This book appears at first to deal just with additctions. Further reading proves this book to be excellent reference for any individual suffering from depression, anxiety, childhood trauma and different kinds of abuse suffered during childhood. It explains how being an addict, depressed, anxious etc...are only symptoms of a dysfunctional family system. It will become easier to understand while reading this book why we are the way that we are. It offers comfort, insight, and the how to change if we so choose to. To me this book is the Bible that unlocks the secrets of the symptoms to my sometimes very difficult life.