The Road Back to Me: Healing and Recovering from Co-Dependency, Addiction, Enabling, and Low Self Esteem

This is the most helpful book I have ever read. I could not put it down!I am now in my way back to me!With much more hope!! Thank you!!

Easy reading and full of "that's how I feel" moments,this is one persons story of coming out of the fog of codependency that all codependents will relate to. A little wordy sometimes but I'm excited to read her other books.

I wanted to understand and wanted to know what to do about it.This book has me putting one foot in front of the other.

The Road Back to Me really brought me back to my childhood. Something necessary for healing childhood wounds as an adult. It triggered memories that I had long forgotten. For example, I was able to recall my relationship with neighborhood friends, what I did for fun as a child, how I felt as a child, how I felt in school when so and so did this.... how it felt to live in my childhood home with my family. And this book brought me back to get in touch with "feelings" in order to help me recover more of my innocent child self... My true essence.It's amazing how this book could take you back to relating with your parents, friends, classmates, and teachers. I really appreciated how The Road Back to Me brought back memories of things I loved to do but forgot as I grew up into an adult with tons of responsibilities. It gave me closure as well. I did the best I could, my parents did the best they could. Seeing Lisa overcome her struggles provides hope to those who may be stuck in unhealthy patterns. This book is essential to healing childhood wounds! Yes, it was a soulful journey reading The Road Back to Me.After reading this book, I contacted Lisa A Romano to be my coach. I have grown leaps and bounds in my relationship so fast. I didn't know I had choices. Growing up as an Acoa, I didn't have a voice. Reading Road Back to Me helped me remember the way I was treated. It gave me awareness into why I give so much to others and give to myself last... I always had to take care of everyone else so I would be safe. I was able to bring up old feelings and release them so I could heal. I recommend this book for anyone who is struggling in their adult life to please others. Now I'm choosing my own road.

Initially bought the book cuz I thought it was going to help me with my own personal road2recovery sort of a self-help book. Actually it's the authors autobiography. I have been listening to her podcast and YouTube videos for a while. This gave me true insight to her experience which helps me a lot when I listen to her now after reading the book. I really enjoyed the book. I read it in five and a half hours in one sitting. I couldn't put it down!

Well written story of an abused, shamed and person of poor self-esteem and where it leads and what is the road back to her mental well-being. I am not someone foreign to therapy but after being discarded by my husband of 40 years, I am about to embark on a similar journey as this author. Her story is compelling and inspiring. I read this book in hours and could not put it down! Her true story is courageous and truthful! I would recommend it to anyone questioning their life's journey!

I had first heard of this author via her YouTube channel where she shares a lot of thoughts and advice on people dealing with codependency (which, I highly recommend checking out because that information was life-changing and I consider finding her videos the turning-point in my anxiety/mental-health recovery). With that bias aside, allow me to express my utmost respect and adoration for this book.I'd heard Romano talk about her books online and she would frequently refer to this one. I was totally under the impression that this would be another self-help book on the market, but that just isn't the case. It's actually a collection of stories that all work in tandem to weave Lisa's life by looking through the lens of codependency and the effects of narcissistic or emotionally neglectful parents. Perhaps it's from actually hearing Lisa A Romano speaking through her YouTube channel, however, her writing really holds her voice well and the stories are absolutely MOVING. She took me there with her, years and years ago, feeling angry towards these people in her life that I will never meet.Even though it's a collection of stories that make up the author's life, I still found that it was really empowering and helpful toward providing context to my own experiences. It can be challenging to make inner connections from what you experienced as a child to how that has created negative thought patterns in the present. Romano gives a rare, vulnerable perspective to this very concept by allowing us to get a glimpse into what she experienced and felt during quite a number of incredibly intense moments.

If you are looking for a book that can show you how to deal with issues of codependency and abandonment then don’t bother with this one. It is basically the author’s biography. It is the author telling us how she realised she had a problem and from where all that came from. No disrespect to her life story but not what I was looking for. I basically skipped half of the story, trying to get to the part where she give us some guidance but none is given, apart of how she managed to find the right therapist and a book she read. I guess it can be helpful to those who are not sure if they have a problem with co dependency or abandonment issues but if you already know you have, this book adds nothing to it.

