alcoholics anonymous alcoholics anonymous alcoholics anonymous (aa) is an international peer-led mutual aid fellowship dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined twelve step program. following its twelve traditions, aa is non-professional and non-denominational as well as apolitical and unaffiliated. in 2020 aa estimated its worldwide membership to be over two million, with 75% of those in the u.s. and canada. alcoholics anonymousthe book cover of alcoholics anonymous, 4th edition. aa derives its name from the title of this book.nicknameaaformation1935 (1935)founded atakron, ohiotypemutual aid addiction recovery twelve-step programheadquartersnew york, new yorkmembership (2020) 2,100,000key peoplebill wilson, bob smithwebsiteaa.org although aa holds no opinion on the disease model of alcoholism—or on any medical issue, many aa members have taken a large role in making it popular. regarding its effectiveness against alcohol use disorder, a 2020 scientific review saw clinical interventions encouraging increased aa participation resulted in higher abstinence rates over other clinical interventions, and most studies in the review found that aa led to lower health costs. aa dates its start to 1935 with bill wilson (bill w) first commiserating alcoholic to alcoholic with bob smith (dr. bob) who, along with wilson, was active in aa's immediate precursor the christian revivalist oxford group—where they joined other alcoholics in supporting each other until forming a separate fellowship of alcoholics only. in 1939 they published alcoholics anonymous: the story of how more than one hundred men have recovered from alcoholism. known as the "big book" and as the source of aa’s name, it contains aa's twelve step recovery program. subsequent editions included the twelve traditions adopted in 1950 to formalize and unify the fellowship, which wilson called “a benign anarchy”. the twelve steps are presented as a suggested and continuing self-improvement program to effect a spiritual awakening after an alcoholic has conceded powerlessness over alcohol and acknowledged its damage, as well as having listed and strived to correct personal failings and by making amends for misdeeds. the steps then suggest members take other alcoholics through them; though not explicitly prescribed, often by sponsoring other alcoholics. divining and following the will of god "as we understood him" is also urged by the steps, but differing spiritual practices and persuasions, as well as non-theist members, are accepted and accommodated. the twelve traditions are aa's advisory guidelines for members, groups and the rest of its organization. besides making a desire to stop drinking the only membership requirement, the traditions advise against dogma, hierarchies and involvement in public controversies to preserve recovery from alcoholism as aa’s primary purpose. without threat of retribution or means of enforcement, the traditions urge members to remain anonymous in public media. they also wish members or groups to not use aa to gain wealth, property or prestige. the traditions establish aa groups as autonomous and self-supporting through members’ voluntary contributions while rejecting outside donations, and, as with all of aa, should not represent aa as affiliated with or in support of other organizations or causes. with aa's permission, other fellowships such as narcotics anonymous and al-anon have adopted and adapted the twelve steps and the twelve traditions to their addiction recovery programs. history for broader coverage of this topic, see transpersonal psychology. sobriety token or "chip", given for specified lengths of sobriety, on the back is the serenity prayer. here green is for six months of sobriety; purple is for nine months. aa was founded on 10 june 1935; but aa's origins are said to have begun when the renowned psychotherapist carl jung inspired rowland h., an otherwise hopeless drunk, to seek a spiritual solution by sending him to the oxford group—a non-denominational, altruistic christian movement modeled after first-century christianity. ebby thacher, a drinking buddy of wilson's, got sober in that same oxford group and reached out to help his friend. thacher approached wilson saying that he had "got religion", was sober, and that wilson could do the same if he set aside objections and instead formed a personal idea of god, "another power" or "higher power". feeling a "kinship of common suffering", wilson attended his first group gathering, although he was drunk. within days, wilson admitted himself to the charles b. towns hospital after drinking four beers on the way—the last alcohol he ever drank. under the care of william duncan silkworth (an early benefactor of aa), wilson's detox included the deliriant belladonna. at the hospital, a despairing wilson experienced a bright flash of light, which he felt to be god revealing himself. following his hospital discharge, wilson joined the oxford group and tried to recruit other alcoholics to the group. these early efforts to help others kept him sober, but were ineffective in getting anyone else to join the group and get sober. dr. silkworth suggested that wilson place less stress on religion (as required by the oxford group) and more on the science of treating alcoholism. wilson's first success came during a business trip to akron, ohio, where he was introduced to robert smith, a surgeon and oxford group member who was unable to stay sober. after thirty days of working with wilson, smith drank his last drink on 10 june 1935, the date marked by aa for its anniversaries. the first female member, florence rankin, joined aa in march 1937, and the first non-protestant member, a roman catholic, joined in 1939. the first black aa group was established in 1945 in washington, d.c. by jim s., an african-american physician from virginia. several years after 1935, in writing the big book, bill w. developed the twelve steps, influenced by the oxford group's 6 steps, and readings including william james's the varieties of religious experience. the big book, the twelve steps, and the twelve traditions to share their method, wilson and other members wrote the initially-titled book, alcoholics anonymous: the story of how more than one hundred men have recovered from alcoholism, from which aa drew its name. informally known as "the big book" (with its first 164 pages virtually unchanged since the 1939 edition), it suggests a twelve-step program in which members admit that they are powerless over alcohol and need help from a "higher power". they seek guidance and strength through prayer and meditation from god or a higher power of their own understanding; take a moral inventory with care to include resentments; list and become ready to remove character defects; list and make amends to those harmed; continue to take a moral inventory, pray, meditate, and try to help other alcoholics recover. the second half of the book, "personal stories" (subject to additions, removal, and retitling in subsequent editions), is made of aa members' redemptive autobiographical sketches. in 1941, interviews on american radio and favorable articles in us magazines, including a piece by jack alexander in the saturday evening post, led to increased book sales and membership. by 1946, as the growing fellowship quarreled over structure, purpose, and authority, as well as finances and publicity, wilson began to form and promote what became known as aa's "twelve traditions," which are guidelines for an altruistic, unaffiliated, non-coercive, and non-hierarchical structure that limited aa's purpose to only helping alcoholics on a non-professional level while shunning publicity. eventually, he gained formal adoption and inclusion of the twelve traditions in all future editions of the big book. at the 1955 conference in st. louis, missouri, wilson relinquished stewardship of aa to the general service conference, as aa grew to millions of members internationally. organization and finances a regional service center for alcoholics anonymous aa says it is "not organized in the formal or political sense", and bill wilson, borrowing the phrase from anarchist theorist peter kropotkin, called it a "benign anarchy". in ireland, shane butler said that aa "looks like it couldn't survive as there's no leadership or top-level telling local cumanns what to do, but it has worked and proved itself extremely robust". butler explained that "aa's 'inverted pyramid' style of governance has helped it to avoid many of the pitfalls that political and religious institutions have encountered since it was established here in 1946." in 2018, aa counted 2,087,840 members and 120,300 aa groups worldwide. the twelve traditions informally guide how individual aa groups function, and the twelve concepts for world service guide how the organization is structured globally. a member who accepts a service position or an organizing role is a "trusted servant" with terms rotating and limited, typically lasting three months to two years and determined by group vote and the nature of the position. each group is a self-governing entity with aa world services acting only in an advisory capacity. aa is served entirely by alcoholics, except for seven "nonalcoholic friends of the fellowship" of the 21-member aa board of trustees. aa groups are self-supporting, relying on voluntary donations from members to cover expenses. the aa general service office (gso) limits contributions to us$3,000 a year. above the group level, aa may hire outside professionals for services that require specialized expertise or full-time responsibilities. like individual groups, the gso is self-supporting. aa receives proceeds from books and literature that constitute more than 50% of the income for its general service office. in keeping with aa's seventh tradition, the central office is fully self-supporting through the sale of literature and related products, and the voluntary donations of aa members and groups. it does not accept donations from people or organizations outside of aa. in keeping with aa's eighth tradition, the central office employs special workers who are compensated financially for their services, but their services do not include traditional "12th step" work of working with alcoholics in need. all 12th step calls that come to the central office are handed to sober aa members who have volunteered to handle these calls. it also maintains service centers, which coordinate activities such as printing literature, responding to public inquiries, and organizing conferences. other international general service offices (australia, costa rica, russia, etc.) are independent of aa world services in new york. program