Rating: 
Summary: Excellent source for adult children of alcoholics.
Review: As an adult child of an alcoholic this book woke me up. I had never participated in Al-Anon meetings and this book was a great first start. If you want to better understand why you feel the way you do...read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent source for adult children of alcoholics.
Review: As an adult child of an alcoholic this book woke me up. I had never participated in Al-Anon meetings and this book was a great first start. If you want to better understand why you feel the way you do...read this book.
Rating:
Summary: This book could change your life.
Review: Both of my parents were alcoholics, and when I read It Will Never Happen to Me in the 1980s it changed my life forever. Just this week I recommended it to yet another person. Most people I've given it to are afraid to read it, because it will bring back painful memories, but it is worth it. If some readers find the material in this book to be basic or familiar, they may not realize that it was the ground breaking book on this subject for a popular audience. All subsequent books for adult children of alcoholics owe a debt to Claudia Black.
Rating:
Summary: This book could change your life.
Review: Both of my parents were alcoholics, and when I read It Will Never Happen to Me in the 1980s it changed my life forever. Just this week I recommended it to yet another person. Most people I've given it to are afraid to read it, because it will bring back painful memories, but it is worth it. If some readers find the material in this book to be basic or familiar, they may not realize that it was the ground breaking book on this subject for a popular audience. All subsequent books for adult children of alcoholics owe a debt to Claudia Black.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written, jargon free, motivating and inspiring
Review: Claudia Black has written extensively on the subject of Children of Alcoholics (COA) and Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA). In her book 'It Will Never Happen to Me' she has combined her considerable talent for jargon free language with the words and expressions of those who have experienced life as a COA/ACOA. The result is a wonderfully insightful book that will bring clarity to a great many people.A central theme of the book is an exploration of the roles that ACOA adopt as a means of coping with the events around them - the responsible one, the adjuster, the placater and so on. Often in childhood these roles are appropriate in that they enable the child to cope with their often traumatic experiences. However, in adulthood the over-dependency on these roles can lead to obsessions, neurosis, mental health problems amongst other issues. Furthermore, in a family where alcohol is used in an unhealthy manner the child learns to 'don't talk, don't trust and don't feel'. Claudia Black gives the reader an insight in to the possibilities that exist for the adult child to break away from the scripts that have been set for them by others. The message is 'it doesn't have to be this way'. I was the responsible child, the hero of my family. I did well at school, was good at sports, succeeded in almost all areas. I went on the University, gained a good degree, a counselling qualification and then a Masters - as an adult I was fulfilling my script to be responsible, to achieve, to be the hero. I was also in a succession of relationships where I took on the role of carer, replicating the role that had developed in my family. Along with some therapy, the books of Claudia Black were pivotal in my change process, moving away from who others wanted me to be to the person I wanted to work towards being. This book alone cannot change the behaviour of the ACOA, words after all are only words! What this book does however, is provide the right words - full of wisdom and experience - that can motivate and inspire the ACOA to begin his/her journey to wholeness.
Rating:
Summary: Well written, jargon free, motivating and inspiring
Review: Claudia Black has written extensively on the subject of Children of Alcoholics (COA) and Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA). In her book `It Will Never Happen to Me' she has combined her considerable talent for jargon free language with the words and expressions of those who have experienced life as a COA/ACOA. The result is a wonderfully insightful book that will bring clarity to a great many people. A central theme of the book is an exploration of the roles that ACOA adopt as a means of coping with the events around them - the responsible one, the adjuster, the placater and so on. Often in childhood these roles are appropriate in that they enable the child to cope with their often traumatic experiences. However, in adulthood the over-dependency on these roles can lead to obsessions, neurosis, mental health problems amongst other issues. Furthermore, in a family where alcohol is used in an unhealthy manner the child learns to `don't talk, don't trust and don't feel'. Claudia Black gives the reader an insight in to the possibilities that exist for the adult child to break away from the scripts that have been set for them by others. The message is `it doesn't have to be this way'. I was the responsible child, the hero of my family. I did well at school, was good at sports, succeeded in almost all areas. I went on the University, gained a good degree, a counselling qualification and then a Masters - as an adult I was fulfilling my script to be responsible, to achieve, to be the hero. I was also in a succession of relationships where I took on the role of carer, replicating the role that had developed in my family. Along with some therapy, the books of Claudia Black were pivotal in my change process, moving away from who others wanted me to be to the person I wanted to work towards being. This book alone cannot change the behaviour of the ACOA, words after all are only words! What this book does however, is provide the right words - full of wisdom and experience - that can motivate and inspire the ACOA to begin his/her journey to wholeness.
Rating:
Summary: Excelent
Review: Highly recomend even if you just know somone who grew up with alcohol in the family.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I didn't find any information in this book that was particularly enlightening. Most was basic and there was little useful mention of how these issues manifest in adulthood---or suggestions for change. The author bounces back and forth from how it affects the child still in the alcoholic home to the adult child. It would be more beneficial to separate those stages and focus on one or the other. I found it difficult to apply her information in any useful way.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I didn't find any information in this book that was particularly enlightening. Most was basic and there was little useful mention of how these issues manifest in adulthood---or suggestions for change. The author bounces back and forth from how it affects the child still in the alcoholic home to the adult child. It would be more beneficial to separate those stages and focus on one or the other. I found it difficult to apply her information in any useful way.
Rating:
Summary: good help
Review: I read it like a month ago and it changed the way I look into my life. I recommend it to all the ones who say 'It will never happen to me'.
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