This book is particularly great if your loved one has already started taking steps towards sobriety. Personal stories are used to illustrate the author’s points. This is an excellent book for those navigating recovery from any addiction.
Eventually, she goes through a series of 9-to-5 jobs that end with her living behind a Dumpster due to a descent into crack cocaine use. But in this gripping memoir, she turns it all around with the help of a family of eccentric fellow substance users and friends or strangers who come to her aid. This gripping tale is about the resilience of spirit combined with the worst of modern urban life.
“365 Ways to have Fun Sober” offers fun suggestions for every free moment you may have through the year. This guide to filling your time with sober activities will get you moving and fill your day with exciting, enjoyable activities that do not need the assistance of drugs of alcohol. Anyone who loves an addict should check out this book by Robin Barnett, an expert in alcohol and drug addiction and recovery. Get the tools you need to recover from alcoholism and other forms of addiction, and create an effective relapse prevention plan. This substance abuse workbook equips you with actionable strategies and coping techniques to succeed in recovery when faced with daily challenges, stressors, and triggers.
We were inspired by the diverse experiences of our own community members. Since we care about all kinds of recovery, we wanted to emphasize that drugs and alcohol are not the only ways that women suffer and not everyone recovers through a 12-Step program. And while memoirs centered around alcohol addiction are prevalent on this list, there are plenty of others to choose from, too. Szalavitz’s perspective focuses on the notion of how we form bad habits in spite of the toll it can take on our lives. From losing jobs to suffering physically from drug or alcohol abuse to suffering emotionally due to failed relationships, she claims that our addictions are not deterred by even the most negative outcomes.
Addiction Recovery Books
No matter where you sit on the spectrum of addiction “Opiate Addiction” can help you move closer to being free of this illness. Having lived a life where he suffered from addiction and has now been in recovery for more than 25 years, Christopher Kennedy Lawford brings all his experiences and knowledge inside the cover of this one book. Christopher Lawford draws from his 25 years of addiction recovery experience in this book dealing with the 7 most toxic compulsions .
This book is a guide for those struggling with addiction but also works to create awareness for the overall goal of combating addiction in America and incorporating treatment that is effective. A Very Fine House is an intimate memoir of a mother’s Norman Rockwell family turned upside down by her daughter’s descent into meth addiction and crime. Bright and beautiful, Annie is an unlikely candidate for meth. Living fast and hard on the streets of Bend, Oregon, she commits crimes against herself, the community, and her own family. These books give advice, information, and motivation to improve a specific aspect of one’s life. Countless books have been written about how to overcome addiction and how to get one’s life back on track. Below are some of the most popular books available today on the topic of addiction, and a brief description of their content.
- I too was a high-functioning professional with a drinking and cocaine addiction.
- The only way to kill the beast is to stop smoking cold turkey.
- For years, Marc Leis was a drug addict dependent on an array of substances, from LSD to heroin.
- It’s a beautifully told story about how alcohol seduced her at fourteen and secretly subjugated her through her university years and most of her award-winning career.
Written by Erica Spiegelman, Rewired is described as a breakthrough approach to fighting addiction. Incorporating the concept of self-actualization, this book encourages the reader to look within themselves for the power for healing. Dopesick by Beth Macy is another big seller in America today.
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors & The Drug Company That Addicted America
Building a strong foundation that supports recovery is key and this book is great for that. Addictive reasoning and ways to challenge those ways of thinking. Cynnie vows she’ll never be an alcoholic–-she’s sees the damage alcohol can cause in her mother every day.
Maté is a medical doctor who treats people severely addicted to drugs. His patients deal not only with the consequences of drug addiction, but also with immense stigma. Maté begins by telling some of their stories of addiction and trauma. He then uses those stories to explain why people engage in deeply self-destructive behaviors. Sitting by idly with nothing to do can be dangerous, especially when you are finding your way through addiction recovery.
“At fifteen, sick of her unbearable and increasingly dangerous home life, Janice Erlbaum walked out of her family’s Brooklyn apartment and didn’t look back. She roamed New York City with her two best girlfriends, scoring coke at Danceteria, smoking angel dust in East Village squats, and sleeping with one another’s boyfriends on a regular basis. “Three years after giving up drinking, Jowita Bydlowska was at a party celebrating the birth of her first child when she found herself throwing back a glass of champagne. It marked Bydlowska’s immediate, full-blown return to alcoholism. Follows a young man, living in Manhattan as if he owned it, through nightclubs, fashion shows, editorial offices, and loft parties as he attempts to outstrip mortality and the recurring approach of dawn. Laurel is trying to move on after Hurricane Katrina destroyed her home, and left her without her mother and grandmother. When Laurel’s new boyfriend introduces her to meth, she immediately falls under its spell, loving the way it erases, even if only briefly, her past.
