Diagnose Yourself

A.A. leaves the question of who is an alcoholic to the alcoholic, and rooms that hand it to a professional have changed who gets in. The Big Book (p. 31): "We do not like to pronounce any individual as alcoholic, but you can quickly diagnose yourself." To pronounce is to declare it officially, and A.A. declines to. The book gives the reader the test and leaves him alone with it (p. 44): "If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic." The Long Form builds membership on the same ground (Big Book, p. 563): "Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism." All who suffer, by their own account. Not all who score high enough on someone's intake form. Today the pronouncing is done for him. An assessment decides he has a disorder and assigns him meetings; another decides he does not qualify, and the meetings stop. Either way someone with a clipboard has answered the one question A.A. leaves to the drinker, and the room has let them. Test it tonight: when a newcomer walks into your meeting, does anyone ask him for anything but his first name?