What's the difference between open and closed meetings? Can family or friends come?
In short:
- Today's definitions come from The A.A. Group (P-16, 2018). Closed meetings are "for A.A. members only, or for those who have a drinking problem and 'have a desire to stop drinking.'" Open meetings are available to anyone interested in A.A.'s program, and "Nonalcoholics may attend open meetings as observers." (P-16, 2018).
- So family and friends can come to open meetings. Closed meetings are for alcoholics.
- The 1939 text has no such distinction. The first weekly meeting it describes was for "anyone or everyone interested in a spiritual way of life" (p. 160), and wives came too (p. 160).
- The distinction grew up later and unevenly. In 1946 Bill W. described some groups that kept out even wives and others that held public meetings (P-17, "Anonymity", 1946). Akron's meetings were open; closed meetings came later (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980).
The 1939 picture
Chapter 11 describes the fellowship in "a certain western city" (p. 153), Akron (p. 156, later footnote), as it was when the book was written. Members met informally in each other's homes most evenings, and it became customary to "set apart one night a week for a meeting" (p. 159), open to anyone or everyone interested in a spiritual way of life. Its prime object was "to provide a time and place where new people might bring their problems" (p. 160).
The home where that meeting was held was open to families. "Many a distracted wife has visited this house to find loving and understanding companionship among women who knew her problem" (p. 160). A new man and his wife would leave "elated by the thought of what they could now do for some stricken acquaintance and his family" (p. 161), and families drove long distances to be there (p. 161).
The 1939 text doesn't use the words "open meeting" or "closed meeting."
1946: groups did it differently
In his 1946 essay on anonymity, Bill W. describes the range. Some groups, especially newer ones, acted like secret societies and did not want "preachers, doctors, or even their wives at any of their meetings" (P-17, "Anonymity", 1946). Others held public or semipublic meetings with members speaking on the platform.
Bill thought too much caution was a mistake. Groups that held no meetings except those for alcoholics only, year after year, would grow slowly: "Such groups are apt to grow slowly." (P-17, "Anonymity", 1946). In the usual course, "Little by little some meetings are opened to families and close friends." (P-17, "Anonymity", 1946), and clergymen and doctors are invited now and then.
How closed meetings came about (a later account)
Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers (1980) gives Akron's history as the old-timers remembered it. Dr. Bob didn't want separate meetings at first, because husbands and wives had been separated long enough; one old-timer recalled, "Doc didn't believe in closed meetings." (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980). As single men and women alcoholics began coming in, there was friction with the wives, and that led to closed meetings for alcoholics only and open meetings at which the nonalcoholic wives were not allowed to speak. Later came "open discussion meetings" where wives and other nonmembers could take part.
By 1957 Bill could write that doctors and clergy "are often seen at A.A.'s open meetings" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957).
Today's definitions (2018)
The A.A. Group (P-16): - The purpose of all group meetings, quoting the Preamble, is for members to share their experience, strength and hope with each other. - Closed: for A.A. members only, or for those with a drinking problem who have a desire to stop drinking. - Open: available to anyone interested in A.A.'s program of recovery from alcoholism; nonalcoholics may attend as observers. - At both kinds, the chair may ask that discussion keep to recovery from alcoholism. Meetings are "conducted by A.A. members who determine the format of their meetings" (P-16, 2018).
The pamphlet doesn't say which meetings must be open or closed; each group decides, under its own autonomy.
For families who want help of their own, the Big Book's later-edition note points to Al-Anon Family Groups, "entirely separate from Alcoholics Anonymous" (p. 121). See Is Al-Anon part of A.A.?
Read it yourself
- Chapter 11, "A Vision for You" (pp. 151–164): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt11.pdf
- P-17, A.A. Tradition — How It Developed ("Anonymity"): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/assets/p-17_AATraditions.pdf
- P-16, The A.A. Group ("The Difference Between Open and Closed A.A. Meetings," p. 13): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/p-16_0723.pdf
- Related: What happens at an A.A. meeting? · Is what I say at a meeting kept private?
Sources
| Source | Pages | First published |
|---|---|---|
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 11, "A Vision for You" | 159–161 | 1939 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 8, later-edition note on Al-Anon | 121 | added in a later edition (Al-Anon formed "about thirteen years" after 1939, the note says) |
| P-17, "Anonymity" | — | 1946 |
| A.A. Comes of Age | — | 1957 |
| Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers | — | 1980 |
| P-16, The A.A. Group | 13 | 2018 |
Big Book page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001). Our copies of the history books have no printed page numbers, so they're cited by book and year.
Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book, A.A. Comes of Age, Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers and P-16 are © A.A. World Services, Inc.; the P-17 articles are © AA Grapevine, Inc.
These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.