

WHAT CAN I DO IF I AM WORRIED ABOUT MY DRINKING?
Seek help. Alcoholics Anonymous can help.

WHAT IS ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS?
We are a Fellowship of men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking and have found ourselves in various kinds of trouble as a result of drinking. We attempt-most of us successfully-to create a satisfying way of life without alcohol. For this we find we need the help and support of other alcoholics in A.A.

IF I GO TO AN A.A. MEETING, DOES THAT COMMIT ME TO ANYTHING?
No. A.A. does not keep membership files, or attendance records. You do not have to reveal anything about yourself. No one will bother you if you don't want to come back.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I MEET PEOPLE I KNOW?
They will be there for the same reason you are there. They will not disclose your identity to outsiders. At A.A. you retain as much anonymity as you wish. That is one of the reasons we call ourselves Alcoholics Anonymous.

WHAT HAPPENS AT AN A.A. MEETING?
An A.A. meeting may take one of several forms, but at any meeting you will find alcoholics talking about what drinking did to their lives and personalities, what actions they took to help themselves, and how they are living their lives today.

HOW CAN THIS HELP ME WITH MY DRINKING PROBLEM?
We in A.A. know what it is like to be addicted to alcohol, and to be unable to keep promises made to others and ourselves that we will stop drinking. We are not professional therapists. Qualification for helping others to recover from alcoholism is that we have stopped drinking ourselves, but problem drinkers coming to us know that recovery is possible because they see people who have done it.

WHY DO A.A.S KEEP ON GOING TO MEETINGS AFTER THEY ARE CURED?
We in A.A. believe there is no such thing as a cure for alcoholism. We can never return to normal drinking, and our ability to stay away from alcohol depends on maintaining our physical,mental, and spiritual health. This we can achieve by going to meetings regularly and putting into practice what we learn there. In addition, we find it helps us to stay sober if we help other alcoholics.

HOW DO I JOIN A.A.?
You are an A.A. member if and when you say so. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking, and many of us were not very wholehearted about that when we first approached A.A.
 
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  Contact information  
     
 

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
Address:

General Service Office of India,
P.O. Box No. 16958,
Byculla, Mumbai - 400 027.
Telephone:

91-22-2307 5134
Helpline:

91-22-2301 6767
Fax:

91-22-2301 1517
E-mail:

gsoindia@vsnl.com

gsoindia@gmail.com

 
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