Addictions Books

Earnie Larsen is one of the nation's experts on addiction and recovery, and he always includes relationships in the context of recovery. He gives many seminars, has written several books, and has many educational videos available as well.

I would encourage anyone reading this to read/see anything Earnie does, because your recovery efforts will improve dramatically. For more info, check out Earnie's website: earniedotcom

His style is easy to understand and to apply in your personal life; he also has a sense of humor which makes the learning fun. This makes a great recovery gift to someone you know who is struggling with an alcohol or drug addiction.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I think this review was well thought out and careful to guide the recovering person to higher goals toward truth and happiness. I love the natural ability the author shows to point toward rigourous change without a demanding tone. Instead, Earnie Larson uses terrific examples to show, first hand, what illusions we (in the recovery community) can be susceptible to and how to find our way out of them.

I appreciate the vision and respect this book gives to our progression. But, the only trouble one may have is the book may be too idealistic without delving deeper into how our destructive habits (and issues of that nature) developed; a book like that would be much, much thicker. With the shame a person might finds themselves in, to say "stop doing that (being negative toward yourself)" doesn't cut it. Only a few times, this book may leave us short of that notion that a miracle (by God) is needed to break a negative cycle (that Spiritual means is the way out).

This book was not critical in my efforts to get sober, however with out it I could never have become as happy as I am today. I suggest that all people in recovery read it. This book first opened my eyes to the possibility that I could define recovery for myself, I did not have to rely on someone else's definition. I aimed for the sky, after being miserable most of my life I defined recovery as waking up happy every morning. Now I Do! This was just a beginning I continue to use this idea to change my life.

Stage II Recovery has guided me through the past eight years of my recovery. It was very important for me to be able to understand and define recovery and my particular goals. Each year, on my anniversary, I re-read this book and come up with ONE THING to work on during the year. I use the book as a way to review my progress and to keep me on line with my recovery goals. I have found that this simple, easy to read book has provided me with the guidance I need to not only maintain my sobriety but to learn to experience a full life worth living.

This book consistently helps people identify and change their relationship life. It is easy and sensible to read. It is also worth re-reading every once in a while. Some thing new will appear in the re-read.

Out of all of the books I have read on relationships, this book, although small, packs a big wollup! The title is a bit misleading, in that it doesn't just apply to the love addict. This book is great for the new couple and the couple who has been together for years... or even a single person looking to get into a healthy relationship.

I truly believe this book should be read by every person attempting this thing we like to call a relationship.

You won't be sorry you bought this book.

Earnie Larsen is timeless in his insight and understanding about how habits (both good and bad) drive our lives. Highly recommend this book to anyone struggling to understand why mistakes are repeated over and over again in their life.

This isn't just a book for people who have been addicted. I read it and I found it invaluable because I wanted a simple book on communication that gets to the point. It's humorous and makes me think what a better world it would be if we just applied these skills to our everyday lives. I think all couples should read this book before they get married or decide to live together. I learned that human kindness coupled with honesty is a very powerful thing.

I found this book to be an excellent introduction to the field of substance abuse. It is informative without getting bogged down in too much detail, and makes for interesting reading. The volume is also peppered with fascinating historical tidbits.

Dr. Mc Dowell and Dr. Spitz have broadened the effectiveness of current treatment strategies allowing providers to enhance the lives of their clients into the 21st century. An extremely well written book that I will reccomend to my colleagues!

McDowell and Spitz give an incredibly thorough, yet succinct overview of the field of substance abuse. The book is informative, well written, and an interesting read. It will be of great interest to all clinicians who work with substance abuse patients. I personally recommend it to anyone who encounters the problem of addiction, whether it be in a personal or professional realm.

Doctors Mc Dowell and Spitz aught to be applauded for their innovative presentation. It should be a permanent fixture in the offices of every therapist as a research guide, and on the bookshelves of patients. It is a wellspring of information for both the layman and the pro. Thank you both.

