The trauma and grief of growing up in an alcoholic or addicted family create a lifetime of baggage. If you grew up in an addicted family, the dysfunction that permeated every aspect of your childhood may have seemed "normal", and you may not even realize the level of affect alcohol still has on your adult life - whether or not you drink. If you are one of the millions of Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOAs), the cost of your childhood pain can be unbearable. You may have learned how to "survive", but are you "living" your life? Do you fear normal conflict? Do you blame yourself when something goes wrong - even when it isn't your fault? Are you a chaos junkie? Or do you just fear relationships because they are too difficult or too painful? Having devoted much of their careers to working with ACOAs, therapists Jane Middelton-Moz and Lorie Dwinell now take a deeper look into the origin and cost of childhood pain, as well as the grief resolution process that is integral to recovery. This revised and expanded edition of their groundbreaking 1986 hit After the Tears discusses the latest research and offers insights on living a good life despite a dysfunctional childhood by tackling issues such as intimacy, sibling relationships, codependency, breaking the alcoholic pattern, building a relationship with the inner child, forgiveness, and opening a window to spirituality. Read more

The compulsion to use substances tends to drain every ounce of life from an individual, but this is often equally as true for their family.Most family members do not know where to turn for support and guidance when a child, parent or spouse becomes ill. Society offers little to educate the public or de-stigmatize the problem of addiction.I Love You More is distinct and unique from other books on the market on addiction as it is meant to be an emotional education on the family systems affected by addiction using three, fictional short stories, all with very different endings.These three powerful stories have common threads of hope, pain, mistrust, grief, worry, change, acceptance, belief, and the constant presence of varying levels of sanity across a broad spectrum.I Love You More offers insight into the various perspectives and experiences of family members who have dealt with the harrowing disease of addiction. The goal of this quick, easy-to-read, book is to be the conduit that allows you to enter the body and mind of a substance abuser and their family, to see the world through their eyes as they navigate their way through one of the most heart-breaking and gut-wrenching hardships they will ever face.The author, Blake Cohen, is currently in recovery from a substance use disorder himself for multiple years. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, is a Certified Addictions Professional, and is currently earning his Master's degree in the field of Leadership. He currently works in the field of substance abuse treatment as an Interventionist and Recovery/Family Coach. Blake’s role allows him to be of assistance to families, and their loved ones, as they begin their journey into recovery. Blake is also a public speaker using his experience and education to help bring understanding to the public regarding the disease of addiction.From mothers to fathers to siblings to aunts and uncles to grandmothers and grandfathers, as well the individuals struggling themselves, these stories contain emotional tidbits from the author’s years in the treatment field, interviews with families, and his own personal experiences.The hardest thing for a person to do is watch a loved one slowly kill themselves while you standby; unable to do anything about it. For the family, addiction is frustrating, heart-wrenching, exhausting and time-consuming. It can lead to bouts of anger followed by bouts of hysteria. It can leave you bed-ridden and paralyzed by insurmountable sadness and depression.Although we cannot make our loved ones better, we can learn to take care of ourselves through it all. This book is emotional support for anyone and everyone whose lives have been touched by addiction. Read more

A self-guided workbook to lead yourself through the IFS process and create inner harmony and peace, as endorsed by Dr. Richard C. Schwartz, founder of Internal Family SystemsTransform the way you relate to yourself and your mental health struggles with this clear and structured guide to Internal Family Systems (IFS), an evidence-based approach to parts work therapy. The IFS model views every person as having an “internal family” of parts or subpersonalities, each with their own set of thoughts, feelings, and roles. Some parts hold pain from the past, while others work to prevent that pain from surfacing. When parts are understood and accepted, they can release this pain and heal.Developed by a veteran IFS clinician who has lived, practiced, and trained others on the IFS model for more than 25 years, The Self-Led Internal Family Systems Workbook can help you connect to your true, authentic Self—which is always inside of you, ready to lead—so you can meet your internal family of parts, respond compassionately when they’re activated, and send them healing energy when they need it.Key features of this workbook:Accessible Self-Paced Process. Move through the IFS practice at your own speed and comfort level using IFS skills that have been adapted for beginners.Clear and Structured Approach. Bring clarity and insight to your internal world by navigating it with step-by-step skills, exercises, and worksheets.Strategies for Common IFS Challenges. Learn to work with parts that keep you stuck in problematic cycles and offer compassion to deeply wounded parts. Transcripts of Self-Led IFS Sessions. See how an IFS clinician works with her own parts to address challenges like perfectionism, impulse control, and more.“I am very grateful to my friend Tanis Allen for creating this clear, practical workbook for helping people access Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy on their own. Because she knows IFS so well, she not only offers very useful and easily followed exercises but also the important cautions and guidelines to make this powerful work safe. I enthusiastically endorse this book and see it as an important contribution to the big project of helping everyone change their inner relationships and become more Self-led.”—Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, founder of the Internal Family Systems model of psychotherapy Read more

