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The Forum Magazine
Al-Anon's monthly magazine, The Forum, contains many personal stories of inspiration, some of which are made available each month on the Internet by authorization of Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc.
Articles from members present their personal views and experiences. Opinions expressed here are not attributable to Al-Anon as a whole. In keeping with Tradition Eleven, individuals are identified by first names and initials only. |
| The first three Steps: key to feeling better
By Tamara O., Missouri
...Step One tells me to admit I am powerless over alcohol and that my life is unmanageable. Admit it—that’s a big step. To admit I am powerless is to admit that I don’t have control and that can be frightening to me. As the adult child of an alcoholic I want to fix things for everyone, but if I don’t control it, how can I fix it?
One Alateen conference changed my life
By Lorraine, New York
I didn’t believe it when my mother first told me she was an alcoholic. My image of an “alcoholic” was an old man stumbling down the road in dirty clothes with a brown bag covering a bottle of something in his hand—the town drunk.
My mom told me she was going to A.A. One day, she approached me and said there was a place where teenagers could meet called Alateen. She asked if I wanted to go. I said “no.”
Escaping the attraction of abusive alcoholics: How I got better
By Marcia H., Tennessee
In the backwoods culture of the East Tennessee Mountains, there were two groups of people: The respected members of the community worked hard, kept vigil over their homes, and attended church every Sunday. The others were the poor souls bound for hell and damnation, lost to the rot and ruin of corn liquor and sinful living.
Looking back, I’m pretty sure the dividing line between the two groups was determined by who was best at keeping secrets. My family’s secrets were well-kept...
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The Challenge of Communicating with an Alcoholic Spouse
Alcoholism can take its toll on many aspects of life. Healthy communication is often one of the first casualties of this family disease, not only for alcoholics, but for everyone around them.
One of Al-Anon’s first books, The Dilemma of the Alcoholic Marriage (B-4), addresses the distressing and difficult situations that are part of marriage to an alcoholic. Although it was first published in 1967 and reflects the time in which it was written, the book remains a great resource of pertinent, useful tools for anyone living with an alcoholic spouse.
The fourth chapter, “What Manner of Communications Are These?” discusses in depth the challenges of communicating in an alcoholic marriage. Although this chapter refers to the spouse of an alcoholic as the wife, it is understood that most of the material applies to the husband of an alcoholic as well.
The Forum 2009 Index
At the end of each year, The Forum publishes an index of all the articles that appeared in the magazine that year. While this helps in December, we also thought there was a way to keep readers updated more frequently.
That’s why we created the on-line Forum index. It’s updated monthly, so you’ll never miss a story!
Here are the articles we’ve published so far, some of which we’ve linked so you can access the stories. Again, we encourage you to check back monthly to see additional stories.
The Forum 2008 Index
The Forum 2007 Index
The Forum 2006 Index
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