The Drama Free Workbook: Practical Exercises for Managing Unhealthy Family Relationships

by Nedra Glover Tawwab

From the New York Times bestselling author of Drama Free and Set Boundaries, Find Peace, a hands-on resource for understanding and working through dysfunctional family dynamics—and recognizing when to walk away

Family can be a source of connection, and a source of conflict. In this exercise-filled workbook, licensed therapist and bestselling relationship expert Nedra Glover Tawwab offers powerful insights along with thought-provoking questions to help you unpack what’s really going on—and express your needs and expectations going forward.
    Whether you are coping with a long-term pattern of emotional neglect, addiction, or abuse, or trying to understand a new conflict that’s come up with a parent, sibling, or in-law, you will find empowering information and tools to help you manage these complex relationships in a way that offers psychological safety and honors the person you truly are.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Self Help

206 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 20, 2024

About the author

Therapist, NYT Bestselling Author, and Relationship Expert.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t expect a lot of upside discussion or tips per se. The work draws upon themes that recur in Tawwab’s practice, and as stated upfront, it involves simple but extensive reflections from the reader. It may be for the processing of differences, of what may be considered battle wounds, or even of patterns of processing that you want to make more efficient or effective for your range of activities. There are some encouraging mantras and a ton of work on recognizing all ranges of likely feelings in likely relationships.

These discussions can help readers with shaping and reinforcing their own approaches in personal boundaries, and with prioritizing their person via supportive decisions. Perspective points for nurturing and model activity that fosters healthy connection were not a main feature.

I also want to say that after reading it through and fully engaging at least half of the reflections or more, I’m once again retaining more of a concept of my nighttime dreamscape. I understand that this can be vital to stretching personal experiences beyond our trauma stressors (if it’s awkward or alarming and pops up in your dreamscape, there’s some tie to traumas, commonplace or less so), even merely interpersonal opposition based on disagreeability factors. I also found myself reviewing a few instances whereby I can simply see it that way rather than as intently hurtful. It doesn’t mean we all should not understand that others do in fact exist fully in the world, but it does mean we’re not on the evangelical hook all the time, and that we can better understand how capacities for perspectives and community progress only with meaningful and intentional effort. There is no use in worrying, and there is no use in being discouraged.

[Candice Arseneau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this helpful and it stands on its own from the book too which is great!

[January · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Drama Free Workbook: Practical Exercises for Managing Unhealthy Family Relationships by Nedra Glover Tawwab
2h 53m narrated by the author, 208 pages

Genre: Nonfiction, Self Improvement, Psychology, Relationships, Mental Health, Family, Parenting, Personal Development, Counseling, Love

Featuring: Author’s Note, Titled Chapters, Bonus PDF, Lists, Journaling - Questions & Prompts; Taking Your Time, Ruminating & Revisiting, Stand Alone Resource, Checklists, Exercises, Deep Breathing, Personal Challenges, Books, Taking the First Step, Uncovering What Happened to You, The Big Three: Boundary Violations, Codependency, and Enmeshment; Addiction, Neglect, and Abuse; Substance Abuse, Problematic Behavior, Defensiveness, Harmful Reactions, Emotional Neglect, Physical Neglect, Examples, Verbal Abuse, Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Managing Memories, Dealing With Shame, Breaking the Cycle, Why People Stay in Dysfunctional Relationships, Communication Styles Dysfunctional People Use, Ways Parents Hurt the Child Long Term, Unhealthy Patterns, Moving Beyond Survival Skills, Uncomfortable Conversations, Examining Relationships, Red Flags, Emotional Detachment, Emotional Safety, Trust, Surviving Vs Thriving, Seeing Things as They Are, Acceptance Vs. Forgiveness Vs Change, Healthy Love, Roles Doesn't Equal Healthy, Complicated Relationships, Cognitive Distortions, Deciding to End When You Can’t Mend, Challenging the Messages From Others, Ghosting Explained, What You Can Say to End A Relationship, Grieving, Creating a Tool Kit for Difficult Conversations, Difficult Things to Discuss in Dysfunctional Family Relationships, Respect Does Not Require Agreement, Improving Relationships, Therapies, Reconciliation, Practicing Healthier Relationships, Closure, Further Reading

Quotes: Drama takes many forms in families, from sibling conflict to parenting our parents. Judging one problem, as worse or bigger than another is subjective. Only you can decide which issues you can live with and which relationships you’ll need to manage differently going forward.

You won't achieve peace if you expect people to be different, or try to convince them to be different, that will only cause frustration, prolong grief, anger, and resentment. Acceptance opens up potential choices, pull your attention towards what you can do when you can't change other people.

Accepting a relationship for what it is doesn't mean taking anything someone else dishes out. My power lies in determining how I want to proceed when the other person demonstrates what they're capable or incapable of. Acceptance goes only so far some of the things people do to you are abusive and intolerable.

Think deeply about your thoughts before behaving as if they are true.

People are entitled to their feelings and their response, you however, are not required to listen to them if they are abusive.

Rating as a movie: R for adult content and situations

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️¾

My thoughts: 📱7% 12:01 Chapter 1: Uncovering What Happened To You - This is not an accompanying book to Drama Free but an independent resource. I'll be reading all week as she said, "Take your time, and don't rush."
📱32% 56:06 Chapter 3: Addiction, Neglect, and Abuse - This one isn't hitting like the last books. It makes a lot of assumptions, speaking in one-sided negatives and essentially stating dysfunction is whatever YOU say it is. I'm staying with it because I need to know how if people don't accept you as you are it's wrong but you can call out anything you don't like, sounds like the same behavior to me, I need this ideology explained because I was taught boundaries go both ways, and this sounds awfully like only your POV matters in the end.

I did get the answers I had after the Introduction. This book had some issues, especially compared to the previous offerings, but it's still a good resource. I think it's more for people dealing with dysfunction than the general population, this book makes it seem like everything and anything is dysfunctional, I mean anything. That could be dangerous in the wrong hands. There should be a checklist to balance out the information in case you are the problem and are infringing on others, I guess that's what Set Boundaries Find Peace is for but this book is an independent resource.

Recommend to others?: It depends on where you are emotionally, I wouldn't recommend this to someone who has a victim mentality or is easily influenced, she goes hard on "if you think it so it is." It has a negative POV for every situation throughout the book. If you're looking for both sides of a situation or another POV, read one of her 3 other books.

[Kelly {SpaceOnTheBookcase] · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough workbook which helps you work through unhealthy family relationships and expectations. Each section of the workbook has multiple exercises to complete. It's a do at your own pace so you can spend more or less time in any one area as needed. Overall a great resource.

Thank you Tarcher Perigee for gifting me a copy to review.

[Kendal Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a useful resource