Allen Carr established himself as the world’s greatest authority on helping people stop smoking and his internationally best-selling Easy Way to Stop Smoking has been published in over 40 languages and sold more than 10 million copies. In his Easy Way to Control Alcohol Allen applies his revolutionary method to drinking. With startling insight into why we drink and clear, simple, step-by-step instructions, he shows you the way to escape from the ‘alcohol trap’ in the time it takes to listen to this audiobook. His unique method removes the feeling of deprivation and works without using willpower. Allen dispels our illusions about alcohol, removes the psychological dependence, and sets you free to enjoy life to the full. Read more

Audio-only bonus content included: meditation, guided writing practice, and exclusive interview with the author!Introducing a radical healing approach for the adult symptoms of Childhood PTSD—from the creator of the Crappy Childhood Fairy program and YouTube channel.Conventional trauma treatments (talk therapy and medication) simply don't work for many trauma survivors, and now we know why. Researchers have identified the core symptom that drives most other symptoms—neurological dysregulation. It's an injury to your nervous system triggered by abuse and neglect in childhood, and it can profoundly impact your physical health, damage your ability to learn and focus, and hold you back from forming caring relationships.The good news is that healing is possible, and in Re-Regulated, author Anna Runkle (aka the Crappy Childhood Fairy) shows you how. Chapter by chapter, she teaches you practical steps to identify signs of dysregulation, quickly re-regulate, and then stay regulated more of the time. Drawing from her own experience healing Childhood PTSD symptoms, and her decades of work coaching and mentoring thousands of others working to heal from abuse and neglect in the past, Anna helps you calm triggers, break out of isolation, and change the self-defeating behaviors that are so common for traumatized people. From a regulated state, things can move forward rapidly in every area of your life so you can become your full and real self at last.You'll learn: · Practical techniques to release trauma-driven thinking and strengthen focus · Principles to overcome trauma-driven thinking and behaviors that hold you back · Strategies to manage overwhelming emotions before they hurt relationships · A process to build your capacity to connect with other people · A "Daily Practice" to help you start each day regulated and energizedAnna's tools can be used on your own or as a complement to professional therapy. With her help, you can achieve calmness and clarity you never imagined possible. This audio product contains a PDF with supporting material, and the PDF is available to download.PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. Read more

This is official Adult Children of Alcoholics World Service Organization (ACA WSO) Conference Approved Literature. Never before in the history of Twelve Step programs has a fellowship brought together such a diverse group of recovering people that includes adult children of alcoholics, codependents, and addicts of various sorts. The program is Adult Children of Alcoholics, The term "adult child" is used to describe adults who grew up in alcoholic or dysfunctional homes and who exhibit identifiable traits that reveal past abuse or neglect. The group includes adults raised in homes without the presence of alcohol or drugs. These ACA members have the trademark presence of abuse, shame and abandonment found in alcoholic homes. Read more

In the 1980's, Janet Woititz broke new ground in our understanding of what it is to be an Adult Child of an Alcoholic. In this updated edition of her bestseller she re-examines the movement and its inclusion of Adult Children from various dysfunctional family backgrounds who share the same characteristics. After decades of working with ACoAs she shares the recovery hints that she has found to work. Read Adult Children of Alcoholics to see where the journey began and for ideas on where to go from here. Read more

