Blog
Hitting Bottom
Posted on January 21, 2026, tagged as Addiction Recovery, Alcoholics Anonymous
There is a general belief that an alcoholic will not face facts and try to quit drinking until he or she has hit bottom. In fact, a phrase we often hear in the general community is “rock bottom.” This phrase is not found in the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) literature as far as I can tell. The early AA members were all the type that had severe consequences of their drinking. Such consequences included serious health problems, as well as family, financial, employment, legal, and other problems. Over the years, however, many came into the program whose consequences of drinking were far less severe. Some such people may have wondered if they were really alcoholic, after hearing the horror stories of these “low bottom” cases. While AA doesn’t have enforceable rules, there are traditions that are voluntarily adhered to, including a tradition that says that the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. By this standard, one would not even have to be an alcoholic to join.
After a description of the AA program through the ninth step in the book, Alcoholics Anonymous, there are a couple of paragraphs that describe the changes in the life of a person who has progressed to this point. These sentences are generally referred to in AA as “the promises,” or more specifically, the “ninth step promises.” One of these states that, “no matter how far down the scale we have gone we will see how our experience can benefit others.” I imagine this statement is there to encourage people who have lost everything, true “low bottom” cases.
Just recently, I realized that there is another way to think about this statement. Could one think that it might suggest that even though the person hasn’t had any major consequences yet, in other words, not very far “down the scale,” their experience could benefit others who likewise are not low bottom cases? Certainly, people coming into the program who have some concern about their drinking, but whose jobs and families remain intact, and who have never been arrested for driving under the influence (DUI), could feel out of place when hearing about people who have a history of 15 or more DUIs, lost job after job, marriage after marriage, been incarcerated, or have been in detox multiple times.
We do hear references to “high bottom” alcoholics now. We hear about people “bringing up the bottom.” It certainly is possible to examine the facts of one’s life and discover that one is in the early stages of alcoholism, rather than just having a “drinking problem.” One can ask oneself, “how bad does it have to get? “ It will help such people to find in the AA program people they can identify with who have not lost everything, but who have realized that it is bad enough, and who have quit drinking having not gone terribly far “down the scale.”
I realize that such people are at risk of being told by others in the program that “I have spilled more than you drank.” In fact, I have found a certain arrogance among some such people who like to think they are tough. Happily, most “low bottom” alcoholics in recovery remain grateful and humble. They realize their survival was not exclusively a result of their toughness. It is humbling to admit to one’s alcoholism. Sadly, many never find the capacity to either admit to their alcoholism, or either to make a surrender and seek help. Every once in a while, a door cracks open a bit, and an opportunity presents itself to take an honest look. It is best to act on this chance immediately, or the door will be slammed shut by the ego once again, possibly not to open again for years, if ever. Just as people are required to choose their own higher power, they also have the opportunity to choose their own bottom. This is as it should be. My wish for you all is this: “May all your bottoms be high ones!”
1 Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism. Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 4th Edition, 2001, p. 84.