Having watched a lot of Lisa,s You Tube videos I was interested in reading one of her books. However it is short. I read it in about 2 hours. It was an account of her childhood and first marriage and yet the awakening bit was very brief at the end and just highlighted her issues as being a codependent but other than saying her parents were children of alcoholics, she didn’t go into any detail despite having shown great insight and memory of her feelings even as a very young child. So to be honest it was disappointing.

I have been following Lisa A. Romano on YouTube for the past 2 years, but had not actually read any of her books (I felt that her advice that she gives very generously for free on YouTube would be good enough). This is the first book that I have fully read within 2 days: I normally read books incrementally (usually 1 hour per day) but I could not put this book down - it gripped me to the point that I had to keep turning the pages, often neglecting housework and my own bodily needs so that I could finish a given chapter! The Road Back To Me reads more like an autobiography rather than a self-help book - a refreshing and novel approach. Lisa begins with her childhood in a dysfunctional family, recalls the bullying at school, and ends with the problems in her first marriage. The insight she provides is more nuanced and detailed than her YouTube videos - I learned some new things in addition to deepening my understanding of issues I already knew well (in particular, I learned the real reason why co-dependents lie - I had always believed it was just a way of avoiding conflict, but it actually goes far deeper than that). The most astonishing aspect is young Lisa's insight and thoughtfulness in her attempts at finding and keeping friends - I think the letter to Casey is a remarkable piece of writing for someone so young. If I have any criticism, I would say that it does get a little muddled towards the end (where retrospective comments are mixed with past recollections - I think it would be better to move the retrospection to the final chapter). Given its status as the 'go to' book for understanding co-dependency, I was recommending it without actually having read it myself, but now I can truthfully and heartily recommend this book to others that feel they don't belong or fit in, like an alien left behind by the mothership. Note that it only helps to clue you into the idea of co-dependency rather than how to heal from it - see Lisa's next book or YouTube channel for healing advice.

This book is a must read for anyone who grew up in dysfunctional environments, whatever dysfunction environment that might have been, in my case my upbringing was an alcoholic one.I have read many books about people that have been brought up in alcoholic environments, but for some reason this book seems to have pinpointed a lot of the issues that have been surfacing within me for many years, this of course is my personal opinion, but the way this book has been written with such honesty and clarity has made me rethink the way I have approached the subject.Growing up in an alcoholic environment until I was around 12 or 13, I never really thought about it until I got into my adult years. I then read books about it where I gained many insights but nothing I felt that had structure for me to work with.Now that I have just finished reading Lisa's excellent and well written book, I feel that I have finally started on a journey to self-discovery and much soul searching, but this time I feel it will be based more on reality. Despite reading many books on assertiveness and self-help I know The Road Back To Me has laid down new foundations for me to work with, and now I think I am steering myself for once in my life in the right direction.When reading the book I felt there was so many things I could relate to, and that I was not the only person to go through similar situations growing up dysfunctional households. Being able to relate to these issues make you feel less isolated, because you know you are not the only person in the world having these emotions and thoughts running through your mind. I was very impressed with how Lisa can articulate her most inner thoughts and feelings in her words. It was refreshing to read and I could clearly visualize many of the situations which I totally relate to. I also enjoyed the chapters being short and to the point, making the content easier to digest.Lisa has a great in depth knowledge about many issues that can arise from dysfunctional family dynamics, one being co-dependency which is something I am looking into at the moment. I honestly feel from reading this book I am now embarking on a new journey, but this time the journey is beginning from within.

I couldn't put this book down. I was simultaneously reading it on Kindle and listening to it on Audible. It was a very clear, vivid and honest account of the inner world of someone from a dysfunctional family struggling to find themselves and make sense of life.It was my story too but I could never have put it into words as clearly as this. Lisa describes her journey from being shown in therapy that while not crazy she is very codependent, to finding the path to living healthily.It's the path towards the authenticity I seek too and even though it's not easy I only have to know that it's possible. I already know it's worth it. I'm so thankful she shared her journey and led others out of this dark painful lonely place towards a lighter way to live.