In the introduction to the Big Book, William Duncan Silkworth, M.D., a specialist in the treatment of alcoholism, endorses the AA program after treating Bill W, the founder of AA, and other apparently hopeless alcoholics who then regained their health by joining the AA fellowship. "For most cases," Silkworth claimed, "there is no other solution" than a spiritual solution. Today "many doctors and psychiatrists" confirm the effects of AA. At the time of the publication of the first edition, The Big Book was typically well received by most critics, referred to by one reviewer as "the greatest redemptive force of the twentieth century." A reviewer for the "New York Times" stated that the thesis of the book had more of a sound base psychologically than any other book on the subject and that the book is unlike any other book ever published. Other critics called the book extraordinary and stated that it deserved the attention of anyone worried about the problem of alcoholism. It was noted by the American Association of Psychiatric Social Workers that contact with the members of an A.A. group increases one's respect for their work. "To the layman, the book is very clear. To the professional person it is at first a bit misleading in that the spiritual aspect gives the impression that this is another revival movement" and that "it is more impressive to the professional person to watch the technique in action than to read the book." However, not all reviewers, especially those in the medical field, found merit in the book. The review that appeared in the October 1939 volume of the "Journal of the American Medical Association" called the book "a curious combination of organizing propaganda and religious exhortation…in no sense a scientific book." Similarly, the "Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease" said The Big Book was "big in words…a rambling sort of camp meeting…Of the inner meaning of alcoholism there is hardly a word. It is all on the surface material." This review went on to "degrade" the alcoholic: "Inasmuch as the alcoholic, speaking generally, lives a wish-fulfilling infantile regression to the omnipotent delusional state, perhaps he is best handled for the time being at least by regressive mass psychological methods, in which, as is realized, religious fervors belong, hence the religious trend of the book." The views about the book and about alcoholism espoused in these two journals was typical of how alcoholics and other addicts were viewed by many in the psychiatric field during the middle of the 20th century.