Adult Children of Alcoholics
Janet Geringer Woititz
ISBN 1-55874-112-7
Janet Woititz wrote her dissertation for her doctorate in the middle 1970s about “Self-Esteem in Children of Alcoholics”. She started the first 12-step program for those of any age who had grown up in a dysfunctional home. This group was called ACOA-Adult children of Alcoholics. The book about ACOA, Adult Children of Alcoholics, was first published in 1983 and sold only by mail order. Book stores only carried after the public demand was high. By 1987 the book was on the New York Times bestsellers list.
The basic principles about ACOA people are the following:
1) Adult children of alcoholics guess at what normal behavior is.
2) Adult children of alcoholics have difficulty following a project through from beginning to end.
3) Adult children of alcoholics lie when it would be just as easy to tell the truth.
4) Adult children of alcoholics judge themselves without mercy.
5) Adult children of alcoholics have difficulty having fun.
6) Adult children of alcoholics take themselves very seriously.
7) Adult children of alcoholics have difficulty with intimate relationships.
Adult children of alcoholics over-react to changes over which they have no control.
9) Adult children of alcoholics constantly seek approval and affirmation.
10) Adult children of alcoholics usually feel that they are different
from other people.
11) Adult children of alcoholics are super responsible or super
irresponsible.
12) Adult children of alcoholics are extremely loyal, even in the face
of evidence that the loyalty is undeserved.
13) Adult children of alcoholics are impulsive. They tend to lock
themselves into a course of action without giving serious
consideration to alternative behaviors or possible
consequences. This impulsivity leads to confusion,
self-loathing and loss of control over their environment.
In addition, they spend an excessive amount of energy
cleaning up the mess.
Tags: 12-step, ACOA, adult children, alcoholics, self-esteem
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