William Duncan Silkworth (July 22, 1873 – March 22, 1951) was an American physician and specialist in the treatment of

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

. He was director of the Charles B. Towns Hospital for Drug and Alcohol Addictions in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in the 1930s, during which time

William Griffith Wilson William Griffith Wilson (November 26, 1895 – January 24, 1971), also known as Bill Wilson or Bill W., was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) with Bob Smith. AA is an international mutual aid fellowship with about two million member ...

, a future co-founder of

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global, peer-led Mutual aid, mutual-aid fellowship focused on an abstinence-based recovery model from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program. AA's Twelve Traditions, besides emphasizing anon ...

(A.A.), was admitted on four occasions for alcoholism. Dr. 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.

Early life

Birthplace

William Duncan Silkworth was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

on July 22, 1873, to parents William Silkworth and Isabelle Silkworth, ''née'' Duncan. William was the eldest of three siblings; he had a younger brother named Russel and a younger sister named Mabel.

Education

Silkworth attended

Long Branch High School Long Branch High School is a comprehensive, four-year community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades in the city of Long Branch, in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as part of the ...

(then called Chattle High School), which was a three-year program when he began studying there. At the end of Silkworth's third year, the school authorities announced that they were converting the school to a four-year program. Aggrieved, Silkworth refused to return for a fourth year as he had already been accepted to

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

(then called the College of New Jersey). Between 1892 and 1896, Silkworth obtained a bachelor's degree from Princeton University. It would take Silkworth several years to obtain a high school diploma; during which time, he was able to study at Princeton because the college authorities proved willing to overlook the fact that he technically had not graduated high school provided that he maintained excellent academic standings. Silkworth began his university studies as a

pre-med Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students mostly in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med ...

student, but quickly developed an interest and began to specialize in

neuropsychiatry Neuropsychiatry is a branch of medicine that deals with psychiatry as it relates to neurology, in an effort to understand and attribute behavior to the interaction of neurobiology and social psychology factors. Within neuropsychiatry, the mind i ...

. Upon graduating from Princeton, Silkworth studied at

Bellevue Hospital Medical College The New York University Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, the other being the NYU Gr ...

beginning in 1896 and graduating with a Medical Degree in 1899 after completing the four-year program in three years. While interning at Bellevue Hospital, Dr. Silkworth was exposed to many alcoholics and doctors with expertise on alcoholism since Bellevue was one of the only hospitals with a department specializing in the treatment of alcoholism in the United States at the time.

Marriage

Silkworth married Marie Antoinette Bennett in Manhattan on July 22, 1898. On February 27, 1909, his wife gave birth to a son who lived for only six days before dying on March 4, 1909. The couple would have no other children, though they remained married all their lives.

Treatment of alcoholism

During Dr. Silkworth's career, he is estimated to have treated more than 40,000 alcoholics and was regarded as one of the world's leading experts in the field. In 1937, Dr. Silkworth published a pair of articles in the ''

Medical Record The terms medical record, health record and medical chart are used somewhat interchangeably to describe the systematic documentation of a single patient's medical history and health care, care across time within one particular health care provide ...

'' titled "Alcoholism as a Manifestation of Allergy" and "Reclamation of the Alcoholic" wherein he proposed a physical disease model of alcoholism and a psychotherapeutic treatment method that induced patients to admit powerlessness over their addiction and to adopt a new moral psychology. In the latter paper, Dr. Silkworth describes five case studies of patients that he had treated for alcoholism at the Towns Hospital; in Case V, Dr. Silkworth describes the successful recovery of Bill Wilson who was already in the early stages of founding the organization that would come to be known as Alcoholics Anonymous.

'The Doctor's Opinion'

During 1938 and 1939, Dr. Silkworth wrote letters in support of Alcoholics Anonymous which were included in a chapter titled "The Doctor's Opinion" in the book ''

'' and helped to provide the nascent organization with credibility. 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. Dr. Silkworth further observed that alcoholics could recover if they could obtain an essential psychic change brought about with the aid of a " Higher Power."

End of life

Dr. Silkworth died at Towns Hospital on March 22, 1951, after suffering a heart attack. He is buried at the Glenwood Cemetery in

West Long Branch, New Jersey West Long Branch is a Borough (New Jersey), borough situated within the Jersey Shore region, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 8,5 ...

References

External links

Writings, articles, letters and documents of William Duncan SilkworthWilliam Duncan Silkworth (Biography)
* Mitchel, D. (2002). ''Silkworth: The little doctor who loved drunks''. Hazelden Betty Ford Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Silkworth, William Duncan 1873 births 1951 deaths Alcoholics Anonymous American addiction physicians Bellevue Hospital Medical College alumni Long Branch High School alumni Physicians from Brooklyn Physicians from New Jersey Princeton University alumni Researchers in alcohol abuse