Kenneth Perlmutter, a California psychologist with 30-plus years in the field, has written Freedom from Family Dysfunction specifically for family members who love someone battling addiction or mental illness who want to break the cycles of codependency and relapse plaguing their dysfunctional systems. The combination of compelling vignettes, lively dialogues, and step-by-step instructions makes this guidebook an indispensable tool for the parents, partners, adult children, and the clinicians who treat them, to heal the powerlessness, pain, and impossibility of life with someone they’ve been trying to help, sometimes for decades. Provided by publisher.

Belief systems: uncovering the wounded family system -- Rodeo clowns, life jackets, and being on call 24/7: what do I become? -- Looking inside: what keeps us stuck? -- Intergenerational insanity: the impaired coping model -- Deepening our understanding of the family deal: early influences, failed methods, enabling, and dependency -- There is a solution: small shifts produce big results -- Touching it with love: choosing connection over being right -- "I just want [them] to be happy": your recovery action plan -- Freedom from family dysfunction: staying on path.