The ACoA Trauma Syndrome: The Impact of Childhood Pain on Adult Relationships
By Tian Dayton PhD
ACOA stands for adult child of an alcoholic. Despite the prominent placement in the title, this book is really for any adult child of a dysfunctional family. If you grew up with a parent or caregiver who was alcoholic, this book will help you understand how addiction negatively impacts the family system, creating childhood trauma for those most vulnerable in the system. If you do not have an alcoholic parent but grew up in a home with neglect or abuse of any kind, this book will help you understand the impact of your family system on you and how to begin the work of healing your childhood trauma.
Here is a quote from the introduction:
“Recovery from the ACoA trauma syndrome is all about reclaiming the fragmented parts of the self that are trapped in another psychological and emotional time and place and bringing them into the here and now…It is learning to live in the present rather than in the past or future.”
A Gentle Path Through the Twelve Steps
By Patrick Carnes PhD
This classic workbook written many years ago by Patrick Carnes never leaves the top of the list for recovery literature. Written from a broad perspective that applies the twelve steps to anyone who is the in process of recovery, regardless of what they are recovering from. This book is true to its title and takes the reader through the process of the twelve steps in a gentle, thoughtful, meditative manner.
Written by: Michelle Mays, LPC, CSAT-S