After reading the Tao of Quitting Smoking, I highly recommend this book, not only to those addicted to nicotine, but to anyone with an addiction. The most important thing about quitting an addiction/habit is preparing yourself not only physically but also mentally and spiritually. This book is excellent because it touches upon each facet necessary to end an addiction. There are assignments which one can do while smoking as well as a step-by-step process to achieving a smoke-free life.

This book is written in a simple, easy-to-read style not only for adults, but also for young teens. I, especially love that the Author has had first-hand experiences struggling with wanting to quit and in his book, we travel with him on his journey to becoming a nonsmoker.

The book inspires one to achieve their highest potential in believing in yourself that you can do anything that you set your mind to do. He reminds me of Dr. Phil with his no nonsense approach.

Hi, I was a 2-3 pack a day smoker when I quit cold turkey. I developed this book from my experiences and difficulties with quitting smoking. My book will help you unlike any other, being that my book heals your soul. Give it a try, but remember, the Tao pronounced (Dao) of Quitting Smoking must be followed as written. It is a book that deals with your mind, body and spirit at different levels. This book is not a book that you can skim through pages or skip sections. The T.O. Q. S works on ending you association, craving, habit and addition to tobacco products. The book will help you understand why you began smoking, why you can't stop and the role Nicotine has on your brain. It is designed to facilitate a loathing towards tobacco. It is difficult to quit smoking if you still have positive associations with the product. Nicotine is a drug. It is not your fault that you are addicted to tobacco products. Please visit my site at toqs.com to learn more.

This book is great for all ages: buy it for yourself, a friend or a love one. Smoking is a slow suicide. It is also dangerous as second-hand smoke. End your addiction with the Tao of Quitting Smoking. Buy my book, read the information from my website, go to the links, join a quit smoking support group and stop paying the tobacco companies your hard earn money to cause you harm.

Good luck on your path to quitting smoking forever. You CAN do it this time. The T.O.Q.S also helps your body deal with the cravings as well as help you with not gaining weight when quitting smoking

Thanks

Joseph P. Weaver
Author

Thanks to the Tao of Quitting Smoking by Joseph Weaver, my ten year, 1 pack a day addiction is over. I am not a spiritual person, so I was skeptical of buying a book which labels itself as the spiritual approach to quitting smoking. However, after reading this book, I realized the book is about much more. The secret of this book is to help the reader rid their misconceptions associated with Nicotine, Addiction, Tobacco and Second-hand Smoke. The book goes deeply into the root of a person's soul to discover WHY they allow themselves to smoke. The Tao of quitting smoking is a reader's own self analysis of actions, thoughts, habits and transformation.

What I loved about the book was the chapters, lessons and assignments were extremely short and I was able to smoke while reading the book. There are assignments that the reader must do as a smoker.

The book helps the reader get a grip back on being a conscious being with chapters such as...

Lessons of Simplicity
Non-Judgment
Fear and Courage
Free Will
Our existence on Earth

The book talks about nicotine and smoking in a scientific fashion with the chapters such as...
What is Nicotine
Addiction
Biological Replacement/Emotional Replacement and Constituents of Tobacco
Products and their Smoke
Why we smoke
Research and Statistics

The book also deals with replacing the chemical affects of Nicotine in the brains, such as using Nicotine as a mood enhancer or antidepressant. The bioactive nature of Nicotine cause many pleasure chemicals within the brain to keep the smoker addicted to Nicotine. The book teaches simple meditative-calming techniques to help the nonsmoker balance the effects of lack of Nicotine in the body. The book also teaches the reader to hate everything associated with smoking. It is this passion that helps the nonsmoker never to smoke again.

The book has a short and simple approach to helping one not gain weight when quitting which involves avoiding certain food groups, as well as exercising. I give this book an "A" on inspiring me enough to quit smoking as well as take back the control over my life in all areas. It is a complete self-help book about finding yourself again.

I read this book after trying to quit smoking several times. I have tried hypnosis, other quit smoking books, the patch, the pill and even seminars. I have finished reading the book one week ago. I can truly say that I will never smoke again. Why? Especially because it has been only a week. Well, I just know I will NEVER go back to smoking. The book helped me go inward and build the strenght I needed, so I can say. Smoking is a dead subject for me.

