Addictions Books

This is a Great book with alot of deep insight to freedom from addiction also to freedom in life.

I am free from addiction! This book explains in great detail how the POWER alluded to in the 12 steps ONLY comes from Jesus , and once you accept His most graceful redemption, there is NO need to call yourself addicted anymore! Please get out of the SIN (sitting in negativity) and rejoice in His holy name. I've studied and read, '2 Tracks One Goal', Dick B 'Akron Genesis of AA'., 'The Good Book and the Big Book'.... NO other book spells out how to get free FROM addiction! Not information ABOUT addiction, not a man-made 'design' for living, not a program to modify behavior... a TRANSLATION into a new being. (II Cor 5:17) and (1 Sam 10:6). This masterpiece shows all Bible references to the "program"... whence the essence. If you are serious about recovery, this is the best book (besides the Word of God) I've read! Thank you authors for your obedience to His Word. My fellow recoveries.... I pray you will pick this up and open your heart to God's Words. I understand why they now have a workbook based upon this book! It is a lifelong mission to fully apply the precepts explained in this book into one's life. Hallelujah! Praise and Glory to God!

The book demonstrates that anyone can fall victim to addiction.
The book really puts you alongside the victim and the pain of what she went through. At the end of the story, you realize the power of what God can do, and as long as you have faith, you can overcome an addiction and help others!

This is one of the best books I have ever read (and I have read many)! It is very well written and easy to read. It is a heart-wrenching story of a young woman's travels through a very adventurous life that led her to, through and out of addiction. And since we all have some kind of addiction we can all benefit from her story. It will change your perspective. Thank you Ms. Wyatt for sharing your story. May you continue to be richly blessed.

I wrote this book with practitioners in mind. After many unsuccessful years of looking for a text that covered the substance abuse field in a way that reflected real-world practice, I came up with this text. I provide a mix of theory and practice skills, giving readers someting to sink their teeth into, regardless of level or experience. I focused mostly on four important issues: successful client engagement based in the strengths perspective, understanding client culture, multisystemic assessment and treatment planning, and co-occurring disorders. I provide a critique of the disease model and other theories/moedls while encouraging practitioners to match treatment model/theory to the needs and experiences of clients.

This is the best, most comprehensive substance abuse text Ive seen in 10 years in the field...covers the gamut from assessment through treatment and aftercare. Also has great info on diversity and filled with exciting new material to help everyone learn to engage clients more effective. Best of all...its reall easy to read and, unlike other texts, contains specific practice skills. A must-have for all human srvice students and professionasl in the field

I buy this book in bulk and give it to newcomers at meetings. It is a terrific comprehensive intro to AA, the customs and slogans of which can seem overwhelming to people also struggling to decide if they need to stop drinking. This book will never go out of date, for much of AA has stayed unchanged for the last 20-30 years (if not for the last 70 years, since it began). To your health!

I had attended 6 AA meetings and still had many questions; How did AA begin? Is AA right for me? Are all meetings the same? What is a sponsor and how do I get one? What is the Big Book? and what do some of the slogans they use mean? Getting started in AA answered all of these questions and more. The book is designed in a way to allow readers to read it straight through or as a referance tool. It is divided into several parts so that you can easily skip around to the subjects that interest you the most. The content of the book is complete and written so that it can be read with ease. Although I skipped around a little, I read most of the book in one night. It answered all of my questions and gave me some guidence as to what to expect and what step to take next. I highly recomend this book to anyone who is new to AA or maybe has been in the program for a while, but still has questions about AA. This is also a good book for anyone who has never been to AA, but wants to stop drinking and is not sure if AA is right for them.

a great book for gaining insight into our habits and working with them. it's one of the more enlightening books i've read in this genre. thank you ann!

This was the first book I have read that explained the forming of habits. I found it insightful and well written. I thoroughly enjoyed the case histories. This book is going to set a lot of people free and help them to become whole. Ann Gadd has done a great task in recording and discussing habits and their debilitating power. She must be a remarkable soul to be so insightful.

