Melody Beattie

Melody Lynn Beattie
Born (1948-07-02) July 2, 1948 (age 76)
St. Paul, Minnesota
EducationHigh School
Alma materMinnehaha Academy
GenreSelf-help books
SubjectRelationships
Notable worksCodependent No More
Website
melodybeattie.com Edit this at Wikidata

Melody Beattie (born on July 2, 1948) is an American author of self-help books on codependent relationships.[1]

Education and career

Born Melody Vaillancourt in Minneapolis, Beattie graduated from high school with honors. She began drinking at age 12, was an alcoholic by age 13, and a drug addict by 18.[2][3]

Beattie published 18 books including Codependent No More, Beyond Codependency, The Language of Letting Go and Make Miracles in Forty Days: Turning What You Have into What You Want, published in 2010. Several of her books have been published in other languages.[4][5]

Ideas

Beattie, along with Janet G. Woititz and Robin Norwood, were popularizers of science, helping to digest and explain the work of psychiatrist Timmen L. Cermak, author of Diagnosing and Treating Co-Dependence.[6] Beattie popularized the concept of codependency in 1986 with Codependent No More, which sold eight million copies.[7][8]

Codependent No More was first published by the Hazelden Foundation.[9]

Beattie's early works also served as the first the Big Book for a 12-Step program called Co-Dependents Anonymous. Although "CoDA" now has a conference-approved (official) "the Big Book" of its own, Beattie's works continue to be central texts in some CoDA meetings.[10]

Beattie lost her son in a skiing accident in 1991.

References

  1. ^ "BEST Melody Beattie Books & Quotes of All Time (February 2023) | The Art of Living". theartofliving.com. 2022-01-03. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  2. ^ Beattie, Melody. "About author". melodybeattie.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  3. ^ Taylor, Elizabeth (1990-12-10). "MELODY BEATTIE: Taking Care of Herself". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  4. ^ Beattie, Melody (1990). The language of letting go : daily meditations on codependency. [Center City, MN]. ISBN 0-89486-637-0. OCLC 22186171.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ Beattie, Melody (2010). Make miracles in forty days : turning what you have into what you want (1st ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4391-0215-2. OCLC 310397914.
  6. ^ Travis, Trish (2009). The Language of the Heart, A Cultural History of the Recovery Movement from Alcoholics Anonymous to Oprah Winfrey. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-8078-3319-3.
  7. ^ J. S. Rice, A Disease of One's Own (1998) p. 2
  8. ^ "Bluebird to publish revised and updated version of Beattie's classic book on codependency". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
  9. ^ Taking Care of Herself – TIME
  10. ^ Co-dependent no more celebrates 20th anniversary. | Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly (, 2007)