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.

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.

In every family, parenting is filled with challenges as well as joys, and making the choice to become a parent means choosing both. But if you come from a troubled or dysfunctional family where you were emotionally or physically abused, you may wonder if you are really ready to parent children in a healthy way. The example set by your own parents taught you what you don't want for your children. How can you overcome this painful legacy and create what you do want: a stable, well-functioning home where your children feel safe, valued, and loved? The good news is that dysfunctional patterns and troubled lives do not have to be handed down to the next generation. Janet G. Woititz has counseled families for more than 20 years. Now, in Healthy Parenting, she draws upon her vast practical experience as a therapist, mother, and best-selling author to bring you the support and guidance you seek in creating a safe, nurturing environment for your children. Clear, direct, and practical, Healthy Parenting contrasts what happens in a healthy family with what happens in an unhealthy family, enabling you to identify the trouble spots in your own background and to overcome them in dealing with your own children. Effective parenting, Woititz contends, emerges from being able to recognize how your upbringing influences the way you raise your children, and knowing how to keep what works and discard what doesn't. Writing with clarity and compassion, she explores the vital challenges every parent faces - issues such as understanding boundaries, tolerating feelings, responding to a crisis, and learning to emphasize love rather than shame in teaching or disciplining a child. Throughout Healthy Parenting, frank and clarifying examples of common parenting dilemmas and triumphs bring these matters into brilliant focus. When adult children of troubled families learn what normal parenting is and what it is not, great burdens can be lifted, healing can take place, and loving, secure children can flourish in warm and stable homes. Whether you are just thinking about having children or have already become a parent, Janet G. Woititz offers the help and reassurance you need to make healthy parenting a part of your home.