I like this book because it kind of follows a line Bill Wilson used to take. If Bill didn't like something like the Oxford Group or the Washingtonians, Bill would often say they taught us a little about what to do and a lot more about what not to do. Unfortunately the facts rarely squared with Bill's own life and actions and beliefs, but they served to mollify the critics. In this book, Dick B. has done a terrific job about contrasting the one, true, living God, Yahweh the Creator, with the "other" deities that we hear of more and more in A.A. Yes, absurd names for God, half-baked prayers, and self-made religion have crept into A.A. and into recovery chatter. That's dangerous. That's confusing. That's unfortunate because there are many like myself who are Christians, believers in God, and Bible students; and we are not keen about listening to people talk about their "higher power" who is a rock, a light bulb, the A.A. group, the Big Dipper, Ralph, Something, Somebody, or not-god.
I heard a number of people ask Dick B. to write about the nature and origin and roots of the "higher power" and "Power Greater than ourselves," and "God as we understand Him" stuff. And that is exactly what he does in this book; and he puts it in terms of his own admiration for, and experience in, A.A. It kind of reminds me of the old song: "Trusting in the saviour, I shall not be moved." Dick is not to be moved toward the silly gods or silly names. And he is not to be moved away from the Creator and His son Jesus Christ. From what I see in this book, neither was Dr. Bob. Especially when he wrote: "Your Heavenly Father will never let you down" (Big Book, p. 181). Here's one that helped me answer the "rock," "Somebody," "Great Pumpkin," and not-god stuff with A.A.'s own history and how revisionists have corrupted it. This book is for the sturdy who don't want to be moved from reliance on Almighty God no matter what some therapist, treatment center, or A.A. speaker may invent as a "higher power" to whom you can supposedly pray and from whom you can supposedly expect to receive healing. I think Psalm 115 said it all centuries and centuries ago.

Dick B. dealt with this proliferating "goofy gods" recovery problem straight on. More and more therapists, counselors, rehabs, and even AAs are substituting absurd names for "god" in place on the one, true, living God who was the source of power relied on for recovery in A.A. Reverend Sam Shoemaker--dubbed a co-founder of A.A. by Bill W.--rejected such practices when he spoke to AAs at their International Convention. In this book, the author deals with the originating expressions--higher power, power greater than ourselves, and God as we understood Him--and shows how they were weak and compromising expressions that replaced the Heavenly Father, Creator, Maker, Father, God of our fathers, Father of Lights, and Spirit with plainly Biblical origins and meanings. In keeping with a belated deal made by three AAs--Bill W., Hank P., and Fitz M., the stage was set after the Big Book manuscript was readied for publication. Fitz protested that the change would obliterate the Christian and Biblical expressions which were part of the original program. Fitz lost. The Step language was changed. The original materials were simply tossed out and lost. And if all that merely involved a search for original meanings, the problem would be a tiny one. However, AAs, counselors, and those associated with recovery began calling their "higher power" a radiator, a light bulb, a tree, a table, a chair, Santa Claus, Ralph, Gertrude, a door knob, a rock, the goddess, and many many more idolatrous words and phrases. Such usage offends me because it deceives and misleads. It also clearly violates the Ten Commandments, which were revered in early A.A. And it is best answered, perhaps, by the explanation of such nonsense in Psalm 115. I am delighted that Dick looked at the Big Book titles, the Bible names and titles, and then documented all the places where the goofy god names replaced the Creator. I rejoice too in the careful studies by Stewart C., Dick B., and George T. over the years which showed that the word "God" and Biblical synonyms such as Creator, Maker, Father, as well as descriptive pronouns numbered over 400 in the Third Edition of the Big Book. By contrast, "higher power" is used twice--both times in the context of the word "God." I doubt that atheists and rim-runners will find much comfort in reading the facts as to how far the "God business" has gotten out of line; but I am sure that devout believers--Christians, Jews, Protestants, and Roman Catholics alike will welcome a book that tells it like it was instead of encouraging sick alcoholics to "find" and put other gods before Yahweh, the Creator. There's more to be read also in Dick's titles, Cured; When Early AAs Were Cured and Why; The Good Book and The Big Book; and The Good Book-Big Book Guidebook.