After reading this book, I woke up. The book have me the self control to say NO. The book has a lot of assignment and it takes about 10 days to read this book. You can't read the book in a couple of days. The worse part was when the book instructed the reader to switch brands of cigarettes. The book really helped me go inward and realize that I have the power. It also helped me to HATE tobacco. I highly recommend this book for any smoker, who is still smoking and thinking about quitting.

No one book can change a persons life but some like this provides more tools for the project that may lie ahead.

Things That Work: A No-Nonsense Guide To Recovery By One Who Knows by Barry Bocchieri is an inspirational guide specifically written to assist alcoholics to effectively recover from the painful process of withdrawal. Guiding the reader through helpful and effective ways of dealing with the same troubles he personally experienced, Bocchieri deftly instructs healthy and progressive solutions applicable for all who suffer from alcoholism. Things That Work is very strongly recommended to all readers on the road to recovery for its ability to relate and guide its struggling readers through the many barriers faced with overcoming and conquering alcohol addiction.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU MR. BOCCHIERI, this is a marvelous book to review again and again, not just for recovering alcoholics/drug abusers. This book touches on the BASIC idea, everyone of us has to be responsible for oneself and DECIDE WHAT WORKS BEST FOR OUR CIRCUMSTANCES. KEEP TRYING! that should be a subtitle! NEVER GIVE UP!!!!! I feel very inspired by the author advising not just what information he has gathered but what experiences he shares of his own. AGAIN, THANK YOU!!!

What a relief! This book gave me very simple, specific tools to help fight addiction. Also, it had down-to-earth suggestions to help with panic attacks, anxiety, even conflict in the workplace. With humor and insight the author really spoke to me without any psycho-babble!

The book was very good. An alcoholic woman can relate and has good information in it to change, but I still feel AA or some support is needed to stay on track.

I couldn't put "Turnabout" down. Dr. Kirpatrick shares the details of her struggle with alcohol, and how she overcame her addiction. It's written with honesty and truth - no soft-peddling what alcohol can do to a person who is alcohol-intolerant.

She also wrote "Good-bye Hangovers, Hello Life", which was another page-turner. This companion book to "Turnabout" is a little less personal, and more of a self-help book for women who are struggling.

Both books changed my life, and I am grateful to Dr. Kirkpatrick for writing them. Her books are easy to read and her concepts are easy to grasp. She understands the alcohol-related issues that are unique to women.

Jean Kirkpatrick and Women for Sobriety saved my life and my self-esteem. No one should deny herself the strong and wonderful program that WFS and Jean Kirkpatrick provide. I am a huge fan, and have and will read this book over and over again.

She is offering a new way of recovery, based on 13 statements of Women for Sobriety that she developed to help her stay sober and now she is sending this message out to other women who want to stay sober and don't like to attend AA meetings. WFS is similar to AA but it is based on self-esteem statements that make a woman more competant in themselves. Definitly a new way of life to see things in a new light and move on with your life with out alcohol and drugs.

As a psychotherapist working with postpartum depression ([...]) and a Life Coach working with new mothers ([...]), I found this book to be one of the simplest and most profoundly useful books on parenting I have come accross.

I have shelves and shelves of books on parenting and none of them demonstrate and describe so clearly how easily the cycle of dysfunction and abuse is transmitted across generations; and how this does not need to take place.

It's message is very uplifting and hopeful. No matter how bad things were in your family of origin, you CAN break the cycle of abuse and neglect and create a working, functional family for your children. Carey Sipp demonstrates how it can be done: It takes courage, self-reflection and self-honesty, yes! But she goes further than that, there are practical steps you can and must follow: extreme self-care, recovery from addictions, the dedication to building a support system and then consistently asking for help and feedback from your community and friends, and the willingness to slow down and think things through.

Each chapter focuses on one of these necessary changes and is beautifully organized into four parts:
1. A description of an aspect of the authors own toxic childhood
2. A description of how she almost repeats that aspect with her own children
3. How she manages to turn it around and be a functional mother
4. Practical steps for how the reader can turn it around.

I recommend this book to all moms. There is something here for each and everyone of us.

