ALCOHOLICS CONFER

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30682, 23 February 1965, Page 8

ALCOHOLICS CONFER

“It is not getting the patient to stop drinking, but teaching him how to stay stopped, that is the main problem in alcoholism,” Dr. T. C. Maling, of Queen Mary Hospital, Hanmer Springs, told the first national conference of Alcoholics Anonymous at Lincoln College on Saturday, “An alcoholic is a person who, having had one drink, can no longer control his behaviour,” Dr. Maling said. “Recovery is dependent on his ability to recognise himself as an alcoholic.

“Alcoholics can take help from others who have recovered, who had found a contented sobriety. “Two courses are open to the alcoholic: to stop drinking, or to continue in the inevitable progression of the disease to insanity or early death. There is no middle course.

“Alcoholics Anonymous offers a blueprint to the alcoholic, to teach him how to rebuild,” Dr. Maling added. The alcoholic must do the building himself, for the plan supplies the ideas but not the builder. If he is honest with himself, and willing, he will build well.”

The gathering was attended by nearly 200 persons. Besides the main Alcoholics Anonymous conference, there were meetings of two associated organisations—Al-Teen, for teen-agers finding difficulty in controlling drinking, and Al-Anon., for husbands and wives of alcoholics.