A myth-shattering, inspiring book that combines research, reportage, and memoir to explore the growing phenomenon of estrangement from toxic relatives—showing it not as a tragedy, but as an empowering and effective solution to the heartbreak of family abuse.After decades of enduring his mother’s physical and psychological torment, after years of trying in vain to set boundaries, Eamon Dolan took a radical step: he cut his mother out of his life. No more phone calls, no more visits, no more contact. Parting with his abuser gave him immediate relief and set him on a path toward freedom, confidence, and joy like none he had ever felt before.In The Power of Parting, Dolan has written the book he wishes he’d had when he was struggling to free himself from his mother’s abuse. In the process, he discovered how widespread estrangement really is. At least 27 percent of Americans are estranged from a parent, sibling, or other family member. He also learned why so much stigma surrounds this common—and often lifesaving—phenomenon. Even among therapists—the professionals who would seem most attuned to the pain relatives can inflict—there’s a bias toward reconciliation, when millions of their patients need instead to escape their abusers’ grip. Estrangement, Dolan realized, should be understood and embraced, not shrouded in shame.Drawing on his own suffering and healing, as well as experts’ advice and the testimony of other courageous survivors, Dolan first explains why abuse is much different and more prevalent than we may think, how it harms us in childhood and beyond, and why limiting or eliminating contact might be our best possible choice. Then, he walks listeners through the steps of a successful, positive estrangement: how to take crucial time for yourself; how to make sure no one can gaslight you into minimizing or forgetting; how to set rules for your abuser and—if they can’t or won’t respect your limits—how to end a toxic relationship. He also offers valuable counsel on how to ease the guilt and grief that often accompany parting, and how to break the cycle of abuse that was likely passed down to you through many generations.With a convincing blend of clarity and empathy, Dolan encourages others to do what he ultimately did for himself: determine whether the people in your life treat you with the care and concern you deserve—and part ways with them if they don’t. Read more

This story is told through the jagged peephole of the author's awareness, examining her formative wounds and influences from the perspective of a woman who has now gained experience and wisdom. As she peers over her soul's shoulder, she recalls the chaos of her once-fragile childhood mind. She shudders as she is reminded of the sting of her lonely childhood, her feelings of abandonment, and her painful memories of being bullied. Her childhood self was once so lost that she even contemplated suicide. As the years progress, her mind is riddled with obsession, compulsion, and a crippling sense of low self-esteem. A turning point arrives many years later, after marriage and the birth of three children. This story is about healing the faulty programming of childhood. It is about recovery from relationship addiction, food addiction, anxiety, and constant fear. It is a human story that will resonate with listeners from all walks of life, and which offers hope to anyone who has felt imprisoned by the past. Read more

Two complete full-length Books—One Powerful Collection!Do you feel like you’re carrying the weight of the past, unable to break free from the anxiety, fear, or heartbreak that keeps you stuck? Are you longing for the kind of confidence that feels steady and secure—but find yourself trapped in self-doubt, emotional pain, or relationships that just don’t feel right?Imagine leaving the pain of the past behind, reconnecting with your authentic self, and building relationships that truly fulfill and support you. This all-in-one book presents two full-length books thatcombine the transformative power of three proven therapies—Internal Family Systems (IFS), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). With these powerful tools, you can break free from emotional struggles, rediscover your inner strength, and finally build the confidence, clarity, and love you’ve been searching for.Inside this book you’ll discover:Book 1: The Complete Inner Child Recovery Workbook Using Internal Family Systems Therapy- An IFS Toolbox for Reparenting Childhood TraumaWhy trying to ignore your past is actually hurting your progress – and what to do instead3 harmful myths the mental health industry tells you about dealing with traumaHow to achieve emotional freedom without reliving traumatic experiencesPowerful, easy-to-use techniques from renowned therapist Dr. Richard Schwartz to reconnect with the parts of yourself that hold the key to your transformation.One small tweak to your daily routine that can put an end to years of anxiety, stress, and emotional overwhelm.Book 2: Anxious Attachment Recovery in 7 Weeks Workbook- 50 DBT and EFT Exercises to Let Go of Relationship Anxiety and Find Secure Love50 transformative DBT and EFT exercises designed to strengthen your relationships and completely shift your emotional patterns—in just 7 weeks.5 Expert Tips For Creating A Safe, Loving Relationship Environment Where You Can Truly Thrive.The Ultimate 7 Week Roadmap To Transforming Your Attachment Style And Unlocking Lasting Love.The Surprising Truth About Attachment Styles And How They’re Secretly Shaping Your Relationships—Whether You Realize It Or Not.The #1 mistake anxious partners make that keeps them stuck in heartbreak—and the simple fix to break the cycle for good.…and so much more!You’ve spent enough time feeling stuck, anxious, and disconnected. Picture yourself stepping into a life where you feel secure, confident, and truly seen—both by yourself and the people who matter most.You don’t have to go through endless therapy sessions or keep searching for something that works. This guide gives you everything you need to finally transform, connect, and thrive.If you’re ready to break free from the past and claim the love and peace you deserve, scroll up and click “add to cart” now. Read more

