ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS/DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES: Big Red Book

The spiritual principles of Step Four are self-honesty and courage.

I am negative, self-critical, self-sabotaging, self-rejecting, afraid of being abandoned, and unfeeling. I never realized my penchant for negativity. I criticized myself unmercifully.

Loving Parent or reparenting – The inner parent we can develop from the part of us that took action to care for ourselves as children and which can be awakened in recovery.

Reparenting ourselves can mean many things, but the central theme is that we are willing to challenge our critical, inner voice and to care for the child within.

We believe resentment is stored anger caused by innumerable losses as a child.

“If I can hurt you before you hurt me then I will feel powerful or in control.”

We are on a path to the Inner Child or the True Self.

Inner Child – The original person, being, or force which we truly are. Some ACA members call this the True Self.

The child within is our original identity which knows how to love and trust freely.