Reviewing ACA Traits

Reviewing ACA Traits

What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? In this ACA Tuesday Zoombox meeting, Laska shares candidly about returning to Adult Children of Alcoholics after initially feeling it "wasn't" their programme, and how reading ACA material during a rough period with their family of origin quietly signalled, "well, I guess this is for me." The episode centres on reviewing several ACA Laundry List traits and their "other" and "flip side" counterparts from the Loving Parent Guidebook.

Laska reads traits about isolation, fear of authority figures, approval-seeking, emotional shutdown and abandonment, then talks about how each one does or doesn’t land for them right now. You’ll hear how work, phone calls with a non-recovering parent and an often-ignored art career all stir up long‑standing patterns of fear, shame and self-protection.

There’s a gentle mix of humour and honesty, like when Laska says of one trait, "I wrote lol next to that," and admits, "I do think I'm guilty of the other laundry list as well," while still trying not to be too hard on themselves.

They reflect on learning to have "sharp edges" and boundaries, experimenting with small acts of spontaneity such as taking a different route to work, and noticing how ACA feels "more fun" than some other 12-step spaces because it makes room for being a real, imperfect human. Laska also touches on the "covert" side of family dysfunction and enmeshment, noting that therapy helped name what ACA doesn’t always spell out, even though "the solution is still the same.

It still works." For anyone growing up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional home who now feels stuck in patterns of isolation, self‑criticism or emotional numbness, this slow, thoughtful review of ACA traits may help you ask: which of these patterns are still running the show in your own life, and which flip sides are starting to appear?