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I have had over a dozen of these books and keep giving them away. I joined the group in 1977 and have been in a 12 step group since 1972, I still attend regularly and keep my life in the center thanks to this book and many like it. Kitty

I would like to say that this book is amazingly life changing and profound, as the Emotions Anonymous (EA) fellowship can be, but it's not. If you're familiar with twelve-step literature from other groups, and looking for something new and different, you will probably find the treatment of the twelve-steps in this book pretty vanilla. EA's program assiduously copies as much from Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Al-Anon as can apply to people with with serious mental and emotional illness, and doesn't do much to extend it passed that. In twelve-step addiction recovery programs (Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Crystal Meth Anonymous, etc), there is in implied goal of changing behavior: changing oneself so that the desire to use drugs and alcohol is gone, or is at least manageable. In most other twelve-step programs that don't deal with drug addiction, there are plans in place to help control the compulsive behavior the program deals with. For example, in Overeaters Anonymous members follow food plans, in Debtors Anonymous members keep numbers and make a spending plan, in Gambler's Anonymous veteran members counsel newcomers on dealing with financial and legal problems and provide direction, in Sexual Compulsives Anonymous members follow a sexual recovery plan. In the Emotions Anonymous program, however, there is no similar extension to help guide members in changing their behavior. While some EA members will develop a new code of conduct, there are no specific guidelines or process in the program (book) for it. If anything, completely removing a concept of abstinence or behavior modification has taken a gear out of the engine that motivates recovery in other twelve-step programs. All of this is not to say that this book isn't worth reading. For people who are coming to EA and are not familiar with other twelve-step programs, this book is a good introduction for understanding how twelve-step programs work, and following the first 82 pages of explanation there are 146 pages of inspirational EA member recovery stories. A strength of twelve-step groups is that they have developed a common language to describe problems and coping mechanisms. As folksy and pastoral as that language can be, it amounts to a kind of serendipitous cognitive therapy as it is used in the fellowship, and can be easily understood by a non-professional audience.

Most people always try to keep everything to themselves and I read about them blowing themselves away or taking others with them,just because they had to much pride to ask for help. The twelve steps suggested in this book saved my life in another program 12 step program and have saved millions more.No body ever forced me to believe in anything,but if you actually and TRUELY work the steps as they are layed out in this text,it's hard not to believe in a Higher Power.I've seen too many big ego people blow their heads off,overdose,or what have you.I found following the book much easier.