Powerful Books About Addiction And Recovery
Author Dr. Harry Haroutounian worked as the physician director at the world-famous Betty Ford Clinic. In Being Sober, you benefit from his expertise at the forefront of recovery and addiction treatment.
You don’t need to agree with all of Gabor Maté’s theories to see that he has brought a level of hope and humanity to the conversation surrounding addiction. Learn more about addiction with scientific insights and personal recovery stories. Are currently struggling with drug or alcohol addiction, you are not alone. Another book by the same author, The Language of Letting Go, has been a staple in the recovery world since its publication in 1990.
Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions
Published in 2004, Scar Tissue holds immense value for as a cautionary tale for anyone prone to glamourizing drug use, especially heroin use. The book does a terrific job at taking the reader through the depths of sadness and despair that accompany heroin addiction. The more that is understood about addiction and the process of recovery, the more great books get published. It can be hard to navigate your way through which books are most reliable, or best suit your particular situation.
Mismanagement of opioid medication by medical professionals can have life-threatening outcomes. Travis Rieder learned this after his doctor prescribed opioids following several surgeries. The mission of Footprints to Recovery is to provide the education, tools, and support for individuals, families, and the community tond the reason to achieve lasting recovery and a life lived to the fullest potential.
She relied on alcohol, so now that this is no longer an option she has to re-evaluate everything in her life, which leads to some great and very witty observations on her newfound life. That bottle of merlot was all Kerry Cohen could think about as she got through her day. She did all she had to do but always with this reward on top of her mind. It took her until she was forty to realize this was neither normal nor healthy.
After one particularly harrowing experience in a hotel, Hepola gets sober and the reader realises she has been holding her breath for a couple hundred pages. A relationship is, among other things, a shared story – or sometimes, a mutually held delusion. The book serves as a powerful corrective to the fallacy that queer relationships are by nature egalitarian. And the reader roots for Machado fiercely as she finds her way out. One Hit Away is the heartbreaking yet hopeful story of a young man’s struggle with opioid addiction. In it, Jordan Barnes shares how his heroin addiction brought him to the brink of ruin. From helping you relax to giving you a glimpse into another’s thoughts, reading can be a transportive activity.
For instance, midnight trips with her in a car seat while he cops dope. In his darkest moments, so many hells were fully realized and washed clean as he kicked dope in a garage while the LA Riots raged outside. Delicious Foods, a novel by James Hannaham, begins in a swampy hell. Darlene, Eddie’s mother, is grief stricken by the sudden death of her black activist husband; her identity becomes entirely eclipsed by crack cocaine. Darlene is literally held captive and drugged by a sinister food chain, human trafficking operation. An internationally renowned psychiatrist, neurologist, and addiction specialist, Dr. Walter Ling has worked with thousands of addicts, their loved ones, and fellow clinicians. His no-nonsense, no-judgment approach, which he calls the “neuroscience of common sense,” advocates holistic methods to prevent relapse and establish new patterns to create a sustainable, meaningful life.
Very can’t stay away from screens and it lands her in tech rehab. Years before I got sober, Caroline Knapp pulled me into this book with her gorgeous prose. Once I was hooked on her writing, I began to see a reflection of my story in her own. In life, inspiration can come from the mundane as much as it can from the extraordinary.Bird by Birdembodies this by serving as a guide to aspiring writers. In a friendly and relatable voice, Anne Lamott uses personal anecdotes and literary tutorials to inspire others. Complex in nature, the obstacles that prevent someone from seeking help can be just as significant as the stressors that led them to self-medicate in the first place.
There is no single treatment that works for all, so treatment should be tailored to individual needs. A pregnant, drug-addicted teenager check herself into rehab in hopes of giving her child a life different from her own. The recovery stories that don’t end happily don’t always get told. In this heartbreaking memoir, George McGovern recounts his daughter’s ultimately fatal struggle with alcoholism. Haley, a senior in high school, struggles to help her Iraq War Vet father with his severe PTSD and substance abuse issues. The Naked Mindexamines society’s relationship with alcohol by delving into the neurological impact alcohol has on people and exploring the cultural factors that lead them to become dependent on this substance. Author Annie Grace also shares a first-hand account of her relationship with alcohol.