By Lisa Sue Woititz and Dr. Janet G. Woititz

Hazelden Publishing

Readers may recognize Dr. Janet Woititz’s name. She is the author of Adult Children of Alcoholics, a book written in the 1980’s, which started the ACoA recovery movement. Although she passed away in 1994, her daughter Lisa, using her mother’s previous and unpublished work including lecture notes and other written material, provides additional information about the cycle of addiction and addictive behaviors as well as insights and strategies to stop repeating the destructive cycle.

The book describes the common characteristics of individuals who grew up with alcoholic/addicted parents and were affected by their addictive behavior. Lisa shares her recovery journey when she describes her own life growing up in an alcoholic home and how these coping skills and characteristics followed her into adulthood. Each chapter concludes with thought-provoking questions for self-reflection.

Are you an ACoA? What are you doing to break the cycle of your children and their children from experiencing what you did as a result of the family disease of alcoholism? This book is a good first step.