Adult-Child Research Experience: Personal and Professional Legacies of a D [Paperback]

This volume combines research findings and personal experience of an ACoA, reviewing and critiquing the controlled research literature and clinical findings. Chapters dispel the myths and unsupported claims regarding ACoAs and alcoholic families, including excessively high rates of child abuse, the over-prediction of serious effects of being an ACoA, and the disease model of alcoholism.

Preface
RESEARCH OVERVIEW
Claims, Methods, and Variables. Family Dysfunction and Effects
Genetic and Psychophysiological Effects
BEING AND BECOMING
Personal Prologue and ACOA Profile: Notes from the Underground
The Denial of Reality: Perceptual and Emotional Blackouts
The Socialization of Cultural Realities: On Not Knowing What Normal Is
Meaning Making and Reality: The Self-Construction of an Identity
CHARACTERISTICS AND ISSUES
Distrust and Control: The Containment of Chaos
Anger, Guilt, Self-Esteem, and Depression: Being and Nothingness
Impulsiveness and Either/Or All-Or-None Responding: The Split-Level Self
Self-Reliance and Survival Modes: The Mountain Man Syndrome
The Intensity-Hypervigilance Crises Syndrome: Stress and Health Effects
RELATIONSHIPS
General Relationship Problems: Personal and Professional
Loyalty, Betrayal, Abandonment, and Intimacy: The Four Stress Points of an ACOA Relationship
Epilogue
References
Author Index
Subject Index