Does the Big Book say "relapse is part of recovery"? What does it say about a slip?
In short:
- No. "Relapse is part of recovery" is not in the Big Book or anywhere else in our sources.
- The program text's fullest word on it is to a wife whose husband comes home drunk: "Though it is infinitely better that he have no relapse at all, as has been true with many of our men, it is by no means a bad thing in some cases." (p. 120). In those cases he sees that he must "redouble his spiritual activities if he expects to survive" (p. 120).
- So the text neither treats relapse as an expected stage nor writes off the person who drinks again. It treats drinking as deadly ("to drink is to die," p. 66), and it treats the man who slips and keeps trying with patience (pp. 120, 147).
What the search found
All our sources were searched for "part of recovery," "relapse," "slip" and their forms, with page breaks joined. "Part of recovery" turns up once, in a story where "Commitment and service were part of recovery" (p. 345). Nothing in any book says relapse is part of recovery.
In the program text, "relapse" appears at pp. 26, 31, 35, 120 and 125. "Slip" meaning a drink appears at p. 100 ("We have seen others slip when the family came back too soon") and p. 139 (an executive who "did slip and was fired"). At p. 84 ("Self-seeking will slip away") and p. 110 (friends who "slipped away") it means something else.
What the program text says
The danger. Of the remedies they tried before A.A., the book says that in some instances there was "brief recovery, followed always by a still worse relapse" (p. 31). "Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever." (p. 33). Chapter 3 is written to describe "the mental states that precede a relapse into drinking, for obviously this is the crux of the problem" (p. 35). Bill: if an alcoholic didn't work with others "he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die" (p. 15). "And with us, to drink is to die." (p. 66).
Its causes. Newcomers who kept certain facts to themselves: "Almost invariably they got drunk." (p. 73). Resentment brings it back (p. 66). Family quarrels and old affairs dug up again: "In most cases, the alcoholic survived this ordeal without relapse, but not always." (p. 125).
When it happens. The passage that speaks most fully to a relapse in a man who has started the program is in "To Wives" (p. 120). Read in full, it says: - If you are satisfied he really wants to get over drinking, "you need not be alarmed" (p. 120). - "Though it is infinitely better that he have no relapse at all, as has been true with many of our men, it is by no means a bad thing in some cases." (p. 120). - He will see at once that he must "redouble his spiritual activities if he expects to survive" (p. 120). Don't remind him of his spiritual deficiency; "Cheer him up and ask him how you can be still more helpful." (p. 120). - "If he gets drunk, don't blame yourself." (p. 120). "God has either removed your husband's liquor problem or He has not. If not, it had better be found out right away." (p. 120).
Falling short in daily life. In Chapter 7: "Of course, we all fall much below this standard many times. But we must try to repair the damage immediately lest we pay the penalty by a spree." (p. 99).
At work. "In case he does stumble, even once, you will have to decide whether to let him go." (p. 147). If you are sure he doesn't mean business, discharge him; if you are sure he is doing his utmost, "you may wish to give him another chance" (p. 147). A man still trying to recover who does get drunk "will tell you about it even if it means the loss of his job" (p. 146).
So "by no means a bad thing in some cases" is as far as the program text goes. It says that, and it says no relapse is "infinitely better." It never says relapse is needed, normal, or a stage everyone goes through.
The numbers in 1955
The Foreword to the Second Edition: of alcoholics who came to A.A. and really tried, "50% got sober at once and remained that way; 25% sobered up after some relapses" (p. xx), and among the rest, those who stayed showed improvement (p. xx). That is 1955, after Dr. Bob's death.
The early stories and Bill's essays
Slips were written about openly from the start: - Two stories printed in the 1939 first edition, "The Back-Slider" and "The Seven Month Slip" (since dropped, now in Experience, Strength and Hope, 2003), are about men who drank again after one or two years sober. Both put it down to drifting from the program and relying on themselves, and both came back to friends who welcomed them. One says the fellowship "treated me as though nothing had happened" (Experience, Strength and Hope, 2003). - Dr. Bob's own story (1939) says he carries the message partly because each time "I take out a little more insurance for myself against a possible slip" (p. 181). - "He Sold Himself Short" (Part I, set in 1937–38) tells of a deliberate drunk a few months after the writer's start: "That was my only slip. It taught me a valuable lesson." (p. 265), namely that inventory has to be taken every day (pp. 264–265). - Bill W.'s 1946 Grapevine essay on membership says most early members "would have been thrown out because they slipped too much" (P-17) if the groups' early rules had been enforced, and of those who slip: "Some of these have become our most respected and best loved." (P-17).
Later books, all after 1950: - A.A. Comes of Age (1957): at first slips were "always a genuine catastrophe" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957); by 1955, "Slips are a very serious difficulty, but as a group we take them in stride." (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). - Pass It On (1984) quotes an undated letter of Bill's about members two or three years sober who slipped: he knew of none who hadn't, in a sense, benefited, and "The slip invariably kicks them upstairs instead of down." (Pass It On, 1984). The same letter calls these slips a lot of worry for the families (Pass It On, 1984). That is the nearest thing in our sources to the saying, and it is about what a slip can teach, not a claim that relapse is a necessary part of recovery. - Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers (1980) says that of the Akron members counted in February 1937, half "had or would have some sort of slip" (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980), and "For most, however, the slip was the convincer." (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980).
What this means
The Big Book doesn't say relapse is part of recovery. It says drinking again is deadly, that no relapse is infinitely better, and that in some cases a relapse is "by no means a bad thing" (p. 120), the next sentence saying the man sees he must redouble his spiritual activities. Its tone toward the person who slips and is still trying is patient: a wife told not to lecture him, a possible second chance from the employer, and, in the early stories, a welcome back. See: Is "keep coming back" in the Big Book?
Read it yourself
- Chapter 8, "To Wives" (pp. 119–121): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt8.pdf
- Chapter 3, "More About Alcoholism" (pp. 30–43): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt3.pdf
- Chapter 7, "Working With Others" (pp. 99–100): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt7.pdf
- Chapter 10, "To Employers" (pp. 146–147): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt10.pdf
- Foreword to the Second Edition (p. xx): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_forewordsecondedition.pdf
- Personal stories, Part I ("Doctor Bob's Nightmare," "He Sold Himself Short"): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_personalstories_partI.pdf
- P-17, The Twelve Traditions ("Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?", 1946): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/assets/p-17_AATraditions.pdf
- Experience, Strength and Hope, A.A. Comes of Age, Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers and Pass It On are sold by A.A. World Services: https://onlineliterature.aa.org
Sources
| Source | Pages | Date |
|---|---|---|
| All our sources (searched) | — | various |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapters 1–3, 5–10 | 15, 26, 31–35, 66, 73, 99–100, 120, 125, 139, 146–147 | 1939 |
| Foreword to the Second Edition | xx | 1955 (post-1950) |
| "Doctor Bob's Nightmare," Part I | 181 | 1939 |
| "He Sold Himself Short," Part I | 264–265 | story describes 1937–38 |
| "The Back-Slider," "The Seven Month Slip" (Experience, Strength and Hope) | — | printed in the first edition, 1939; collected 2003 |
| P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?" | — | Grapevine, 1946 |
| A.A. Comes of Age | — | 1957 (post-1950) |
| Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers | — | 1980 (post-1950) |
| Pass It On (quoting an undated letter of Bill W.) | — | 1984 (post-1950) |
Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book, Experience, Strength and Hope, A.A. Comes of Age, Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers and Pass It On are © A.A. World Services, Inc.; P-17's 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.