The Disease Concept and the Progressive Nature of Alcoholism – Bob D.

About This Speaker Tape

Bob D. traces his path from a childhood in Clovis New Mexico where he felt like a separate 'plebeian' outsider to a long career in employee assistance programs. He describes a drinking style that wasn't spectacular in wreckage—save for once burning a mattress at the El Fidel Hotel while passed out—but was characterized by a total inability to stop once he started.

After a failed 'geographic cure' in California and a near-fatal final bender he found the fellowship in Los Angeles. Bob maps out the intersection of the 12 Steps and the clinical disease concept reflecting on his time studying under Dr. J. at Yale

. He views his recovery not as a series of triumphs but as a gradual alignment with a Higher Power moving from a deep spiritual illness to a life of service that eventually brought him back to his hometown as a changed man.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Bob D. opens by discussing the difference between social drinking and the 'complicated illness' of alcoholism.
• 3:45 Laughter: Story about burning a mattress at the El Fidel Hotel.
• 10:15 Bob discusses the 'metabolic difference' and his childhood feeling of being separate from his family.
• 16:30 Bob describes his early drinking and the 'mental obsession' to drink like other people.
• 22:10 A story about a female employee's denial and the limited definitions of alcoholism.
• 28:40 Bob recounts his 'geographic cure' to California and his first encounter with the fellowship.
• 35:15 Discussion on the struggle with the word 'Higher Power' and finding a Higher Power through the concept of 'Good'.
• 42:00 Bob reflects on returning to Clovis and the miracle of seeing the town change through his own sobriety.
• 48:30 Detailed account of studying the disease concept and the 'valley chart' under Dr. J. at Yale.
• 55:10 Laughter: The joke about the two AA clubhouses on a desert island.
• 62:00 Bob shares a story about a member in Peoria who rushed to help him without knowing his situation.
• 71:00 Closing tribute to the tragic life and music of Stephen F.