Adult Children of Alcoholics and Trauma

[Kizzie]

I used to go to an Adult Children of Alcoholics group when I was in my 20's and although they didn't talk about trauma specifically then it seems there is more recognition that the characteristics of ACoA's align more with trauma and C/PTSD than was thought previously.  This week I came across the book  The ACOA Trauma Syndrome: The Impact of Childhood Pain on Adult Relationships by Tian Dayton and it was good to see that she does view ACoA characteristics as a trauma syndrome. Well it was for me as the ACOA group didn't quite help me to reach the pain I felt or the symptoms I was having.

If you don't want to read the full book, there's a short article here by Dayton:

Adult Children of Alcoholics ACoAs: Qualities and Traits - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-tian-dayton/adult-children-of-alcohol_b_300572.html

If you compare Dayton's characteristics and traits to Woititz's work from the 90's, you can see the evolution of ACoA characteristics into more trauma related terminology.   13 Characteristics of Adult Children of Alcoholics - http://www.drjan.com/13char.html.  (Woititz was a pioneer of the ACoA movement.) Personally I think it's an important step as I got only so far at ACoA and couldn't get any further until years later when I learned I have CPTSD - that's when everything fell into place for me (that and realizing that in addition to an alcoholic parent my other parent has a personality disorder).   

Anyway, for any ACoA's here at OOTS who might want to attend an ACoA meeting, here's a site which lists face-to-face groups around the world:

Adult Children of Alcoholics World Service Organization - http://www.adultchildren.org/ . ACoA is a recovery program for adults whose lives were affected as a result of being raised in an alcoholic or other dysfunctional family. It is based on the success of Alcoholics Anonymous and employs its version of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. This site has a current list of weekly ACA meetings in countries around the world, and ACA literature in six different languages.