The foundation of ACA identification comes from The Laundry List (Problem), which describes a personality who fears people, has difficulty expressing feelings, and who can tolerate a high level of abuse or neglect without realizing the effects of such behavior. The adult child personality, the false self, lives in fear of being shamed and abandoned

In this chapter I’ve encouraged you to take responsibility for meeting some of the deficits of your childhood. In combination with the preceding four chapters, it gives you enough material to work with for a long time. Enough to change your whole experience, transforming your story.

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

Many of our parents truly wanted the best for us, but they handed off a sense of being incomplete as a person. We could never win enough awards or finish a project that made us feel whole. For most of us, our parents never said: “You have done enough. Take time to enjoy your accomplishment. Relax.”