"It was obviously necessary to raise the bottom the rest of us had hit
to the point where it would hit them. By going back in our own drinking
histories, we could show that years before we realized it we were out
of control, that our drinking even then was no mere habit, that it was
indeed the beginning of a fatal progression. To the doubters we could
say, 'Perhaps you're not an alcoholic after all. Why don't you try some
more controlled drinking, bearing in mind meanwhile what we have told
you about alcoholism?' This attitude brought immediate and practical
results." (Twelve and Twelve, Step One, pg. 23)