Claudia Black's bestselling classic on the experience and legacy of being raised in an addictive household. In an all too familiar scenario, played out in millions of homes every day, children who grow up in addictive families abide by certain rules: don't talk, don't trust, don't feel. The rigid survival roles and youthful coping behaviors they take on, such as the responsible child, the adjuster, the placater, and the acting-out child can eventually contribute to problems of depression, loneliness, and addiction in adulthood. Using poignant personal stories, thoughtful explanations, and helpful exercises, Black helps readers gain personal insights and develop new skills that lead to a healthier, happier, more fulfilling life. While continuing to recognize alcohol as the primary addiction within families, this newly revised edition of It Will Never Happen to Me, which has sold more than two million copies, broadens concepts to include addictive disorders involving other drugs, money, food, sex, and work. Read more

This study offers practical, biblically-based guidance to lead you to identify, understand, and come to terms with the feelings and problems of growing up in a dysfunctional family. Read more

This new edition of Perfect Daughters, a pivotal book in the ACoA movement, identifies what differentiates the adult daughters of alcoholics from other women. When this groundbreaking book first appeared over ten years ago, Dr. Ackerman identified behavior patterns shared by daughters of alcoholics. Adult daughters of alcoholics—"perfect daughters" —operate from a base of harsh and limiting views of themselves and the world. Having learned that they must function perfectly in order to avoid unpleasant situations, these women often assume responsibility for the failures of others. They are drawn to chemically dependent men and are more likely to become addicted themselves. More than just a text that identifies these behavior patterns, this book collects the thoughts, feelings and experiences of twelve hundred perfect daughters, offering readers an opportunity to explore their own life's dynamics and thereby heal and grow. This edition contains updated information throughout the text, and completely new material, including chapters on eating disorders and abuse letters from perfect daughters in various stages of recovery, and helpful, affirming suggestions from Dr. Ackerman at the end of every chapter. This book is essential for every one who found validation, hope, courage and support in the pages of the original Perfect Daughters, as well as new readers and every therapist who confronts these issues. Also includes: a comprehensive reference section and complete index. Read more

2011 Reprint of 1954 Edition. Richard Walker, the author of this work, is the second most popular Twelve Step recovery author in total sales, after Bill Wilson. Walker has helped untold numbers of alcoholics through his writings. "Twenty-Four Hours a Day" is a book of meditation, thought, and prayer that is soul inspiring, spiritually uplifting, and filled with sage words of wisdom. While geared toward members of Alcoholics Anonymous to help them in their daily program of recovery, the book has much to offer any individual who is working on self-improvement and personal growth, and who is searching for spiritual uplifting and guidance. The book is divided into the 365 days of the calendar year, offering a thought, meditation, and related short prayer on each day. Much of the material is based on the Big Book and other A.A. literature. A classic work. Read more

The Solution in the Adult Children of Alcoholics / Dysfunctional Families (ACA and ACoA) program is to become your own loving parent. The Loving Parent Guidebook explores, in practical terms, how to build this healing resource into your life. The book provides guidance on creating the conditions to reclaim your inner child and reparent yourself with gentleness, humor, love, and respect. You can apply everything you learn in this guidebook to parenting, interacting with children, and interacting with adults. When you become a friend to yourself, you're naturally a friend to others. The book is structured to help you access the love inside you and grow the awareness and skills you need to become your own loving parent.The Solution really is to become your own loving parent, and this book explains how. Developing your reparenting skills can change your life. Within these pages you’ll find practical tools to help you reparent yourself with gentleness, humor, love, and respect.“This book could benefit all ACAs and fills a huge need in our program for concrete information on how to embrace the ACA Solution. The Loving Parent Guidebook finally provides practical instruction on HOW to reparent.” - Fellow Traveler“This guidebook is excellent! It provides a new and powerful approach to loving parent work.” - Fellow Traveler“It’s like all the things I needed but didn’t get growing up are presented in this book. It’s such a beautiful and important piece of work. After nine years in ACA and 26 years in other 12 Step programs, I truly feel that I have finally arrived home.” - Fellow Traveler“I’m incredibly impressed with the sensitivity, care, strength, and power of this book.” - Fellow TravelerACA is a spiritual program based on action coming from love. It was created for people who have some or all of the 14 survival traits commonly known as the Laundry List. These are the personality traits that people who grow up in dysfunctional families frequently share.The Adult Children of Alcoholics / Dysfunctional Families 12 step program is often the only program for many adult children recovering from growing up in a home with alcoholism or other family dysfunction. ACA meetings are intended to be safe places where we can share our experience, strength and hope without judgment or criticism. The program is recommended for people who have suffered abuse, neglect, abandonment, and trauma in childhood due to the behavior of addicted or dysfunctional immature parents. They often do not fully realize the impact these actions had on them until they are in the recovery process. This booklet provides answers that newcomers might have before they attend their first ACA meeting. Read more

