Customer Reviews

Games Alcoholics Play

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

 

 

I first read this book 25 years ago when I was entangled in my family of "executive drinkers"- -and found that I was repeatedly dating and working with alcoholics.The theory of the origins of alcoholism may or may not be accurate. What saved my life was reading the scripts. They describe the behavior of the alcoholic, those around her/him, and the inevitable results of denial.I saw myself, my family, my whole lifestyle. I saw the danger that I was in . . . .and I acted.I changed my location, my profession, and recreation preferences.Recalling the scripts in this book have kept me from again becoming entangled with destructive people. I have had a happy and productive life ever since.I can't recommend this book enough.

The first ninety-nine pages are an introduction into Transactional Analysis. I thought, at first, that this was excessive, but the payoff is in really understanding the different types of alcoholics and how they manipulate others around them. This book is excellent for the person dealing with an alcoholic in their own family and trying to understand and deal with the damage that person has done to the family.

An AA friend loaned me this book about 20 years ago. It made me aware of all the excuses I made for wanting to drink. I heard all of that mumbo jumbo about Alcoholism being a disease but I never bought into it and I'm glad I didn't because that would be all the excuse I would need to keep drinking until I died.

Steiner's other book, Life Scripts was a life saver also. After reading that book it didn't take me long to realize the script I had been acting out most of my life, that started when I was an infant taking the drug, paregoric, that contains opium and alcohol, that set me up for my addiction later. Even when I was young I was some what intoxicated because I was consuming excessive amounts of sugar, trying to recreate the feeling I got from the paregoric and the human body makes alcohol from sugar and fat. Then I got my first beer when I was 17 and I was off and running. The script was being played out again and I repeated it constantly until I discovered that I was acting out.

Another book not mentioned here is Choices.

I am of the opinion, based on my own personal experiences, that using alcohol in an abusive manner is a learned behavior, not a genetic predisposition. All you have to do is look at all of the advertsing for alcohol, all of the social outlets that include drinking, etc, to see that it is a big part of our social lives. What is a Football or Baseball game without a big cup of beer and a footlong hotdog? I think it is just a social disease, perpetuated by Corporate America!

Sorry I really didn't evaluate the book. Games people play. I think the book gives a fair assessment of games played not just on a personal level but on other levels as I mentioned above about alcoholism being a disease. The consumption of alcohol is perpetuated by television. In AA they say change your playmates and playpens if you plan to stay away from alcohol. This means avoiding commercials on television that promote its use. I found this book most helpful but may tend to make one overly paranoid in social situations if taken to extremes, yet we all have ulterior motives for what we do or want to do, so getting honest and getting to that is where real help and mental health begin.

I bought this book assuming it would give help in dealing with the alcoholic but was very disappointed. If you are doing research this book may be fine, but it is not for self-help.

I liked how the author approached Alcoholism as a choice and not a disease. He approached the matter with the idea that alcoholics have responsiblities. They are responsible for their own actions. It shed new light for me on alcoholism.

I was curious to read and review this book--as the title sounded very interersting. After giving it about an hour, I realized that I was reading paragraphs over and over to get the meaning. It reads more like a textbook rather than a helpful, informational tool for someone looking for answers. I'm not sure who this book is directed toward.

I also wonder why the name of the doctor who wrote the "forward" is about 5 times larger than that of the author????

There are much more "user friendly" resources out there if you poke around:

Why Don't They Just Quit? What families and friends need to know about addiction and recovery.

Why Don't They Just QUIT? DVD Roundtable Discussion: What families and friends need to know about addiction and recovery.

This book dates back to the 60's. Old concepts and philosophy. Definately not for the layman. Don't buy it if you're looking for answers on how to cope with an alcoholic. The author must have written it just wanted to hear themselves ramble, I think. It was a waste of my money.

There are many types of addictions. It was very helpful to me in understanding a person I was dealing with and more importantly - where to stop helping.
Loved this old but still very current book. Easy to understand for any lay person.

The information is very helpful despite some dated comments ("Homosexual tendencies" LOL) and overall I found this book to be extremely helpful in understanding alcoholism and anyone involved in any kind of -ism, whether it be overeating, drug addiction, self abuse, etc.
The author also explains the labels we place on others, i.e. 'alcoholic' and role play we latch onto and use in our life without realizing it. It is reminiscent of "all the world's a stage" - how we determine the course we want to set at an early age and play those roles, and why. I have not read anything by Berne until now, but find him to be an interesting read - realizing this IS TA therapy and nothing new, but for those not familiar with it will be interested.
All in all I highly recommend this book for Al-Anon members (which is why I purchased it).

This book is based on the TA concept (trans-analysis by Eric Berne, BTW- THIS book is NOT by Eric Berne). Basically meaning everything we do is based on how we grew up/how people treated us throughout our lives. However, I know a lot of alcoholics (including my father and an ex-husband) and many don't fit into 1 of the 3 categories.

Very disappointing.