"Recovered" or "recovering": which word does the Big Book use?
In short:
- The Big Book's members call themselves "recovered." The 1939 Foreword opens with "more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body" (p. xiii), and Chapter 2 says of the thousands they know, "Nearly all have recovered." (p. 17).
- The phrase "recovering alcoholic" is not in the fourth-edition Big Book. In our sources it appears in later books: Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers (1980), Pass It On (1984), P-16 (2018) and the current Service Manual.
- But "recovered" in the book doesn't mean cured or able to drink again. The same text says "We are not cured of alcoholism" and calls what members have "a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition" (p. 85).
- The book also uses "recovering" for someone in the process: the husband "who is recovering" (p. 122). The word isn't foreign to it; the self-description is "recovered."
"Recovered" in the 1939 text
The word runs through the book: - The Foreword to the First Edition: the members "have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body" (p. xiii), and "To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book." (p. xiii). - Dr. Silkworth's letter: "This man and over one hundred others appear to have recovered." (p. xxv). - Chapter 2: "Nearly all have recovered." (p. 17). "They have solved the drink problem." (p. 17). Readers are told the book will explain how "we have recovered from a hopeless condition of mind and body" (p. 20), followed by "clear-cut directions … showing how we recovered" (p. 29). - Chapter 7: the prospect's attention is drawn to the member "as a person who has recovered" (p. 90). - Chapter 9: "We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others." (p. 132). "We, who have recovered from serious drinking, are miracles of mental health." (p. 133). - Chapter 10: "An alcoholic who has recovered" can talk to another employee (p. 146).
The fourth-edition title page reads "The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism" (p. iii). Later A.A. writing keeps the word: in 1955 the Foreword to the Second Edition counted membership as "far above 150,000 recovered alcoholics" (p. xv), and A.A. Comes of Age (1957) says that clergymen and physicians are the experts and "we, the recovered alcoholics, are their assistants" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957).
What "recovered" does and doesn't mean in the book
The book is careful about what has been recovered from: - Not from alcoholism as a condition. "We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control." (p. 30). "Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic." (p. 33). - Not once and for all. "We are not cured of alcoholism." (p. 85). The reprieve is daily and depends on the member's spiritual condition (p. 85). Step Ten's work "should continue for our lifetime" (p. 84). - What members say they have recovered from is "a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body" (p. xiii): the drink problem is solved (p. 17), so long as they keep in fit spiritual condition (p. 85).
"Recovering" in the book
The verb appears for someone in the middle of the process: - Chapter 9 opens by saying the members' "women folk have suggested certain attitudes a wife may take with the husband who is recovering" (p. 122). The chapter adds that "dad, though marvelously improved, is still convalescing" (p. 127). - Chapter 10: an employee who drinks "and is still trying to recover" will be honest about it (p. 146). - A later-edition footnote to Chapter 8 speaks of a woman alcoholic "whether she is still drinking or is recovering in A.A." (p. 104).
What doesn't appear anywhere in the fourth-edition text, stories included, is the label "recovering alcoholic." "Recovered alcoholic(s)" appears in a few personal stories (pp. 273–274, 442).
"Recovering alcoholic" in later books (dated)
- Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers (1980): Dr. Bob's adult years "as an active and then as a recovering alcoholic" (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980).
- Pass It On (1984) uses "recovering alcoholics" in its narrative of the 1930s and early 1940s .
- The A.A. Group (P-16, 2018): members may tell nonalcoholics "that we are recovering alcoholics" (P-16, 2018); GSO staff members "are themselves recovering alcoholics" (P-16, 2018).
- The A.A. Service Manual (2024–2026 edition): members in a home group "sustain connections with other recovering alcoholics."
What this means
The 1939 text describes its members as recovered: rescued from a hopeless state, with the drink problem solved on a spiritual basis as a daily reprieve, and never able to drink safely again. "Recovering" as an identity is later usage. Neither the Big Book nor the later books in our sources say one word is right and the other wrong; this page only reports which word each source uses.
Read it yourself
- Foreword to the First Edition (pp. xiii–xiv): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_forewordfirstedition.pdf
- "The Doctor's Opinion" (pp. xxv–xxxii): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_foreworddoctorsopinion.pdf
- Chapter 2, "There Is a Solution" (pp. 17–29): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt2.pdf
- Chapter 6, "Into Action" (pp. 72–88): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt6.pdf
- Chapter 9, "The Family Afterward" (pp. 122–135): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt9.pdf
- Related: Can an alcoholic ever drink normally again? · Does the Big Book say "once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic"?
Sources
| Source | Pages | First published |
|---|---|---|
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Foreword to the First Edition; "The Doctor's Opinion" | xiii, xxv | 1939 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapters 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10 | 17, 20, 29, 30, 33, 84–85, 90, 122, 127, 132–133, 146 | 1939 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 8 footnote; title page | 104; iii | later edition; fourth edition (2001) |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Foreword to the Second Edition | xv | 1955 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, personal stories (whole text searched) | 273–274, 442 | fourth edition (2001) |
| A.A. Comes of Age | — | 1957 |
| Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers | — | 1980 |
| Pass It On | — | 1984 |
| P-16, The A.A. Group | 9, 34 | 2018 |
| The A.A. Service Manual | — | 2024–2026 edition |
Big Book page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001). Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book, the history books, P-16 and the Service Manual are © A.A. World Services, 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.