See Also: alcoholics anonymous(medicine)
Alcoholics Anonymous(dictionary)
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)(encyclopedia)
Alcoholics Anonymous(health)
anonymous(dictionary)
anonymous(dictionary)
ANONYMOUS(law)
Anonymous order(finance)
testing, anonymous(medicine)
Anonymous testing(health)

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) (sh)




Voluntary fellowship of people suffering from alcoholism who seek to become and stay sober through mutual self-help by meeting in local, independent groups to share their common experience.

Anonymity, confidentiality, and understanding of alcoholism as a disease free members to speak frankly. Many consider AA to be the most successful method of coping with alcoholism; participation raises the chances of success of other treatments. Its 12 steps to recovery include acknowledgment of the problem, faith in a "higher power" as understood by each individual, self-examination, and a desire to change for the better and to help others recover. Begun in 1935 by two alcoholics, AA has grown to some 2 million members worldwide. Similar organizations for abusers of other substances and for habitual gamblers and debtors are based on its principles.