Alcoholics Anonymous PSA 1986

achieve sobriety”.[1][2][3] With other early members, Bill Wilson and Bob Smith developed AA’s Twelve Step program of spiritual and character development. AA’s initial Twelve Traditions were introduced in 1946 to help the fellowship be stable and unified while disengaged from “outside issues” and influences.
The Traditions recommend that members and groups remain anonymous in public media, altruistically help other alcoholics, and avoid official affiliations with other organizations. They also advise against dogma and coercive hierarchies. Subsequent fellowships such as Narcotics Anonymous have adopted and adapted the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions to their respective primary purposes.[4][5]
According to AA’s 2014 membership survey, 27% of members have been sober less than one year, 24% have 1–5 years sober, 13% have 5–10 years, 14% have 10–20 years, and 22% have more than 20 years sober.[6] Studies of AA’s efficacy have produced inconsistent results. While some studies have suggested an association between AA attendance and increased abstinence or other positive outcomes,[7][8][9][10][11] other studies have not.[12][13]
The first female member, Florence Rankin, joined AA in March 1937,[14][15] and the first non-Protestant member, a Roman Catholic, joined in 1939.[16] The first Black AA group was established in 1945 in Washington DC by Jim S., an African American physician from Virginia.[17][18] AA membership has since spread internationally “across diverse cultures holding different beliefs and values”, including geopolitical areas resistant to grassroots movements.[19] Close to 2 million people worldwide are members of AA as of 2016.[20]
AA’s name is derived from its first book, informally called “The Big Book”, originally titled Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism.