Customer Reviews

Emotions Anonymous, Revised Edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

i was in this program for a while. The EA program and this book has a lot to offer to anyone experiencing actual anxiety and depression. It's redeeming feature is teaching people to minimize external stresses. It has an effective method for handling anxiety and regaining composure during minor internal crisis.

Obviously a lot of this program must be considered with skepticism like any other self-help book. The lessons in it can be utilized very well to an extent but should never be considered ultimate rules (which is unfortunately how some people treat them). The most unfortunate thing about this manual is that it makes no mention of how simple and limited it actually is. Mantras like 'let go and let go' and 'live and let live' are potentially disastrous if you are facing an actual serious problem in your life that can't be ignored or dismissed. Seriously, it is limited and not an answer for everything like the book and meetings would convey. I would give 4 stars if this program were more honest about it's effectiveness. another drawback is that it is very pushy about committing to the program.

Despite that I really do sincerely recommend it, if you only just apply to learning how to be composed and not let your emotions freak you out over minor issues.

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 was very happy with my transaction. this book is in good shape, and order came in timely manner thank you

Book came in brand new condition as ordered. Glad I ordered the latest edition, have wanted this book for a long time. Will consider ordering additional EA material from this vendor. Thanks

I made the mistake of getting caught up in the 12-Step Borg years ago, before authors such as Chas Bufe and Stanton Peele confirmed my suspicions that the entire movement is religious, and specifically evangelical -- rather than "spiritual" -- in nature, and that the fact it didn't work for me, no matter how hard I tried, did not mean there was anything wrong with me.

"EA" is the most ridiculous permutation of the Borg. Okay, in AA they want to give up alcohol and in NA they want to give up narcotics. Those goals at least make sense.

But in EA, the goal is to get rid of those pesky negative emotions, because there could *never* be any valid reason to feel sad or angry, unless one were willfully (will is bad, you see) rejecting one's "Higher Power." One achieves this dubious nirvana by repeating those annoying mantras like "One Day at a Time" over and over until one has managed to shut down one's thought processes. After all, in 12-Step Borg circles, not using one's brain is a *plus*. (Ever heard their expression "stinking thinking"?)

The worst "survivor testimony" in this entire book is by a woman named Jackie. When she was a young girl, her parents (and I use that term loosely) prostituted her out to strange men, which included making her dance with them.

Now, every day, she works toward earning the "forgiveness" of her "higher power."

Excuse me, but what *forgiveness" does anyone who's been put through that sort of atrocity by those who should have been the first to protect her have to earn?! Jackie's "parents" should be on their knees begging HER forgiveness. At the very least, they should be in prison for the rest of their lives.

This reminds me of the Catholic Church's self-righteous proclamations that it was going to "try to forgive" those who speak up about having been raped by priests, and that the victims should "try to forgive" those priests, too. As if those priests deserve anything other than to be beaten to death in prison, as John Geoghan was.

The 12-Step Borg: not interested in right or wrong, unable to admit that it doesn't work for everyone -- the loudmouths who can't stop proselytizing it to the uninterested and the vulnerable are a minority, just as all loudmouths are.

No. The Borg's only concern is to "spread the message," just as a virus's only concern is to propagate its DNA. You Will Be Assimilated. Resistance is Futile ... and is a sign of "willfulness," too, because your "Higher Power" should be in control. Running one's own life? What ... blasphemy!!

I'm glad I threw this pernicious and mind-damaging book into the trash.