I have claimed to be an agnostic for years with a strict penticostal background and according to my therapist a grudge with Jesus. A friend gave me this book to read who herself is a "recovering catholic" who shuns most religous-osity. I hesitated opening up the cover which has God in bright blue letters across the cover. But I was hooked before the end of the first chapter.

This book takes everything I ever learned and loathed about God, spirituality, and religion and twist it around, throws it out or clears it up in a mere 176 pages. All the things that have kept me stuck and stunted in my spirituality were addressed by Father Leo in a realistic and nurturing way. He suggest we clear out our "God Box" those things that keep us beat down, guilty and judged in our religions and work on co-creating our destinies with God. I now know I have a lot of work to do with my spiritual side... I've simply been lazy due to my fears. Who knows if I'll ever claim the description of christian again... but I know I'll be more spiritually sound in what ever path I take. Thank you Father Leo!

Leo Booth's book describes just how addicting conventional religion can become when it is taken as a final step in the spiritual life rather than what it really is meant to be: a first step in adult faith development. In an age when adults are turning to conventional piety in greater numbers, it seems, Booth's book is a practical guide for developing authentic adult spirituality rooted in wisdom when the "God Box" offered in contemporary forms of True Believerism loses its allure.

I consider works like Booth's (and many others) to be a kind of "warning label" on the real dangers of devotion associated with the resurgent fundamentalism and parochialism found today in most religious institutions and spiritual movements. Booth's work meets a growing need for spiritual recovery among adults who become disillusioned with the polarization, polemics and proselytism too often associated with naive forms of religious enthusiasm, however orthodox and "grown-up" in nature.

Chapter by chapter, Booth leads the reader in recovery from the "numbing effects of... religiosity" (page 11), to the "reclaiming of spiritual power lost to dysfunctional or outmoded religious messages." (page 13).

Thanks to Leo Booth for encouraging us all to "experience 'The Way' demonstrated not just by Jesus, but by so many great spiritual leaders and teachers in all cultures and walks of life. Writing a new story for ourselves helps us discover the sacred in the secular that reveals God at work in so many diverse places- not only in the traditional religious scriptures, but in the words of ordinary people who challenge us to connect with our world." (page 183)

I know Dick B. quite well. I am an ambassador for Christ. I am a son of God. I am a Bible student. And I'm a former soldier--I know about the spiritual battle too. More than any seem to realize today, Dick has highlighted the same believing in the early A.A. Christian Fellowship. Not much more needs to be said: You need to find the details in this little gem of a book. In a few words, it shows you how Bill Wilson and A.A. Number Three confirmed that the Lord had cured them of alcoholism. It also confirms the later conversions of the A.A. pioneers--they were required to believe in God, come to Him through Jesus Christ, study the Bible, pray, ask His wisdom, obey His will, grow in fellowship, and then experience cure. Whereupon, they were to help others with the same information. They were ambassadors. They were soldiers on the spiritual battlefield. And they knew how to achieve victory. This book is an inspiration for those who want to get well, and who want to say, along with A.A. founders: The Lord has cured me of this terrible disease; and I just want to keep talking about it and telling people. That's the Golden Text of A.A. You can still find it on page 191 of the 4th edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 191.

"The Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease that I just want to keep telling people about it." How many AAs and recovery programs today know that Bill Wilson and A.A. Number Three both used this expression. A.A. Number Three called it The Golden Text of A.A. And you can find the details on page 191 of Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed. Yep. It's alive and well today. And if you thumb back a few pages to Dr. Bob's story, you'll see that Bob also twice commented on the cure the pioneers had found. There's lots more in this priceless little book. But it captured the attention of the managers of the Wilson House. It became the subject of one of Dick B.'s Heritage Seminars there. And its words and theme need to be hammered home to those wandering souls that are teaching newcomers more and more often that you can believe in anything you want in A.A., or in nothing at all. Baloney! Not unless you prefer to drink.