Great book, really helped me see how drinking effects children. Great steps for making a lasting change. I reread it all the time.
Great for anyone with kids.

This great book helped motivate me to change and be the kind of mom I want to be. Ms. Sipp in her honest and open account about her life and her process to change inspired me and now I buy a book for all the women in my life to inspire them. Thanks!

In The Turnaround Mom, Carey Sipp goes back into her past and shares with us how living life with an alcoholic and violent father was. She offers us the tools to end the legacy of toxicity. She shows us how victims of family abuse and domestic violence can overcome their past and serve as role models for their children.

Her book inspires and demonstrates how it is possible to break the cycle of addiction and raise healthy, happy children. I think it was GREAT.....

I have been in substance abuse counseling and AA on and off for a few years. Recently I began researching alternatives to the 12-step approach in secular organizations such as SOS and non-AA affiliated books such as "Rational Recovery." This was one of the books I chose to read and I'm very happy I did. Written by a medical doctor and experienced researcher, the book brings together a lot of information about alcoholism that I had picked up in bits and pieces from treatment into an understandable and inspiring model for recovery. The chapters -- entitled "Paradoxes and Contradictions", "The Lure of the Siren", "The Dry Drunk", "The Mystery of Craving", "On and Off the Wagon", "The Proper Frame of Mind", "Resisting Temptation", "Sobriety Scripts" and "The Sober Mind" -- cover in depth how and why alcoholics relapse, and present foundations for committed sobriety. He states the fundamental view of the book in the preface: "1. ...many alcoholics, under the proper circumstances, do manage to recover. 2. Those who recover do so by adopting certain characteristic ways of thinking and behaving. 3. The changes associated with recovery...tend to involve...all aspects of their lives." The book follows this premise with scientific background, real life examples, and insight into why AA and other approaches work or do not work for different individuals. I've been able to put into perspective the seriousness of my harmful drinking and understand what it means for me to make a true, lasting commitment to sobriety. Most importantly, I've gained insight into the worst aspect of alcoholism (for me), craving, through the latter chapters on how to avoid, curtail and resist it. The information in this book has given me valuable tools to continue with my sobriety.

This book is a good "companion" book for someone who wants to stop drinking. It has chapters detailing the nature of cravings, practical solutions for resisting temptation, and what happens beyond sobriety. You can pick it up and put it down, after the first read through, and always find something useful if you need a little boost. The author's credentials and amount of research are exemplary.

Though lucky enough to not be an addict myself, I have learned a huge amount about alcoholism and recovery from it in the past few months. I've been to several dozen AA and Al-Anon meetings, read many, many books and pamphlets and I must say that Ludwig's book is definitely one of the best I've read during that time. Everything he writes about rings dead true from what alcoholics, both using and recovering, and their loved ones report. If I had only one book to recommend as an adjunct to a good 12-step program, it would probably be this one. Don't be put off by the mass of references and small print, it's not a completely academic effort, but extremely pragmatic, super well written and easy to read and compassionate without being coddling.
(The other writer I can't recommend highly enough on relapse prevention is Terence Gorski, but that's a subject for another review...)

I love this book. As a drunk, I recommend it to all my friends who need help quitting. The book talks a lot about the tricks we play on ourselves.

It's a working program if you actually do the exercises after each chapter. Start cracking that attitude and pattern wide open.

After reading The Universal 12-Step Program: How to Overcome Any Addiction and Win!, I was genuinely pleased to see how clearly it is written in a general sense, but I am very pleased to see how the authors, Peiser and Sandry, have soundly explained the traditional twelve steps from a cognitive-behavioral viewpoint. In these years of mis-managed medical care, this book is a godsend to those addicted human beings who admit their problem and have the determination to work at what they deserve; namely, a good chance to change their lives and to win.

For those who are willing to work systematically through the various, simple exercises presented throughout the book, winning seems possible. For certain the two psychologists, Drs. Peiser and Sandry, are just a phone call or E-mail away at Midwest Psychological Healthcare, PC (773-871-2626 or msandry@suba.com) for those who need further assistance with their own unique process of changing.

