Revised and updated from the original, this honest and forthwright look at families of all shapes and sizes will help you down the path of healing (whether you know you need it or whether you're just not sure). Unlocking Your Family Patterns combines decades worth of counseling wisdom and pastoral care insights into this one practical resource. Your past may hurt, and your family's patterns may have left emotional scars, but your future has not been laid in stone yet. There is hope for healing, there are lessons to learn, and there are paths toward family health. Using clinical, biblical and practical examples to help you uncover the patterns your family has lived in, this book might lead you toward the family u-turn you've been looking for.

A new and revised edition of Claudia Black's groundbreaking workbook for adult children from dysfunctional families This updated edition of Dr. Black's revolutionary self-help workbook provides readers with a step-by-step framework and a guide that takes them through a process to recognize how present challenges are influenced by growing up in a troubled family system, release the parts of the past they wish to leave behind, and take greater responsibility for how they live today. Adult children tend to repeat the life scripts of their challenged, troubled families as a result of internalized beliefs and behaviors that were either modeled for them or were a part of their survival strategy. Claudia Black, world-renowned expert on dysfunctional families, articulates a seven-step process for readers to heal the wounds of their past. This is also an excellent resource to aid therapists, counselors, and other helping professionals in their work with clients to help them become aware of how their family system affected them and grow beyond it.

A psychologist offers a roadmap for those looking to break free of toxic family relationships and thrive in the aftermath. Toxic family abuse is always two-fold. The first layer of abuse is the original poor treatment by toxic family members, and the second is someone’s denial of the ways in which abusers treat and harm them. Loving someone doesn’t always mean having a relationship with them, just like forgiveness doesn’t always mean reconciliation. A significant part of healing comes with accepting that there are some relationships that are so poisonous that they destroy one’s ability to be healthy and function best. But It’s Your Family is a remarkable account of what it means to cut ties to toxic family abuse and thrive in the aftermath. Inside, Dr. Sherrie Campbell clarifies: · How parents, adult children, siblings, grandparents, and in-laws can be toxic · The difference between flawed and toxic family members · Explaining the cutting of ties to children and others who may not understand · Spiritual and religious views on forgiveness · The definition of cutting ties and what No Contact actually means When readers are able to bring closure to those toxic relationships, they give themselves the space to love those family members from a distance, as fellow human beings, with the knowledge that it is unwise to remain connected. Readers learn how to love themselves in the process and fundamentally change their lives for the better!

We all want to guide our children into the abundant life that Jesus offers. But when we pursue the more and better that the world offers above our pursuit of Jesus, we fall into dangerous parenting habits. In Becoming a Spiritually Healthy Family, Michelle Anthony unpacks six common dysfunctional parenting styles that we fall into out of habit, lack of attention, or just oversight due to busyness. If you long to show your children Jesus but don't know how to do it, you'll find hope in this practical guide to creating a relentlessly grace-filled home that is focused on God as first in charge. Includes Scripture guides, reflection questions, ideas for family rites of passage, and other real life family examples.

“A zany, heartfelt, and laugh-out-loud funny debut.”—HelloGiggles Emily Glass knows she’s neurotic. But she’s got it under control. Sort of. Thankfully, she also has David, the man she’ll soon call husband—assuming they can survive wedding week with her wildly dysfunctional family. Emily’s therapist mother, Marla, who’s been diagnosing her children since they were in diapers, sees their homecoming as the perfect opportunity for long-overdue family therapy sessions. Less enthused are Emily and her two siblings: ardently feminist older sister, Lauren, and recently divorced brother, Jason. As the week comes to a tumultuous head, Emily wants nothing more than to get married and get as far away from her crazy relatives as possible. But that’s easier said than done when Marla’s meddling breathes new life into old secrets. After all, the ties that bind family together may bend, but they aren’t so easily broken.

The originator of the ACoA "Laundry Lists" gives an insider's view of the early days of the ACoA movement. Tony A. discusses what it means to be an adult child of an alcoholic parent and what the self-help group can do for its members. Includes stories, history and helpful information for the ACoA.

"It was nearly the scene Ida knew was coming and her palms were sweating. Instead of fairground rides there were peeling beach huts, a small girl, shivering in her nightdress, and hundreds and hundreds of furious gulls. On-screen Ida pushed her sister into the sea, and then climbed in after her." Almost 30 and entirely irresponsible, Ida Irons returns home for her mother's funeral. It's the first time she's been back, or seen her younger sister Alice, in fourteen years. Their mother was the caustic and secretive writer Bridie Adair, who named Ida after her infamous play. While Ida has been struggling to escape its shadow, Alice has been dealing with problems of her own. Forced to confront their fractured relationship, the sisters deal with their troubling history and search for the true story behind the play, finally asking the question: what really happened to 'the other' Ida?