Discovery and Recovery for Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families

This book could actually be helpful to people, as it contains a lot of good basic psychological self-help information. But it is really a book written for adult children of alcoholics. Whitfield stretches and strains to try to cover all those from difficult or dysfunctional families, and the result is messy. It also contains a lot of sloppy thinking, fundamentally the notion equating the Inner Child with the Real Self, Divine Child, and so on. It gets torturous when he tries to explain qualities of the Inner Child, which include the selfish, demanding qualities that all children share. There are also a lot of "what was he thinking" moments, such as the statement "A trauma is a loss" (how about, "A loss is a trauma"?), or "Transformation is a change of form" (true of physical change, but not emotional or psychic change. How about, "Transformation is a change of state"). Other areas reflect a rather shallow approach to therapeutic process, such as great emphasis on telling our story, a place where vicitimhood thrives. This is a well-meaning effort by a pioneer in the field, but unless you are ACOA, I would recommend looking elsewhere.

My counselor recommended this book to me and while I have gained some insights from reading it, to be honest I've been going through it sloooooowly because the writing style rubs me the wrong way. It almost reads like religion to me, and given the ultra-religious background I broke away from in my youth, it's like scenting the whiff of crazy. Of course that could just be me. ;)

I am training to become a psychiatrist and the book provided me with an understanding of how I can work through these issues with my patients. The book builds up nicely and carry you through til the end. Would recommend it to both the layperson and professionals new in the field.

Excellent book for self discovery and inner healing. Great additional reading while working a 12 Step Recovery Program. This book gives great information about dysfunctional families. Highly recommend reading!

Super fast shipping, great price, and book is in better than expected condition. This is the best book there is out there on healing your child within in my opinion...and I am a therapist (: Also a very simple read.