Paul Keenan, M.A. Public School Teacher (ret) School Psychologist Chicago, Illinois

A remarkable book addressed to both individuals seeking treatment for addictions and to professionals seeking alternate methods.

As a mental health professional I recognize that the first few days of treatment are often the most tenuous for those seeking help, and encountering a religiously flavored 12-step program can produce resistance when acceptance is deperately needed. This book provides insight and explanation in counterpoint to AA doctrine.

If the forward by Albert Ellis was not predictive enough, it will be clear to the professional that the two authors are seasoned practitioners of Rational-Emotive Behavior therapy. Each of the traditional 12 steps of AA are reinterpreted in cognitive-behavioral terms to provide a sane rationale which is relevant to the cessation of addictive behaviors.

More importantly, there are a host of corresponding exercises which allow a client to apply the points being made. Further, the structure of the text provides a concrete framework for those in the scientific community to construct research questions.

I found the book quite readable and it is likely to be useful to who possess at least a 6th grade education. I would think that recordings of the book might be a useful adjunct for those whose reading skills are limited.

I have been with two therapist over the past eight years. One experience was for five years with a group of men recovering from childhood sexual abuse. I left therapy thinking I was healed in 1999. I found Dr. Martin Sandry Midwest Psychological Healthcare in a phone book and decided to begin therapy again in 2000. He has been working with me for almost two years. I have read and reread the book "The Universal 12-Step Program". Martin Sandry and Kenneth Peiser have written a very down to earth book describing how to gain control of your thoughts by changing your belief system. They have used Albert Ellis's REBT (Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy) model. THIS HAS CHANGED MY LIFE! I never thought I could change the way I felt about traumatic events. Dr. Martin Sandry is a GENIUS! He has helped me to overcome my sexual addiction. I never thought I could heal from so many emotions and by using the tools in this book, I am free and peace with myself!

If you have ever been owned by an addiction, you will be able to relate to this book. Dickens lays his sad story out in gritty detail and then shares his methods to a path to recovery. It's a powerful and gripping tale told in an open conversational style.

It's good to see an alcoholic turn their life around, and even better to read how they did it. D.A. Dickens has seen the worst addiction has to offer, and I am sure many addicts/alcoholics can relate to his manifold troubles. They would definitely be interested in reading how Mr. Dickens picked up the broken pieces of his life before going on to begin true recovery. Three books later, his progress is duly noted. I recommend this book for anyone caught in the cage of addiction.

D.A Dickens has combined many interesting ingredients to form a recipe for success. I just received my copy of this book, and I am impressed with the author's story, as well as all the pertinent, vital and extremely helpful information which makes this book a valuable tool in the war against alcohol and drug addiction. I highly recommend this book to anyone trapped in the cage of substance abuse. Dickens makes it clear that, concerning drug and alcohol abuse, we are dealing with much more than a lack of willpower. Much, much more.

I've been sober for 15 years and read things in this book that I SHOULD have heard in the rooms, but haven't. For one, the concept that sobriety and recovery are NOT the same. Quoting from the book: "Sobriety is a means to an end. That end is ongoing recovery. Abstinence is indeed the first step toward recovery, and it's the only way to prevent new fires from sparking to life. But alone, sobriety carries little weight" and "As recovery takes root we begin to feel more firmly planted in our sobriety, and a calming sense begins to settle over us. The desire to drink or drug diminishes and we begin to realize that we're going to be okay, that our growth is well underway, and that we need not be afraid. "

This begins a journey with the author through his own early recovery time in which he shares invaluable experience in just how to find this wonderful world of recovery. He touches on all aspects from the chemical imbalances that bring about alcoholism to the miraculous part that spirituality plays - and this from a self-admitted "questioner" of religion. Surely the old AA adage that, "Religion is for people who don't want to go to hell. Spirituality is for those who are there and want to get out." is relevant here. David Dickens brings us right along the pathway with him out of hell and into a productive life.

Voyage Into Recovery has also already been adopted as one of the suggested readings by the American Council on Alcoholism. I have no affiliation with that group, but do value their opinions.