Fülszöveg
ANOTHER CHANCE
Hope and Health for the Alcoholic Family
SHARON WEGSHEIDER-CRUSE
Another Chance is a hope-filled book about what has seemed like a hopeless problem for many. Personal and professional praise for the author's treatment of the families of alcoholics has been overwhelming.
Every alcoholic family is locked in its own private world of loneliness, fear, shame, guilt, hurt, anger, and frustration. In a brave attempt to hold itself together and face the larger world, the family puts up high defensive walls, closing out even those who could lead it back to health.
In her first ten chapters Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse takes us on a rare, revealing trip behind those walls. There, in family after family, we find the familiar drama being enacted, the same compulsive roles being played out in the same tragic scenario. With a compassion born of personal experience with hundreds of alcoholic families, including the one in which she grew up, Mrs. Wegscheider-Cruse introduces us to...
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Fülszöveg
ANOTHER CHANCE
Hope and Health for the Alcoholic Family
SHARON WEGSHEIDER-CRUSE
Another Chance is a hope-filled book about what has seemed like a hopeless problem for many. Personal and professional praise for the author's treatment of the families of alcoholics has been overwhelming.
Every alcoholic family is locked in its own private world of loneliness, fear, shame, guilt, hurt, anger, and frustration. In a brave attempt to hold itself together and face the larger world, the family puts up high defensive walls, closing out even those who could lead it back to health.
In her first ten chapters Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse takes us on a rare, revealing trip behind those walls. There, in family after family, we find the familiar drama being enacted, the same compulsive roles being played out in the same tragic scenario. With a compassion born of personal experience with hundreds of alcoholic families, including the one in which she grew up, Mrs. Wegscheider-Cruse introduces us to the family cast—the Enabler, the Hero, the Scapegoat, the Lost Child, the Mascot, and, of course, the Dependent, who has unwittingly sold his (or, as often, her) soul to a chemical. It matters little whether the chemical is alcohol or some other mood-altering substance; the tragedy is the same.
As we watch, the Dependent's disease gradually affects those around him until other family members begin to display many of the same symptoms. The author draws on a broad professional background to explain how this contagion takes place, both in the individual and in the family system. She traces its eroding effect on each part of each person's human potential— physical, emotional, social, mental, spiritual, volitional. If no one intervenes, every member of the family will eventually suffer deep and lasting damage.
But intervention is possible. In the second part of the book Mrs. Wegscheider-Cruse describes a treatment program that can interrupt the relentless downward spiral of alcoholism before all is lost, and put families on the road to recovery. Alcoholics Anonymous is seen as an important ally in this process. The treatment plan is built around AA's Twelve Steps, and all family mem-
bers are urged to become active participants in AA, Al-anon, and Alateen.
Another Chance is a helpful guide for physicians, counselors, lawyers, ministers, and other helping professionals who must deal with the difficult problems of alcoholics and their families. But its easy-to-read style and moving human stories invite the layman, too, to share its message of hope. For the millions of Americans who suffer under the burden of their own or a loved one's alcoholism, it offers fresh insight on what is happening in their families and what they personally can do to change it.
Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse, an internationally-known chemical dependency professional and family therapist, does consulting throughout the United States. She is President of Onsite Training and Consulting Inc., offering treatment for members of alcoholic families and training for the professionals who work with them. Mrs. Wegscheider-Cruse was founding board chairperson of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics. The daughter of two alcoholics, she has a deep regard for Twelve Step programs. For further information, contact Onsite Training and Consulting, Inc., 2820 West Main Street, Rapid City, South Dakota, 57702, (605) 341-7432.
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