This book is an excellent tool to dig deep into the roots of powerlessness and unmanageability. If one takes the time to really address the questions in depth and with rigorous honesty it provides an excellent foundation for solid recovery. Questions presented thoughtfully probe all the tentacles of addiction, and I have found that my written responses serve as a solid reminder of the wide ranging long term effects of unchecked addiction on quality of life. If you are willing to be fearless and thorough, and ready to go to any length to recover, this is the resource for you.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I used this workbook almost 7 years ago and it has been my requirement of all my sponsees to pick up this book and use it as a strong foundation. Goes deeper then any other step book around. If you use this book correctly it helps you with your 4th and 8th steps too.

I read this so that I could conduct an interview with the editor, Jean Denton, for a national Episcopal Church periodical. I found it to be very interesting and eye-opening. I became much more aware of what was going on in my own body and spirit, and more attuned to physical and spiritual experience as a Christian. I found it to be smart and thought-provoking, providing a varied, yet balanced view of the history of "body" and "soul," and unifying the two through a frank discussion of their complementary functions. I found the intelligent discussions of Christ's take on health and healing very encouraging and refreshing. A book I am glad I read and can recommend with confidence.

Truth in advertising being important, I must say at the outset that I know Jean Denton, the editor of this book. In fact, I've attended classes/seminars that she's led, and she's attended mine. When I learned about this book, I was very excited about reading it on that basis only, and was pleased to find my eagerness rewarded by interesting and engaging topics and writing.

Jean Denton has a combined vocation of ministry, being both an ordained minister and a registered nurse. She has for many years combined these in her work in health-related ministry and spirituality. This book is written specifically for people looking for deeper connections between contemporary expressions of Christianity (concentrating primarily upon, but not exclusively to the mainline denominations) and health-related issues, both with regard to the individual and the communal

Denton has drawn together contributions from theologians, pastors, and health-care professionals to discuss the topics from historical, theological and practical aspects. The first chapter looks at the roots of health-related ministries in the Hebrew scriptures, the New Testament and gospel witness, and in general theological/philosophical thinking over the course of Christian history. The second chapter explores basic issues of our comfort or discomfort with our bodies, and practical aspects of how we perceive ourselves and others as embodied beings.

The next pair of chapters look at Christian spirituality and well-being, and Christian spiritual and illness. We tend to think of health as a 'natural' state and illness as somehow defective or opposite, but what is health for? Denton speaks of Margaret Mohrmann's assertion that health is a subordinate good (not a good in and of itself) meant to enable us to carry out the 'obligation of joy.' With regard to illness, Denton does not tap into outmoded ideas of suffering (she plainly states that one can learn from suffering things one cannot learn from joy, but who wants this kind of teaching?), but does look for redemptive aspects and experiences that can come out of disability, illness and our experience both as the suffering and as ones being around those who suffer.

Just as this need not be a solely individual experience, so too are issues of health care not an individual or family-only issue. There are communal aspects of this that reach to national and international levels, particularly when one considers the high and rising costs of health care, the international nature of many communicable diseases, and other issues involved in the availability of adequate health care. The fifth chapter explores some of these issues, and the sixth chapter looks at parish-based health ministries as means to providing new means and insights into the way the health of the community, in the case of the church, the body of Christ, can be embodied intentionally.

Christianity has had a strange history in many regards, with a love-hate relationship with the material world (including our own bodies as material beings) but also proclaiming Jesus Christ as a physically embodied incarnation of God. The theological and practical aspects of this tension are brought forward in many ways throughout Denton's text, in creative and thoughtful ways. This is a spirit-filled book in many ways, drawing from texts old and new, personal experiences of the authors, and tapping into God's call to us.

Each chapter ends with a section of questions for both personal reflection, as well as group reflection, again looking at the individual and the communal.

This is a good book for groups and for solitary readers to explore in deeper ways the connections between the health of our spirit and the health of our bodies.