Dr Bob struggled with the desire to drink all his life, The obsession although under control, never left him.
Bill Wilson suffered from depression all his life. In his biography he talks about just holing himself up for months on end in a black funk. It was a debilitating disabling disorder that he fought against until the day he died. He didn't have access to the range of medications we are blessed with today. But he did write in the Big Book that we should avail ourselves of what doctors have to offer.
It is also interesting to note that the founder of our fellowship was not afraid to experiment with chemical compounds to relieve him of his depression. In his biography “Pass it on” the story is told of how he took LSD in the hope of recapturing that burning bush moment he describes while a patient in Towns Hospital.
He also involved himself in séances and other forms of unconventional mysticism.
He wasn't afraid to think outside the box, if he had been afraid to, this program may have never have come into existence.
Tell that those bleeding deacons.

But remember Kismet, we are working on our side of the street, not the other guys. Armed with the facts about ourselves, this program, and the people who wrote the Big Book, we are much less likely to become resentful of what another man's opinion might be.

Like I tell the men I work with, If you haven't found someone in an AA meeting that you don't like, you aren't going to enough meetings. And like my grand sponsor used to tell me, when I have extracted the maximum spiritual benefit from a problem, the problem will just go away.

On the road to the good stuff,
Richard S.