Prodependence revolutionized addiction healthcare by improving the ways we treat loved ones of addicts and other troubled people by offering them more dignity for their suffering rather than blame for the problem. This revised edition builds on the model, revealing many more ways to put the method into practice and strategies for setting healthy boundaries. Do you love an addict? Do you sometimes feel like their addiction is your fault? Are people calling you codependent? If our treatment toward loved ones of addicts alienates them, it's time we change our approach. With Prodependence, Dr. Robert Weiss offers us the first fully new paradigm in nearly 40 years for helping those who love and care for addicts. An attachment-focused model, prodependence recognizes that no one can ever love too much, nor should anyone be pathologized for whomever they choose to love as is often the case. Prodependence informs caregivers how to love more effectively, but without having to bear a negative label for the valuable support they give. When treating loved ones of addicts and other troubled people using prodependence, we need not find something “wrong” with them. Instead, we acknowledge the trauma and inherent dysfunction that occurs when living in relationship with someone whose life is failing and keep moving forward. Validating a caregiver's painful journey for what it is opens the door to support them in useful, non-shaming ways. Helping people take incremental, positive steps toward intimate healing is what Prodependence is all about! Read more

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This is a deeply personal story of a young woman’s journey through addiction; the loss of her child’s father through an overdose, her mother’s suicide, and the tragic consequences that those lifestyle choices bring. At 15, Shelley was submerged into the seedy world of the red-light district of Honolulu. As the warm-up act for the strippers, she became a topless dancer only to discover she was not emotionally prepared for the lewd attention. Pills and heroin helped her to cope with a lifestyle that was beyond her years. Heartbreaking at times, this memoir follows Shelley as she makes her way into the rooms of recovery and the pitfalls and successes that await. Powerful, moving, and inspirational. Read more

Your healing is in your hands with this evidence-based workbook for adult children of alcoholicsAs the child of a parent or caregiver with an alcohol use disorder, you may still feel the impact of your experiences. Take the next steps on your healing journey with this workbook full of therapeutic techniques, journal prompts, quizzes, and other short exercises and activities to empower adult children of alcoholics. The self-guided approach allows you to work at your own pace as you examine how your experiences have shaped you, learn coping skills, grow in self-love, and build healthy relationships free from the harmful patterns you've experienced.Supportive exercises―Find exercises for combating negative self-talk, setting boundaries, working through guilt or shame, developing intimacy with yourself and others, and more.Proven techniques―Rebuild using effective therapeutic methods including cognitive behavioral therapy, assertiveness training, and other empirically supported tools.Realistic examples―Read stories from other adult children of alcoholics who have had similar experiences to help you remember that it isn't your fault and you're not alone.Discover evidence-based techniques to help you heal in this workbook for adult children of alcoholics. Read more

When they were first released in the 1980s, Janet Woititz's groundbreaking works, Adult Children of Alcoholics, Struggle for Intimacy and The Self-Sabotage Syndrome, provided a new message of hope to adult children who had grown up in the shadow of alcoholic parents. Their message today is as profound and timeless as it was two decades ago. Now, in this complete collection, readers will learn again the insight and healing power of Janet Wotitiz's words. The Complete ACoA Sourcebook is a compilation of three of Dr. Woititz's classic books, addressing head-on the symptoms of The Adult Children of Alcoholics syndrome and providing strategies for living a normal life as an adult. Readers will find help for themselves: at home, in intimate relationships and on the job. They will discover the reasons for the way they think, believe and feel about themselves; ACoAs often feel isolated, have difficulty in relationships, in the workplace and in feeling good about themselves. Readers who are familiar with Woititz's work will find wisdom once again in this classic collection. Those new to ACoA will gain fresh insight into their behavior patterns and find an avenue for self-love and healing. Noted ACoA expert Dr. Robert Ackerman, author of the best-selling Perfect Daughters and Silent Sons, provides a foreword and explains why Janet Woititz's message will continue to help millions of readers for generations to come. Read more