Dr. Silkworth
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Brighton, UK
Posts: 19
William Duncan Silkworth, M.D., (1873-1951) was an American medical doctor and specialist in the treatment of alcoholism. He was Director of the Charles B. Towns Hospital for Drug and Alcohol Addictions in New York City in the 1930s, during which time Bill Wilson, a future co-founder of the mutual-help movement Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), was admitted on three separate occasions for alcoholism. Silkworth had a profound influence on Wilson and encouraged him to realize that alcoholism was more than just an issue of moral weakness. He introduced Wilson to the idea that alcoholism had a pathological, disease-like basis.
William Silkworth wrote the letters in the chapter titled "The Doctor's Opinion" in the book Alcoholics Anonymous.
William Silkworth wrote the letters in the chapter titled "The Doctor's Opinion" in the book Alcoholics Anonymous.
Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Oxnard (The Nard), CA, USA.
Posts: 13,954
Not sure this website is an official Dr, Silkworth site, but there's loads of information there.
Here you go, maybe it will help you: Welcome to Silkworth.net -Alcoholics Anonymous . . . experience the history . . . lest we forget!
Here you go, maybe it will help you: Welcome to Silkworth.net -Alcoholics Anonymous . . . experience the history . . . lest we forget! Life the gift of recovery!
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Home is where the heart is
Posts: 7,061
Hope this profile helps answer your question:
source: The Annotated AA Handbook by Frank D.
PROFILE OF
William Duncan Silkworth M.D.
1879 - 1951
We begin to wonder why it is that we cannot control our drinking. We believe ourselves to be weak willed and morally deficient. Dr. Silkworth saw alcoholism as an illness, a manifestation of an allergy. The Doctor's Opinion gives us a rational basis from which to begin our examination of the problem of alcoholism. Our own experience validates his view of the physical aspects of alcoholism. When we begin to drink we develop a craving for more alcohol that is beyond our ability to control. Dr. Silkworth treated Bill W. for alcoholism the second, third and fourth times he was admitted to Town's Hospital in New York. Dr. Silkworth explained to Bill the grave nature of his affliction. This information helped Bill to admit his powerlessness over alcohol so that he was open to the solution for alcoholism suggested to him by his high school friend, Ebby T.
Following Bill's spiritual awakening, Dr. Silkworth allowed Bill to share his experience with alcoholic patients at Town's Hospital. Bill was having no success in passing on his life saving experience when the doctor suggested that he, "Stop preaching at them and give them the hard medical facts first." Bill followed this advice when he had his first meeting with Dr. Bob. Bill told Dr. Bob of what he had learned from Dr. Silkworth of the hopelessness of his own alcoholic condition.
Dr. Silkworth, a graduate of Princeton University, obtained his medical degree from New York University-Bellevue Medical School, he specialized in neurology. He treated 40,000 alcoholics during his career spending his last years at Knickerbocker Hospital in New York working with his nurse Teddy.
Dr. Esther Richards of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore suggested to Bill W. that an introduction by a specialist in the field of alcoholism would be a benefit to the book. Nine days later Dr. Silkworth wrote the first letter of endorsement for the program of recovery that appears in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Just three months after the book, Alcoholics Anonymous was printed Dr. Silkworth published his first medical paper on A.A.: "A New Approach to Psychotherapy in Chronic Alcoholism" in Journal-Lancet in July of 1939.
Dr. Silkworth lent A.A. money to get started and spoke in favor of the fledgling society at meetings with potential financial backers. Dr. Silkworth was a great friend to A.A. throughout the remainder of his life.
William Duncan Silkworth M.D.
1879 - 1951
We begin to wonder why it is that we cannot control our drinking. We believe ourselves to be weak willed and morally deficient. Dr. Silkworth saw alcoholism as an illness, a manifestation of an allergy. The Doctor's Opinion gives us a rational basis from which to begin our examination of the problem of alcoholism. Our own experience validates his view of the physical aspects of alcoholism. When we begin to drink we develop a craving for more alcohol that is beyond our ability to control. Dr. Silkworth treated Bill W. for alcoholism the second, third and fourth times he was admitted to Town's Hospital in New York. Dr. Silkworth explained to Bill the grave nature of his affliction. This information helped Bill to admit his powerlessness over alcohol so that he was open to the solution for alcoholism suggested to him by his high school friend, Ebby T.
Following Bill's spiritual awakening, Dr. Silkworth allowed Bill to share his experience with alcoholic patients at Town's Hospital. Bill was having no success in passing on his life saving experience when the doctor suggested that he, "Stop preaching at them and give them the hard medical facts first." Bill followed this advice when he had his first meeting with Dr. Bob. Bill told Dr. Bob of what he had learned from Dr. Silkworth of the hopelessness of his own alcoholic condition.
Dr. Silkworth, a graduate of Princeton University, obtained his medical degree from New York University-Bellevue Medical School, he specialized in neurology. He treated 40,000 alcoholics during his career spending his last years at Knickerbocker Hospital in New York working with his nurse Teddy.
Dr. Esther Richards of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore suggested to Bill W. that an introduction by a specialist in the field of alcoholism would be a benefit to the book. Nine days later Dr. Silkworth wrote the first letter of endorsement for the program of recovery that appears in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Just three months after the book, Alcoholics Anonymous was printed Dr. Silkworth published his first medical paper on A.A.: "A New Approach to Psychotherapy in Chronic Alcoholism" in Journal-Lancet in July of 1939.
Dr. Silkworth lent A.A. money to get started and spoke in favor of the fledgling society at meetings with potential financial backers. Dr. Silkworth was a great friend to A.A. throughout the remainder of his life.
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