Mrs. Marty Mann and Dr. E. M. Jellinek at the Detroit Economic Club in 1946.
Marty Mann, who had been brought up in wealth and moved in the highest circles of society, was the first woman to gain long term sobriety in A.A. Her story ("Women Suffer Too") appears close to the front in the story section of the A.A. Big Book).
Jellinek is famous as the researcher who developed the well known Jellinek Curve demonstrating the progressive nature of alcoholism, and the way in which the disease pulls people further and further down the longer they drink.
Sgt. Bill was given the opportunity to study under both of them at the Yale School of Alcohol Studies in 1949, only a year after he had gotten sober in A.A. himself. He describes his experiences at the Yale School in Chapter 14 of his book:
"The knowledge I gained during my attendance at the school was simply overwhelming. You need to remember that the instructors were some of the most learned and famous people in alcoholism studies at that time. I still use to this day innumerable things that I learned from them. Dr. E. M. Jellinek was there, the biologist and neuroendocrinologist who worked out the famous "Jellinek curve" which still bears his name, a chart based on his careful statistical studies of A.A. members, which demonstrated the progressive nature of the illness which we call alcoholism and its various stages in order of their progression. He knew so much about so many fields of study, often ranging far outside his own area of formal training. He was fluent in at least three languages that I knew of, and had worked all over the world."
Marty Mann in 1950 at home in New York City, working
on her first book, Primer on Alcoholism. Sgt. Bill was continuing
his alcoholism treatment program (with her support) at Mitchel
Air Force Base on Long Island.
on her first book, Primer on Alcoholism. Sgt. Bill was continuing
his alcoholism treatment program (with her support) at Mitchel
Air Force Base on Long Island.
"Dr. Jellinek had actually been trained originally as a biometrician, using statistics to study biological phenomena, then had developed enough professional competence in neuroendocrinology to be put on the Yale University faculty, where he then became interested in the effect of alcohol on the human body and nervous system. But I also learned an incredible amount about the fundamentals of psychiatry from him, an area in which he had never been formally schooled at all. He had that sort of sweeping range of knowledge.
"Seldon Bacon was also there, another quite famous researcher on alcoholism, and Leon Greenberg, and of course Marty Mann herself. Adapting to that world of incredible intellects was one of the most challenging things I have ever taken on, but it was one of the most exciting periods of my whole life. You cannot imagine what it was like to see minds like that tossing ideas back and forth, back when modern alcoholism studies was first beginning, and the thinkers debating all these issues at the school I was attending were the most formative people in this whole new field of studies."
