Alcoholism Books

I appreciate all that this book has taught me about abuse. Its best part though is teaching how to overcome and intervene.

ANY clinician working with any clients, or families of clients, who reveal ANY family history, or personal propensity toward, substance abuse MUST have AND READ this awesome text!! It is the most thorough text I have seen on the subject in my 10+ years as a clinician!!

Phenominal historical view of the woman's experience with addiction. A detailed view of addiction to include all substances. Great for a text in a class or for personal knowlwdge. Fantastic book.

This book has less to do with alcoholism than it has to do with being a basic sociological primer. Gusfield explains basic terminology and walks the reader through a sociological evaluation that could be used to examine any topic. Excellent!

Robinson clearly gives an excellent description of the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous. He describes the development of this program through the years, provides stories of alocholics, as well as the benefits of 12-Step programs. This book really helped me to understand the basics of Alcoholics Anonymous without technical jargon and confusing words. Robinson kept the book simple yet extremely detailed in every sense

This book summarizes current research findings on how and why college students drink. It also reviews intervention and prevention programs and makes sensible suggestions for improving current intervention programs using reasearch-based knowledge. This is an excellent resource for educators, college personnel or anyone interested in substance abuse.

This book was amazing. It hit the target for me in many ways. Not only is this a book for people who were raised by an alcoholic parent, it is also beneficial for anyone who has had to deal with a domineering, violent, narcissistic person. Once I began it, I could not put it down. Truly well-written and authentic.

Dick B. became one of my long-time friends and brothers in Christ in a Bible fellowship. I knew that he traveled all over the United States gathering information and books about early A.A.'s Bible roots. I also knew that he had several times been a principal speaker at the so-called "Clarence Snyder Retreats" for AAs and their families that Snyder had founded many many years earlier in his sobriety. Dick's draw seemed to be his intimate knowledge of early A.A. history and the fact that Clarence's widow Grace Snyder said she could almost hear her husband's voice as Dick recited the facts. Finally, Dick asked Grace if he could write a book about her. She was enthused. She invited him and his son Ken to stay at her home in Florida and hear the details. This warm, enthusiastic, informative book about Clarence, Grace, A.A., and the Snyder retreats is a gem. It was followed by the Our Legacy book that Dick compiled and edited from the writings of three Clarence Snyder oldtimer sponsees as their wives. Taken with Mitch K's biography of Clarence, this makes a threesome of some very important early A.A. history derived from the man sponsored by Dr. Bob, longest in sobriety at one point, and the founder of the phenomenally successful Cleveland A.A. program.

Text from the professional journal, Addictions, No. 7, 1995, p. 994-995.

Therapy of the Substance Abuse Syndromes HENRY JAY RICHARDS New Jersey, Jason Aronson, Inc., 1993, 478 pp.

This book is an impressive and interesting monograph on the subject of substance abuse. The book provides the reader with a systematic and comprehensive approach to substance abuse treatment. In more than 450 pages it combines both theoretic demands and clinical relevance. The models and methods presented have been developed specifically to address treatment planning for patients, who have been recurrent treatment failures in both psychotherapy and addiction treatment programmes, so it is of particular use for those who work in dual diagnosis programmes as well as therapists in psychiatric or addiction facilities.

In discussing theoretical implications in close connection with and relation to clinical programmes, Richards develops his own framework that is also useful and interesting for readers that do not share all of his ideas. From my own point of view this is a big advantage of this work. Richards describes the process of addiction as a movement to a cycle of three primitive states of self-experience: (1) a position typified by egoism and assertiveness (the inflated-grandiose position); (2) a position typified by depression and helplessness (the depleted-depressed position); and (3) a position typified by isolation, fantasy an self-absorption (the detached-schizoid position). Movement in this cycle is given by failures in self-regulation.

With respect to his goal of organizing and planning several specialized programmes including substance abuse services, Richards presents a comprehensive system for assessment and treatment planning based on a dual diagnosis paradigm. The system consists of three interrelated concept sets: drug categories, symptom complexes and biopsychosocial functions of addiction.

All in all this is a substantial contribution to treatment research and the discussion of special needs for patients with severe mental illness and addiction. It can also be recommended to European and other non-American readers, although it is written from a background of special experiences in the United States of America.

Michael M. Krausz University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany

Excellent book that I used as a guide for the my early recovery. Must have for the struggles and challenges of recovery.