Originally Posted by FallenAngelina

This is where AlAnon meetings, friends and phone lists can be really, really helpful. When we enter AlAnon, we are much like the As entering AA - quite vulnerable and new in our recovery. We need an enormous amount of support and healthy modeling. Sitting in meetings is just one piece of AlAnon. A sponsor and long time members can be our lifeline to a better way of thinking, as can be daily meditation and service in the program. We don't have a drinking problem, but we do have a thinking problem, just like a newly sober alcoholic. Sure, we have removed the person - and that does bring a great deal of peace - but we have done little to change our familiar ways of negative thinking. This is why a whole recovery program is just as important for us as it is for an alcoholic. The only difference between "us" and "them" is that we don't get chips, but we need an ongoing community that supports and encourages healthy change, just the same. Trying to go it alone in codependence recovery is akin to being a dry drunk.