Other Books by Anne Wilson Schaef

"The fields of psychotherapy, medicine, counseling psychology, psychiatry, social work, ministry, and even education have all attempted to improve the human condition and truly help people. Unfortunately, their helpfulness is limited by the very concept of science on which they are built. As many scientists are warning, this mechanistic, reductionistic scientific model is reaching a state of entropy. It is beginning to turn on and devour itself. The time has come for psychology and psychotherapy as we know them to change dramatically.

"My hope is that this work will allow us to begin to leave behind psychologies and even psychotherapies themselves that have, indeed, done some good but have kept us locked into a worldview that is destructive to all life and that ultimately cannot be healing."

-- According to Schaef, there are "millions of persons in this country affected by the diseases of addictions and co-dependence and these diseases are reaching epidemic proportions...producing early death and unhappy, destructive, and destroyed persons."

What is co-dependence? Originally a term for the disease that affects people involved in a close relationship with an alcoholic or a chemically dependent person, co-dependence, Schaef proposes, is just one form of what she calls "the addictive process," an underlying generic, primary disease whose assumptions, beliefs, and lack of spiritual awareness are openly supported by the society in which we live.

In CO-DEPENDENCE, Schaef discusses the impact her theory will have on the fields of mental health, chemical dependency, family therapy, and the women's movement. And she traces the history and development of the concept of co-dependence and discusses its often confusing, overlapping definitions.

Excerpts from the author's Introduction: "As a society, we are involved, I believe, in a very crucial process of learning about the range, focus, and impact of addictions on individuals, families, institutions, and entire cultures. We are beginning to understand that since we live in an addictive society, we have all been exposed to and trained into an addictive process. This addictive process is not a normal state for the human organism. It is something that we have learned.

"We have also learned that addictions rarely, if ever, exist in isolation. After we have faced off against our favorite addiction, the one that is killing us or destroying our lives the fastest, and have attained a modicum of sobriety with that addiction, we discover our next most favorite, the one that is killing us the next fastest. We must move in our recovery from one addiction to another for two major reasons: first, we have not recognized and treated the underlying addictive process, and second, we have not accurately isolated and focused upon the specific addictions.

"In my experience, the chemical and/or ingestive addictions have been the first to be confronted both historically and individually. Then, in order for recovery to proceed, one must also confront the process addictions in which one is addicted to a process. These are addictions, for example, to work, money, sex, relationships, romance, religion, exercise--in which the focus is not upon the ingestion of a chemical or other substance....We must understand them and treat them with as much concern as we do ingestive addictions."

-- "I realize that humor isn't for everyone. It's only for people who want to have fun, enjoy life, and feel alive." (Schaef) Whether we're in recovery for alcoholism, co-dependency, gambling, drug, or eating addictions, we all share one basic experience: recovery is hard work. And often it's when we're pushing our programs the hardest that recovery seems more elusive than ever. At these times, letting go, even laughing at ourselves, can be the most healing gift of all.

In this wise and graceful sequel to Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much, which is also a collection of daily meditations, Schaef encourages us to explore the worries that trouble so many of our lives. Schaef helps us to smile at our worries and encourages us to reexamine our discontent and our desperate need to control our lives. She ponders with us the true nature of love, solitude, creativity, friendship, sorrow, intimacy, and all the experiences that go into living a life. Best of all, she inspires us to respect our own particular inner rhythm and intuitive wisdom, to live this moment, now, with trust and joy.

--Do you find yourself rushing all day long? Work and kids, errands and chores--too much to do and never enough time to do it? All of us need a little time out in our busy lives, time for peace, quiet, and recharging those worn-out batteries. Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much is for every woman who wants to slow down for a minute and make time for herself--to laugh a little, share a moment of inspiration, and remind herself that she's worth taking care of.

NATIVE WISDOM FOR WHITE MINDS - - (Ballantine, August 1995)

-- What is a white mind? As Anne Wilson Schaef learned during her travels throughout the world among Native Peoples, anyone raised in modern Western society or by Western culture can have a white mind. White minds are trapped in a closed system of thinking that sees life in black and white, either/or terms; they are hierarchical and mechanistic; they see nature as a force to be tamed and people as objects to be controlled with no regard for the future.

This worldview is not shared by most Native Peoples, and in this provocative book, Anne Wilson Schaef shares the richness poured out to her by Native Americans, Aborigines, Africans, Maoris, and others. In the words of Native Peoples themselves, we come to understand Native ideas about our earth, spirituality, family, work, loneliness, and change. For in every area of our lives we have the capacity to transcend our white minds--we simply need to listen with open hearts and open minds to other voices, other perceptions, other cultures.

Use this link to excerpts regarding natural health.

--This book is about a reality--a reality perceived, explored, and expressed by women whenever they are free to do so without fear. It is about who we are as women. When we understand and accept who we are, we become in turn more understandable and accepted.

This book has three purposes: liberation, sharing, and communication. It is intended to liberate women from an unnecessary oppression based on myths. It is intended to share and legitimate what all women know--some of which they are willing to admit to themselves, and some of which they are willing to admit to others. It is intended to communicate in the "female idiom."

--Even though there is a plethora of books about organizations and corporate life and millions of dollars each year are spent on consultants and packages designed to "fix up" what is wrong with organizations, corporations continue to search desperately for models that will reverse a slipping economy and enliven a poorly producing work force. Individuals look forward to weekends so that they can recover from their "crazy-making" experiences at work only to find that they must face the same dynamics on Monday. Often, persons who come from dysfunctional families find their organizations repeating the same patterns they learned in their families. Even though these patterns feel familiar, they do not feel healthy. Though consulting packages seem to alleviate some problems for a few days or a week, those same problems reemerge with even greater force and tenacity. Even after our favorite committees have had workshops on communications skills, breakdowns in communication, dishonesty, isolation, anger, and withdrawals continue. What is going on? What are we missing?