William Duncan Silkworth (1873–1951), was an American

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and specialist in the treatment of

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

. He was director of the

Charles B. Towns Charles Barnes Towns (1862–1947) conducted experimentation with cures for alcoholism and drug addiction, and helped draft drug control legislation in the United States during the early 20th century. Biography Charles B. Towns was born in Geo ...

Hospital for Drug and Alcohol Addictions in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in the 1930s, during which time Bill Wilson, a future co-founder of

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

(A.A.), was admitted on three 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 A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

-like basis. William Silkworth wrote the letters in the chapter titled "The Doctor's Opinion" in the book ''

.'' Silkworth treated more than 40,000 alcoholics in his career and was regarded as one of the world's leading experts in the field. Crucially, he described the powerlessness of alcoholism as an obsession of the mind that compels one to drink and an allergy of the body that condemns one to go mad or die. Silkworth observed that alcoholics could recover if they could obtain an essential psychic change brought about with the aid of a "

Higher Power Higher Power is a term used in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and other twelve-step programs. The same groups use the phrase "a power greater than ourselves" synonymously. The term sometimes refers to a supreme being or deity, or other conceptions of G ...

." He is buried at the Glenwood Cemetery in

West Long Branch, New Jersey West Long Branch is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 8,097,History of Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson (known as Bill W.) and Robert Smith (known as Dr. Bob), and has since grown to be worldwide. Alcoholism in the 1700s and 1800s Nearly two centuries before the advent of Alcoholics An ...

External links

Writings, articles, letters and documents of William Duncan SilkworthWilliam Duncan Silkworth (Biography)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silkworth, William Duncan 1873 births 1951 deaths American addiction physicians