Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp
This memoir about alcoholism and its effects is a gripping read, pulling you into the author’s story and immersing you in her ongoing affair with drinking. Caroline Knapp was what we often refer to as a ‘functional alcoholic’. She was successful at her job, had friendships and relationships. But her hidden life revolved around the next drink and the next and the next. If you want to understand more about the disease of alcoholism and how addiction can insidiously take over your life from the inside out, this book is for you.
Healing the Child Within: Discovery and Recovery for Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families by Charles L. Whitfield, M.D.
This classic by Charles Whitfield is a great starting point for anyone wanting to understand the ways in which dysfunctional parenting or family systems can negatively impact you and your relationships. Whitfield provides a great overview of the various ways that dysfunction can show up in families, sometimes overtly and sometimes quite subtly. He then helps the reader to look at the way that these factors can impact them as a child and all along the way into adulthood and how to begin to heal your wounded child within.