Book Review – Discovering Choices by Al-Anon

Al-Anon Focuses on Relationships with Problem Drinkers

Mar 25, 2009

Published in 2008, this softcover volume contains sixteen chapters and 335 pages. It is fully indexed, a plus for those who are seeking insight on a certain topic.

There are no simple answers to the complex challenges inherent in any relationship with an alcoholic. Al-Anon was founded to address these very challenges, and this book tackles specific issues in a practical and helpful way. Each chapter looks at an aspect of the Twelve Steps, adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous, and offers insight, experience, strength and hope for the reader. There are anonymous personal stories at the end of every chapter, which often help the reader relate their own experience to the topic being covered in depth. Additionally, there are several thought-provoking questions for discussion, either with a sponsor or in an Al-Anon meeting.

It isn’t unusual for newcomers to enter the doors of the Al-Anon program in a state of total chaos and confusion. Many of them have been physically, emotionally, financially and/or verbally abused in their relationship with an alcoholic. So, appropriately, Chapter One is entitled “We Start from Where We Are”. From there, the chapters progress in an orderly fashion, building a solid foundation for recovery, gaining a new and more realistic perspective and realizing that every member of a dysfunctional family participates in the family disease of alcoholism.

The personal stories in this book are anonymous, fairly short and easy to read. They offer real-life insights into the daily lives of real people who struggle with their own disease of codependency. There are stories from people in all walks of life, all age groups and all manner of lifestyles. Few of them are professional writers, but they share from their hearts and from their love of the program that has helped them in their journey of recovery.

One of the basic tenets of the Al-Anon program is that recovery can’t happen in isolation. Step One reads “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable”. With emphasis on the “We”, the book offers thought-provoking questions so that readers can participate in those all-important discussions with others. As it says in the closing of a typical Al-Anon meeting, “talk to each other, reason things out with someone else but let there be no gossip or criticism of one another. Instead, let the understanding love and peace of the program grow in you one day at a time”.

This book and other Al-Anon conference-approved literature may be purchased at your local intergroup or through an online retailer.

The copyright of the article Book Review – Discovering Choices by Al-Anon in Substance Abuse Recovery is owned by Marie Brannon. Permission to republish Book Review – Discovering Choices by Al-Anon in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.